I recently purchased a 1898 shortened barrel 24". There are 5 v cuts on top of the receiver ?? When I took apart to clean, I notices some initials on front of the receiver too.
The five 'notches' on your Krag's receiver are most unusual. I have never seen that before and can offer little in terms of a logical explanation.
(Maybe some curious civilian owner was testing the extent and depth of the Krag's case hardened 'heat-treat')?
The 'hieroglyphics' on the front of your receiver's magazine area are frequently seen inspection stamps.
There were something like 126 machining operations that turned a 6 & 1/2 pound forging into a 1 & 1/2 pound finished Krag receiver.
There were numerous sub-inspections as the receiver took shape.
The spacing between the mystery notches looks close to being symmetrical. Heat treat testing is usually done by pressing a ball into the metal and measuring the penetration. I would guess if someone was testing the hardness depth of the case, they would grind a flat then test that depth and do it again at a greater depth. The spacing makes me think that a mystery attachment was used that needed regular notches. Can not even begin to guess what that would be.
Yeah, I thought maybe notches for each buck, but they are symmetrical. Used to attach something, but I don't see what and how.
Maybe ancient aliens..
This is my 1st Krag. Taking it apart now for a good cleaning. 30-40 is impossible to find in CA, so I will have to load my own. It is a beautiful piece of machinery, I can't wait to take it to the range. Maybe go pig hunt too.
Most scope mounts, devised for the U.S. Krag, position the scope 'off-set', slightly to the left.
Typically, Krag commercial mounts were anchored, with three or four screws, using holes that had to be drilled & tapped into the left receiver wall.
(I don't think the notches on this Krag served to anchor a 'functioning' scope & mount or a sight onto the rifle for shooting or Hunting).
I have a different 'hunch':
Most early sporting rifle scopes had rather primitive optics and very little adjustment for eye-relief and focus.
The position of mounting holes, (on any rifle), could vary greatly, due to the scope & mount used and the eyesight of the gun owner.
Useful scope and mount location had to be established mainly by trial and error.
Maybe this Krag was a 'Try Gun' or 'shop gun', used by a gunsmith, to allow practice sighting and arrive at the proper scope position for individual customers?
A bolt diameter shaft or tube, with scope rings attached, could replace the bolt and be 'locked' at one or two of the various notches.
This might facilitate 'custom' fitting a scope & mount position for a customer.
The location could then be measured and transferred to the patron's actual rifle, (Krag or any other design), for proper mounting of the chosen scope.
Just a theory???
(When scopes began coming into more common use, in the 1920s, they were expensive and required custom mounting. There were no factory drilled holes or 'grooved' receivers).
The guy I bought it from said the marks were probably something from the Spanish American War. I didn't want to insult his intelligence and tell him it was manufactured in 1902. But, for $550 it was a good deal.
