Krag Collectors Association Forum

I just bought what appears to be a Constabulary Carbine. Springfield Model 1898. Serial #481562.
Can anyone explain this?

I know nothing of the Constabulary Carbines, so I will leave that for the knowledgeable. I do see 3 scope mount holes in the receiver. and a screw that i do not think belongs in the side cover. My guess is that it plugged a hole in the cover associated with the scope mount. Serial number is certainly high near the end of the run on Krags. The stock shows a lot of dings, certainly saw a lot of use in the past.

To add a bit to FredC's comments, I do not believe - subject to seeing some carefully shot closeups - that that is either a PCR, or an official arsenal-done "school gun". For one thing, the front portion of the stock just looks "off" to my eye. The added screw in the side-plate is often associated with the fitting of a blank adaptor. I'm thinking you might have a movie prop from the black and white movie (whose name escapes me other than that it contained the word "Glory") which did - amazingly - show the troops equipped with short Krags!

The movie is 1939's "The Real Glory" with Gary Cooper and David Niven.

And there's his rifle!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for clearing up my foggy memory.

The serial number is a few thousand past the records though

Another good reason why I suspect it is a movie prop and not real. The official PCR/SG conversions were M1899 carbines - that is a rather high RIFLE (M1898) number - not TOO high in general, but as you say, way above what would be expected.

There is a ton of mis-information out there about "P.C." rifles including in Mallory and Brophy. The only official Philippine Constabulary rifles that were used in Manila by the short statured Philippine Constabulary soldiers were made by the Manila Ordnance Depot. These were stamped with an official cartouche "MOD" in a rectangle by the Depot behind the Model 1899 J.S.A. Cartouche originally stamped by the Springfield Armory when the Model 1899 Krag carbine, as Dick said above, was used to create this cut down rifle.

Anything else with different cartouches or a different parent receiver was considered a "School" rifle, at best, to be used by different students at military academies around the US. Some are bubba-ed or created for other purposes like op's rifle apparently.

Many, many "experts" and non-experts are listing different Krags that may have some characteristics of a school rifle as a P.C. rifle. This has gone on for decades. Almost 100% of official P.C. rifles were destroyed or apparently dumped in the ocean after the Philippine Insurrection and do not exist anymore.

Thanks for posting the picture of your new rifle and that's neat that Dick and blueheeler remembered and found the reference to that rifle from the movie.

Some of the cavalry carbines, used in the "Rough Riders" movie, show the large slotted screw-head on their sideplates.

A likely clue that they have the brass guide for feeding blanks from their magazines.

Those "PC carbines" can also be seen standing in as british rifles in 1939's Gunga Din -