J.F.C. Stock Cartouche on 1898 Krag Rifle?

[Hammer]

Right side

[Hammer]

Buttplate

[Hammer]

Barrel Band

[Hammer]

I apologize for posting so many pictures, this is my first time on this forum, and just not sure of what people would like to see. If there’s some other angle or particular part, let me know and I’ll try to get that posted as well. Thank you for everyone’s interest and comments!

[butlersrangers]

You have a nice looking Krag. Your photos show a lot of good details.

I think it is possible that your J.F.C. marked stock may have once been on a Krag 'Gallery Practice' .22 cal. rifle.
(The discussion of this possibility is now buried in the middle of this thread, and may be missed by some KCA participants).

A couple of observations about your gunstock:

I think your stock wood may be Italian walnut. There is a band of fine crescent 'end-grain' running through the stock-wrist, just below the cartouche.
This distinctive grain is found in some European woods, but not on American black walnut. During the Spanish War, Springfield Armory ran low on cured walnut stock-blanks. 35,000 Italian blanks were purchased through a N.Y. lumber merchant.
Normally, the Italian wood has a lighter golden color. But, many of these stocks were stained dark, at the unit level, to better match the other rifles.
A view of the stock's 'interior', (barrel channel, lightening cuts, and action recesses), will often provide evidence of the lighter colored wood.

You may have a stock split with an old repair that runs into the stock wrist. There is a wood crack, starting at the rear of the side-plate.
There may be a couple of brass-pins going into the stock-wrist near the 'circled P', behind the trigger-guard.
This should be repairable with acraglas bedding compound.

[scottz63]

Very nice rifle! I like the sling and bayonet as well. Nice one!

[Hammer]

Thank you All. I didn’t even notice the little brass pins in the wrist of the stock and I’ll take a closer look at that. I’ve never taken an Krag out of its stock and that’s gonna be an adventure.

I forgot to mention that the Bore looks really good as well. I can see sharp lands and grooves.

Does anybody know what the H letter and the number 4 on the Bolt handle represent?

[Whig]

The are most likely assembly marks of some sort. We did an exhaustive study of these marks a few years ago and found no specific patterns. Great to have a good bore. These rifles can shoot! Paul is our expert in this department.

[Hammer]

I got a chance to wipe the stock down with a cotton cloth and realized that what looked like brass pens near the P circle cartouche behind the trigger guard aren’t. The wood grain on this stock is absolutely beautiful!!!

[Hammer]

More stock grain.