Of CourseThey Look Alike

Ravenclaw Eric notes that my Krag resembles his Krag.

There's probably a reason for that.

In the way back...

With the introduction of the Springfield M1903 and after its upgrade to .30-06 all of the Krag-Jørgensens became surplus.

It did not happen instantly in 1906, they were still manufacturing the M1898 rifle until 1904.

I don't have hard numbers, but it probably began in the 1910's.  That we purchased "Enfield" M1917's instead of sending troops with the old guns says that it probably happened before our entry into WW1.

At any rate there were over 320,000 M1898 rifles made which never saw war and some might never have seen troops.

Like trapdoor Springfields they got dumped on the market for bargain prices, as did the ammunition.

.30-40 is more than enough for deer.

A lot of, perhaps most, surplus Krags became huntin' rifles.

A 30" barreled, full stocked, military rifle is a bit much for deer hunting.  The 1903 pattern sights are a bit much period.

Cutting down the stock, lopping off 6" of barrel and putting on new sights sure makes it handier out in the brush!  At least as handy as your huntin' buddy's Winchester, for 1/5th the price!

The ammo was available for nearly free too!

The way to have your M1898 turned into a handy hunting carbine, back in the days before Tapco was to just swing by the local gunsmith and have him do the work.  This was also in the days when there was a local gunsmith just about everywhere and even a mediocre smith back then was a friggin' genius compared to what we tend to find nowadays.

The handy-huntin' Krag made from a full-size rifle falls into the same pattern over and over by various smiths.  Just make it look like the picture of the carbine.  Why?  Because those carbines were surplussed with the rifles, and their new owners were pleased as punch with them.

So we end up with a clone of the original carbine because there's over 320,000 donor rifles and under 50,000 carbines.  Supply and demand.