Seems like you did very well on your purchase, nice job! I've been looking for a sporterized Krag for a while. I do however have an unmolested example.
I bought her about a year ago. Physically, she's by no means a collector. Bluing is at maybe 50% and the rifling is extremely worn. I can get 5" groups out of her at 100 yards though. But where she really shines is in her personal history. By having an acquaintance with the right resources (can't recall the name of the book he got it out of...) research her serial number, he determined that she was made in spring of 1898.. and then shipped from the Springfield Armory to company C of the 30th U.S. Volunteer Infantry stationed in Illinois later in early summer. This I know for sure. The book that was resourced was comprised of old federal armory documents some man personally researched and recorded many years ago down in a D.C. library. After I learned of the unit, I traveled to a local military history museum to uncover all the books I could that held info on company C of the 30th USV, and here's what I learned...
By late summer that year, the 30th USV left San Francisco for the Philippines. They remained there until 1900 and patrolled the islands. Over the course of the time spent there, they were given the nick-name "red necks" because of the signature red bandannas that the 30th wore around their necks. They participated in 12 combat missions during their deployment, and marched/patrolled the most of any unit deployed at the time, covering at times what I recall being up to 12 miles per day. There were a couple of casualties within company C, and one man went missing. Unfortunately, there is no record of the specific soldier she may have been issued to. Perhaps she may have never gone to the Philippines at all! But I do know where her shipping destination was and what company she was to belong too, and that's plenty for me
Anyways, I bought her last year when I was away at college. I was 19 at the time, and bought her through private sale from a man who was probably 4 times my age. He told me that for many years this Krag was used by the local VFW for burial ceremonies, and they shot black powder blanks through her.. and as a result her bore was very worn. He sold her to me for $600. Later, after I found out about her history, she's become practically invaluable to me; my favorite gun in my collection!
...whew... sorry about that. Talking about milsurps gets me all worked up! If I can find the name of the book later, I'll leave a reply here on this thread so maybe you can go out and buy the book and look to see if YOUR serial number is listed in there! I guess approximately 12,000 serial number are listed for Krags. And with a total production number of almost 500,000 chances are slim.. but ya never know! Again, congratulations on the purchase of a beautiful American gun!
Here are some pictures of my Krag:
