$1780.00

[Mark Daiute]

Surprised no one has mentioned the OALW carbine that just went for 1780.00.

Kinda looking for the new owner to post here.

[Dick Hosmer]

if he does, he'll wish he hadn't!

Truly, ignorance is bliss. As Bill used to say, "Nice gun, I wonder who made it." Except, in this case, we know.

[Mark Daiute]

The information about OALW was made available to the seller. We need to note that the seller clearly stated that the rifle was a rifle cut down to a carbine and still it went for 1780.00

[Dick Hosmer]

Which only means that the seller was honest, but, the scenario is still absolutely absurd, and indicates that the info was apparently not believed, and that P.T. Barnum and Ben Franklin were right.

Guys can't move real carbines for that. A POS by any other name is still a POS. Just my $0.02.

[da gimp]

OALW? teach me Dick., what does that mean?

[dave]

Well there was more then one idiot bidding or it never would have went that high! I had one once, a very pretty thing it was! Paid 300 and sold it for 300 or so, years later.

[Dick Hosmer]

OALW? teach me Dick., what does that mean?

OALW (which stands for "Ostberg Armory and *Locomotive Works") was/is the private mark (which appears in several forms/sizes over the years) of a tinkerer - now deceased - from the midwest who was (in)famous for assembling Krag "carbines". They are also called "Red Ryders" from the pronounced reddish tone of the stain he favored. He did good work - some of them are very nice looking, but they aren't real. To his credit, he did, unlike other fakers, mark his work - but - you had to be in the know or it did no good.

*same guy was also involved in toy train (Lionel) "refinishing", etc.

This info all from the late (and greatly missed) Col. Bill Mook, one of the deans of Krag collecting. He told me Ostberg's first name, but I have misplaced the note - it MAY have been Sidney (help needed here)

[Rick the Librarian]

Two people I sorely miss ... Michael Petrov, for his knowledge of M1903 sporters AND Bill Mook on Krags!

It's not the seller's fault - if a couple of knuckleheads want to bid up an item, that's their problem!

[butlersrangers]

Thanks for the explanation of "OALW"!

[Rick the Librarian]

Thanks for the explanation of "OALW"!

Me, too -- I knew I had heard the term but was too lazy to look it up.

[Big Al]

Surprised no one has mentioned the OALW carbine that just went for 1780.00.

Kinda looking for the new owner to post here.

I e-mailed the seller off and on the whole week that cut-down was for sale. It was a beautiful looking piece but when he responded that it was missing the C on the rear sight, I knew, thanks in part to you gents, that it was a cut-down which happened to have a correct front sight. Still, it spent a good part of the week under $400, and I was prepared to buy it at that price, just based on looks and condition. Imagine my surprise when, after the seller disclosed that he had been contacted by several individuals and collectors, and that it was not a true carbine, two guys got into a bidding war the day the auction ended and drove it up to $1,780. I told my wife that I almost e-mailed the seller and told him to get the money fast. .

Here's a link to the gun...

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=456792830

[madsenshooter]

There's that star with a circle under the barrel's "P" proofmark. I still think that was used to denote star-gauged barrels. Makes no sense to not have some sort of permanent mark. Otherwise guys would be taking the cards with the measurements and selling them with regular barrels.

[butlersrangers]

That's a lot of money for a 'parts gun'. The rear sight is 1902 top on an 1898 base. The front sight base mounting and the "C" blade look suspect - IMHO.

[Griff Murphey]

I think the official gunbroker listing is misleading because it calls it a genuine US military arm but fails to point out it's a replica. Other message traffic may be out there but we don't know if the bidders saw it. The guy who bought it probably thinks OALW is an official arsenal mark. When the "gotta have it" bug kicks in and the buyer has the bit between his teeth sometimes there's no stopping him.

[Fred]

OALW (which stands for "Ostberg Armory and *Locomotive Works") was/is the private mark (which appears in several forms/sizes over the years) of a tinkerer - now deceased - from the midwest who was (in)famous for assembling Krag "carbines". They are also called "Red Ryders" from the pronounced reddish tone of the stain he favored. He did good work - some of them are very nice looking, but they aren't real. To his credit, he did, unlike other fakers, mark his work - but - you had to be in the know or it did no good.

*same guy was also involved in toy train (Lionel) "refinishing", etc.

This info all from the late (and greatly missed) Col. Bill Mook, one of the deans of Krag collecting. He told me Ostberg's first name, but I have misplaced the note - it MAY have been Sidney (help needed here)

Did that guy also shave the butts off of Krag rifles so that they would appear to the unsuspecting to be unaltered 1892 stocks? Whenever he and Sandy (General Hoyt S. Vandenberg) used to come out to the MO Valley shows in K.C. to sit with George Hensel and me at our tables, Bill would walk by the guy's table or hear mention of that guy's work and he'd really be pissed.