17th Infantry

[SgtSki]

]I picked up a Model 1898 Krag with all markings crisp. Stock cartouche of J.S.A./1903. The butt stock is stamped with a 1/K/17 ( 1 in Long) over W E STOUT (.125 in long). Can any one check the records to see the rifle can be traced to company K first of the 17th? Thanks in advance.

[SgtSki]

I Forgot the most important item the serial number is 451303.

[Kragrifle]

No information on this rifle.

[Dick Hosmer]

]I picked up a Model 1898 Krag with all markings crisp. Stock cartouche of J.S.A./1903. The butt stock is stamped with a 1/K/17 ( 1 in Long) over W E STOUT (.125 in long). Can any one check the records to see the rifle can be traced to company K first of the 17th? Thanks in advance.

Sorry, do not understand what you meant by: "company K first of the 17th?". That marking is usually taken to mean "1st (insert State name) Infantry, company K, rifle/rack number 17". The marking is quite common on those rod-bayonet trapdoors used by various State troops during the SAW-PI period, 1898-1902, but are unusual on a Krag. The Regular Army (who had most of the Krags) were not allowed to mark their weapons. Serial agrees with date of cartouche.

[SgtSki]

Thanks for the responses.
I was hoping the markings stood for:
First Battalion
Company K
17th USA Infantry.

[70ish]

Dick, I think this nomenclature is unique to the Marines. Not being a Marine, I hesitate to speak too definitively, but it could reference Company K, First Battalion, __ Marine Regiment. In the case of this Krag, I have no clue what the marks mean unless they are some form of rack numbers or, if Marines, I could be mistaken as to the sequence they use to identify company, battalion and regiment and/or division.

[Dick Hosmer]

Thanks for the new slant - you might have a point - I do not know. The explanation I gave is the one which seems to have stood the test of time. At one point I was interested in trying to correlate SRS numbers with actual marked guns, figuring we should be able to find a few that would give a clue to the "code", but never followed up on the matter. The only thing I can say is that most, whether carved, stamped, painted, or a combination thereof, seem to follow the pattern of "very low number/letter/higher number". Since we know the markings are rarely, if ever, Regular Army, the small leading number makes sense for regiment (states didn't have a large number of same). The letter almost has to be company, and the last number can occur so large that it almost has to be a rack ID. But, AFAIK, no one knows for 100% sure.

[SgtSki]

Attached are some photos I found of the 17th Inf. Can't see the rifle stocks though.

http://17thinfantry.blogspot.com/2011/02/company-m-17th-infantry-1906-fort.html