[Morning Wood]

It is heavily stamped into the stock above the buttplate in large lettering. it also is marked 21 above that. This is a cutdown 1898 and was just wondering if anyone knows.

 

[kriggevaer]

I believe those are the initials for a military institute, but I don't know what the B.F. stands for. Many military institutes (military boarding schools) drilled the upper class cadets using American military rifles. If you can find out what the B.F. stands for you might run into some interesting history.

 

[Morning Wood]

Black-Foxe Military Institute maybe? Open 1930-1964 in California looks like.

 

[Krag]

The first M96 rifle I ever purchased had about 3" of the muzzle counterbored to a larger diameter and the tip of the striker (firing pin) ground off. I queried several experts about this and was told it was a typical military school method of "demilitarizing" the rifles so they couldn't be fired. The counterbored section of the muzzle was usually filled with a wooden plug.

 

[Morning Wood]

The first M96 rifle I ever purchased had about 3" of the muzzle counterbored to a larger diameter and the tip of the striker (firing pin) ground off. I queried several experts about this and was told it was a typical military school method of "demilitarizing" the rifles so they couldn't be fired. The counterbored section of the muzzle was usually filled with a wooden plug.

This one wasn't counterbored. Looks like FP removal would have sufficed.