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The Krag Jörgensen was adopted by the US military as its new military rifle around 1892, and about 10 years later they decided it wasn't really cutting it, and it was surplussed.
Initially, it was though .30-40 Krag could be loaded hotter, but the single lug lockup of the Krag wasn't really strong enough for the increased pressures they wanted, so new trials were held.
Once the new rifle had been adopted (the Springfield 1903), the Krag rifles, all the spare parts, and the .30-40 ammunition stockpiles, were all surplussed.
Suddenly, there's this bolt-action repeating rifle on market, made for smokeless powder centerfire cartridges, and it's all quite affordable, far cheaper than brand new commercial bolt-action sporters, thus a cottage industry springs up.
Gunsmiths would buy surplus Krag rifles (or just actions, if even barreled) for cheap, then build sporters out of them, sporters which were usually pretty good, and still far cheaper than brand new commercial ones. Some companies would settle for chopping down the front of the stock and calling it a day (pic related), selling them like that, but a lot of individual smiths and small outfits would put in proper effort, even Springfield themselves, who previously were making them for the army, would use spare parts and rifles to build into sporters to get rid of their old stock.
To me, the Krag's history on the US civilian market is much more interesting and rich than its history as US military rifle. It was very affordable, and was a very good rifle for hunting all sorts of medium and medium-large game, .30-40 Krag may not have been comparable to 7.92x57mm Mauser or .30-06 Springfield in terms of sheer power, but it's no slouch either, the action is quite easy to work rapidly, and reloading it isn't too slow either, where you can plain just drop loose cartridges in through the magazine door and close it, and you're good to go. Very appealing for casual shooting if anything, even if not quite soldier proof.