Now that I am a recent US Krag owner, I've given some thought to the idea that you can't really tell the story of the US Krag without the 1893 Spanish Mauser, just as you can't really tell the story of the 1903 Springfield without a US Krag variant.
A good example is how when you go to the CMP stores, everybody is looking for something from WW2 when in reality, the 1950's rifles are usually in nicer condition and more correct since they haven't been through nearly as many depot rebuilds. I usually can find them for a good bit cheaper than those with actual history and I can shoot them as much as I want. My collection standards aren't nearly as rigid as the standards of others, simply because I'm ok with a nice representative examples more than I am a museum piece. It shows a timeline of WW2 from when the getting was good to when things were more dire.
A 'last ditch' Type 99 Arisaka or a Kriegsmodell Mauser go very well with earlier T99's or 98K's. One of the things that I particularly enjoy about collecting old/military firearms is to make sure that I have those that help tell a story, or the history of other rifles in my collection.
