A Brief History
On April 21, 1894, Norway accepted the product of their own gun designers, Ole Krag and Erik Jorgensen, as their standard battle rifle. The Krag-Jorgensen had previously been adopted by the US Army in 1892 over protests from American designers.
Digging Deeper
The Krag-Jorgensen bolt action rifle was first made standard by the Danish Army in 1889, a time when bolt action rifles were beginning to clearly show their superiority over other rifle designs for combat use. Unlike a lever action rifle, the bolt action rifle could easily be operated when in the prone position and cycling the action caused far less disruption to the shooter’s aiming stance. Additionally, the ‘Krag’ was renowned for its silky smooth operation.
When the US military sought to replace its single shot ‘Trapdoor’ Springfield rifles, only European rifles ended up in the final competition, including the Krag, the Mauser, and the Lee, all of which used ammunition powered by the new nitro-cellulose powder instead of the old black powder. The Krag ammunition is usually referred to as .30-40 Krag, meaning .30 caliber and with a case capacity of 40 grains of black powder, a designation that sometimes confuses people into thinking the Krag used black powder ammo, which was not the case. The Krag was chosen for, among other reasons, the loading method that allowed topping off the magazine without having to cycle the bolt, meaning the soldier could keep his rifle ready to fire with a round in the chamber while loading the magazine from the side. This side loading method was slower than top loading with stripper clips, and incredibly the US authorities saw this method as an advantage to the Krag! The (idiotic) thinking that persisted in US Ordnance was that slower loading meant less ammunition consumption (wastage) in combat. This sort of short sighted thinking is what kept the US from adopting repeating rifles much earlier, apparently decisions made by men that never had to rely on firepower to continue to live.
The Krag selected for the Norwegian Army was chambered in 6.5 X 55mm, after thoroughly testing several other calibers in conjunction with the Swedish Army. The round selected for military use fired a 156 grain round nosed bullet at a (then) blistering 2379 feet per second. The US variety used a 200 grain round nosed jacketed .30 caliber (7.62mm) bullet launched at only 2000 feet per second (still much faster than previous black powder rounds such as the .45-70.)
When the Krag saw action with the US military during the Spanish American War, the shortcomings of the slow loading became obvious, much to the detriment of our soldiers who were mercilessly outgunned by Spanish troops using quick loading Mauser rifles. By 1903 the US had switched its main battle rifle to the ’03 Springfield, a copy of the Mauser 98. (The ’03 Springfield used the .30-03 round until 1906 when it was traded for the highly potent .30-06 round, standardized in 1926 launching a 174 grain boat tailed pointed bullet at 2645 feet per second.) The Krag-Jorgensen had a short life with the US, although it remained in the inventory for training and emergencies through World War I and in duty with state militias and similar units as far as World War II.
Danish Krags served as the main battle rifle of Denmark until the Nazi invasion of 1940, and in Norway the Krag served until the German occupation began in 1940. The German occupiers forced the Norwegians to continue to produce Krag rifles for German and collaborationist Norwegian use through World War II.
After World War II the Krag-Jorgensen was no longer employed in regular military service, but large numbers had been sold as surplus to sportsmen who used the rifles to great effect hunting. Over 700,000 of these under-appreciated rifles were manufactured and many remain in the hands of collectors and sportsmen. A rare conversion was to modify the Krag as a harpoon gun!
Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think about the Krag-Jorgensen? Was the US, Norway and Denmark correct in adopting this rifle, or should these military forces picked a different rifle? Do you own a Krag? If so, tell us about it. Do you have a favorite bolt action military rifle? If so, share your opinions with us in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Shockley, Philip M. The Krag-Jorgensen rifle in the service. World-Wide Gun Report, 1960.
