Krag–Jørgensen

Closeup of the Krag-Jørgensen receiver and magazine door on a Norwegian M1912 Carbine

The Krag-Jørgensen is a repeating bolt action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen. It was adopted as a standard arm by Denmark, the USA and Norway.

The main distinctive feature of the Krag-Jørgensen action was its magazine. While other rifles of its era used a box magazine, the magazine of the Krag-Jørgensen was integral with the receiver (the part of the rifle that houses the operating parts), featuring an opening on the right hand side with a hinged cover. The cartridges were inserted through the side opening, and were pushed up, around, and into the action by a spring follower.

This presented both advantages and disadvantages compared with the standard top-loading "box" magazine; among other things, using a "stripper clip" to reload was impossible. At the same time, unlike a top-loading magazine, the Krag-Jørgensen's magazine could be topped up without opening the rifle's bolt. The relative complexity of manufacturing this magazine is possibly one reason why few countries adopted the Krag-Jørgensen.

Today, the Krag-Jørgensen is a popular collector's rifle, and is loved by shooters for its smooth action.

Early development

The 1880s were an interesting period in the development of modern firearms. During this decade smokeless powder came into general use, and the calibre of various service rifles diminished. Several nations adopted small calibre repeating bolt action rifles during this decade.

An exploded view of an early Krag-Jørgensen

Even though Norway had adopted the repeating Jarmann rifle in 1884, it was soon clear that it was at best an interim weapon. Ole Krag, captain in the Norwegian Army and director of Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk (the government weapons factory), therefore continued the development of small arms, as he had since at least 1866. Not satisfied with the tubular magazine of the Jarmann rifle and his earlier Krag-Petersson rifle (adopted by the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1876), he enlisted the help of master gunsmith Erik Jørgensen. Together they developed the capsule magazine. The principal feature of the capsule magazine was that instead of being a straight box protruding below the stock of the rifle, it wrapped around the bolt action. Early models contained ten rounds and were fitted to modified versions of the Jarmann — though they could be adapted to any bolt action rifle.¹

In 1886, Denmark was on the verge of adopting a new rifle for its armed forces. One of the early prototypes of the new rifle was sent to Denmark. The feedback given by the Danes was vital in the further development of the weapon. The test performed in Denmark revealed the need to lighten the rifle, as well as the possible benefits of a completely new action. Krag and Jørgensen therefore decided to convert the magazine into what they referred to as a 'half-capsule', containing only five rounds of ammunition instead of the previous ten.² They also, over the next several months, combined what they considered the best ideas from other gunsmiths with a number of their own ideas to design a distinct bolt action for their rifle. The long extractor, situated on top of the bolt, was inspired by the Jarmann mechanism, while the use of curved surfaces for cocking and ejecting the spent round was probably inspired by the designs from Mauser. For a time after the weapon was adopted by Denmark they experimented with dual frontal locking lugs, but decided against it on grounds on cost and weight. The ammunition of the day did not need dual frontal locking lugs, and the bolt already had three lugs—one in front, one just in front of the bolt handle, and the bolt handle itself—which were considered more than strong enough.

All production rifles up to World War 2 also featured a magazine cut-off, allowing the shooter to keep his magazine in reserve and use the rifle as a single shooter.

Danish Krag-Jørgensen rifles

After strenuous tests, Denmark adopted the Krag-Jørgensen rifle in 1889. The Danish rifle differed in several key areas from the weapons later adopted by the USA and Norway, particularly in its use of a forward (as opposed to downward) hinged magazine door, the use of rimmed ammunition, and the use of an outer steel liner for the barrel.³

The Danish Krag-Jørgensen was chambered for the 8x58R cartridge (0.31 in / 7.87 mm), and was at least in the early years used as a single shooter with the magazine in reserve. It stayed in service right up to the German invasion of Denmark on 1940-04-09.

Subtypes of the Danish Krag-Jørgensen

While information on the various subtypes⁴ of the Krag-Jørgensen used in Denmark has proved difficult to find, at least the following subtypes were manufactured:

• Rifle 1889, stocked almost to the muzzle, no hand guard, straight bolt handle and a outer steel liner for the barrel. This weapon is typical of the period in having a long barrel and stock without pistol grip. Was originally issued without a safety catch; instead, a half-cock notch on the cocking piece/firing pin assembly served this purpose. In 1910, this weapon was modified by the addition of a manual safety, which was placed on the left side of the receiver just behind the closed bolt handle.
• Artillery Carbine 1889 and Infantry Carbine 1889, differed only in placement of the sling-swivel, and looks like short versions of the Rifle 1889.
• Engineer carbine M1889, wooden hand guard, shorter than the other carbines.
• Sniper rifle M1928, an alteration of the rifle M1889 with a heavier barrel and a wooden hand guard, micrometer rear sight and hooded front sight.

American Krag-Jørgensen rifles

Like many other nations, the USA was also searching for a new rifle around the 1890s. A competition was held in 1892, comparing rifle designs from Lee, Krag, Mannlicher, Mauser, Schmidt-Ruben, and about 40 other military and civilian designs. The trials were held at Governors Island, New York. Despite protests from domestic inventors and arms manufacturers—two designers, Russell and Livermore, even sued the US government over the choice—an improved form of the Krag-Jørgensen won the contract⁵. The United States formally adopted the rifle in 1892 to replace the single shot Springfield. Around 500,000 'Krags' were produced at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts from 1894-1904. It was the U.S. military's main rifle from 1894 to 1907 and found use in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. In this later war the rifle was refered to in a song popular with U.S. troops with a verse running:

Damn, damn, damn the Filipinos!

Cut throat khaki ladrones!

Underneath the starry flag,

Civilize them with a Krag,

And return us to our beloved home.

The US 'Krags' were chambered for the rimmed 30-40 round, also known as .30 Army. The .30-40 Krag was the first smokeless powder round adopted by the U.S. military, but it retained the "caliber-charge" designation of earlier black powder cartridges. Thus the .30-40 Krag employs a .30 caliber (7.62 mm) bullet propelled by 40 grains (3 g) of some smokeless powder. As with the .30-30 Winchester, it is the use of black powder nomenclature that leads to the incorrect assumption that the .30-40 Krag was once a black powder cartridge.

Subtypes of the Krag-Jørgensen used in the USA

There is at least nine⁶ different models of the American Krag-Jørgensen:

• M1892 Rifle, with a 30" barrel and a magazine cut off that operates in the up position. It can be identified by the cleaning rod under the barrel.
• M1892 Carbine, presumably a prototype, as just one is known today. Looks like the M1892 Rifle, but with a 22" barrel.
• M1896 Rifle, where the magazine cut-off operates in down position and the cleaning rod is moved to butt trap. An improved rear sight and tighter production tolerances gave better accuracy. Stock altered slightly (made thicker).
• M1896 Cadet Rifle, which was fitted with cleaning rod like M1892 rifle. Only about 400 were made before it was discontinued.
• M1896 Carbine, with the same modifications as the M1896 Rifle.
• M1898 Rifle, generally very alike to M1896, but with a wide range of minor changes.
• M1898 Carbine, same minor modifications as the M1898 Rifle.
• M1899 Carbine, generaly the same as the M1898 Carbine, but with a slightly longer forearm and hand guard, and without the swivel ring.
• M1899 Constabulary carbine, built for use in the Philipines. Basically a M1899 Carbine fitted with a full length stock and a bayonet lug, and the muzzle stepped down to accept bayonet

Norwegian Krag-Jørgensen rifles

Norwegian soldiers in 1905, armed with the Krag-Jørgensen

The Swedish-Norwegian Rifle Commission started its work in 1891. One of their first tasks was to find the best possible calibre for the new weapon, which was found to be 6.5 mm (0.256 in)⁷. The round of ammunition is known as variously as 6.5x55 Scan, 6.5x55 Mauser, 6.5x55 Swedish and 6.5x55 Nor, but they all referred to the same round although the shell dimension on the 6.5x55 Nor was slightly longer (0.15mm / 0.006"). Due to different interpretations of the standard, i.e. the standards of manufacturing using maximum chamber in the Krag vs. minimum chamber in the Swedish Mauser, a small percentage of the ammunition produced in Norway required a certain push on the bolt handle to chamber in the Swedish gun. However, a rumour arose not long after the round was adopted that one could use Swedish ammunition in Norwegian rifles, but not Norwegian ammunition in Swedish rifles⁸. Furthermore, the rumour stated that this was deliberate, to give Norway the tactical advantage of using captured ammunition in a war, while denying the same advantage to the Swedes. After the rumour first surfaced in 1900, it was examined by the Swedish military. They declared the difference to be insignificant, and that both the Swedish and Norwegian ammunition was within the specified parameters laid down. Despite this finding, the Swedish weapon-historian Josef Alm repeated the rumour in a book in the 1930s, leading many to believe that there was a significant difference between the two types of ammunition.

Once the question of ammunition was settled, the Norwegians started looking at a modern weapon to fire their newly designed round. The processing was modelled on the US selection process performed in the same timeframe, and considered, among other things, sharp shooting at different ranges, shooting with defective rounds, shooting for speed, rust proofing, and ease of assembly and disassembly. After the test, three rifles was shortlisted:

• Mannlicher 1892
• Mauser 1893
• Krag-Jørgensen 1892

About fifty Krag-Jørgensen rifles were produced in 1893 and issued to soldiers for field testing. The reports were good, and a few modifications were incorporated into the design. The Norwegian Storting (parliament) decided in 1894 to adopt the Krag-Jørgensen as the new rifle for the Norwegian Army. It is worth noting that Sweden instead adopted a modified Mauser in 1896. A total of more than 200,000 rifles were built in Norway, at a time when the population was less than three million people and Norway had yet to make money off the rich oilfields in the North Sea. The various subtypes of Krag-Jørgensen replaced all rifles and carbines previously used by the Norwegian armed forces, notable the Jarmann M1884, the Krag-Petersson and the last remaining Remington M1867 rim fire rifles and carbines.

Subtypes of the Krag-Jørgensen used in Norway

File:Krag Jørgensen M1894.jpg

M1894

M1894 with telescopic sight.

M1897

File:Krag Jørgensen M1895 & M1906.jpg

M1895 (top) and M1906 (bottom)

M1906

Unmodified M1912

The Krag-Jørgensen was produced in Norway for a very long time, and in a number of different variations. The major military models are the following:

• The M1894 Rifle⁹, "Long Krag", was the most common Krag in Norway. A total of 122,817 were produced at Kongsberg until 1922 when production ended, as well as approximately 30,000 bought from Steyr weapons factory in Austria. In 1910, after some initial tests, 1,000 M1894s were fitted with telescopic sights on a specially constructed bracket. Issued five to each company, they were meant to be used against enemy officers and other high value targets. Since the model was considered to be less than satisfactory, further production was stopped.
• The M1895 Cavalry carbine and M1897 Mountain artillery & Engineer carbine differed only in how the strap was fitted to the stock, and were issued in one series. A total of 9,309 were made between the years 1898 and 1906¹⁰.
• The M1904 Engineer carbine & M1907 Field artillery carbine differed from the earlier carbines mainly by being stocked to the muzzle. The difference between the two models was only in the attachment of the strap, and again they were issued as one series. A total of 3,500 were produced between 1906 and 1908¹⁰.
• The M1906 Guttekarabin (Boy's carbine) was a simplified M1895 carbine, with a shortened stock and no hand guard. They were issued to schools in Norway, and used to train boys aged 14 to 17 to shoot. Special "school ammunition" was developed to allow shooting in restricted areas. A total of 3,321 were made, of which 315 were later modified to fire .22 Long Rifle ammunition. Shooting was on the syllabus for Norwegian teens until World War II¹¹.
• The M1912 Carbine / M1912/16 Carbine / M1912/18 Carbine, "short rifle", was made after it became clear that the long barrelled M1894 left something to be desired. The M1912 was adopted after experiments with shorter, thicker barrels and different projectiles. It differed from the earlier models by being stocked all the way to the muzzle; the bracket for the bayonet was moved from the barrel to under the stock. It was soon clear that the nose band was too weak, which led to the /16 and /18 modifications of the basic design. A total of 30,118 were produced between 1913 and 1926. It was also decided that any further production would be of this model¹².
• The M1923 Sniper rifle was the first attempt to produce a sniper rifle, but it was not solid enough for use in the field. A total of 630 were built between 1923 and 1926, half of which were sold to civilian sharpshooters. Most later converted to M1930 or hunting rifles¹³.
• The M1925 Sniper rifle was an improved version of the M1923 built for the civilian market. A total of 1,900 were made from 1925 to the German invasion on April 9th, 1940. A further 250 were built for the Germans during the war, and the last 124 were put together in 1950¹⁴.
• The M1930 Sniper rifle was another improvement of the M1923 and M1925, featuring a heavier barrel, a different stock, sights, and a fine tuned trigger. It was a successful weapon, but no more than 466 were built between 1930 and 1939¹⁵.

In addition, most models were produced for the civil marked as well. After WWII a limited number of Krag-Jørgensens was made in purely civilian models.

Production for Nazi Germany during WWII

During the German occupation of Norway (1940-04-09 to 1945-05-08), the German forces demanded that Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk build weapons for the German armed forces¹⁶. They placed large orders for the Krag-Jørgensen, the Colt M1914 (license-produced Colt M1911), and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. However, production was restricted by sabotage and slow work by the employees. Out of the total of 13,450 rifles ordered by the Germans, only between 3,350 and 3,800 were actually delivered. To begin with, the order was for standard M1894s, but during the war the model was altered to be more like the German Kar98K on the exterior. Experiments with using 7.92 mm ammunition also took place.

While information on the Wehrmacht's use of the Krag-Jørgensen is hard to find, it must be assumed that it was issued primarily to second line units since the Wehrmacht attempted to only issue firearms in standard calibres to front line troops. It was also issued to the Hird - the armed part of Nasjonal Samling (NS) ("National Unity"), the Norwegian national-socialist party. It's further likely that the experiments with 7.62 mm ammunition means that the Germans considered a wider use of the Krag-Jørgensen.

Post-war production

A few Krag-Jørgensen rifles were put together after 1945¹⁷, for sale to civilian hunters and sharpshooters. While there were at no point plans to re-equip the Norwegian Army with the Krag-Jørgensen, attempts were made to adapt it to fire more modern, high powered ammunition like the .30-06 and 7.62 mm NATO rounds. While this was found to be possible, the cost of the conversion was about the same as that of a new gun with a more modern design. The last Krag-Jørgensen in production was the m/1952 Elk-rifle, of which 470 were sold during the 1950s.

Ammunition

The various Krag-Jørgensens were manufactured for a wide variety of ammunition. Apart from various civilian calibres, the main calibres the rifle was produced in is the following:

• Danish 8x58R, a 7.87mm (0.31") rimmed round. Early rounds had a 15.3 grams (236 grains) long round nosed bullet, and was loaded so that it produced a muzzle velocity of about 580 m/s (roughly 1900 fps), while later rounds had a 12.8 grams (198 grains) spitzer bullet and gave a muzzle velocity of 823 m/s (2740 fps)¹⁸.
• US .30-40 Krag|30-40]], a 7.62mm (0.30") rimmed round loaded with 40 grains (3 grams) of smokeless powder. It gave a chamber pressure of 40000 PSI, which resulted in a muzzle velocity of 609.6 m/s (2000 fps) in the rifles, and 597.4 m/s (1960 fps) from the shorter barrel of the carbines¹⁹.
• Norwegian 6.5x55, also known as 6.5x55Scan, a 6.5mm (0.256") rimless round. Most variations are loaded for a chamber pressure of 3500 Bar (roughly 51000 PSI). Early rounds, with a 10.1 grams (156 grains) long round nosed bullet (B-projectile) had a muzzle velocity of around 700 m/s (roughly 2300 fps), while later rounds with a 9 grams (139 grains) spitzer bullet (D-projectile) offered a muzzle velocity up to 870 m/s (2854 fps)²⁰.

Comparison of service rifles

What follows is a comparison between the Danish²¹, American²² and Norwegian²³ service weapons

Nation	Model	Length	Barrel length	Weight
Denmark	Rifle 1889	1328mm / 52.28"	832mm / 32.78"	4.275 kg / 9.5lbs
Denmark	Carbine 1889	1100 mm / 43.3"	610 mm / 24"	3.96 kg / 8.8lbs
Denmark	Sniper Rifle 1928	1168 mm / 46"	675 mm / 26.6"	5.265 kg / 11.7lbs
USA	M1892 Rifle	1244.6 mm / 49"	762 mm / 30"	4.221 kg / 9.38lbs
USA	M1892 Carbine	1046.5 mm / 41.2"	558.8 mm / 22"	3.735 kg / 8.3lbs
USA	M1896 Rifle	1244.6 mm / 49"	762 mm / 30"	4.023 kg / 8.94lbs
USA	M1896 Cadet Rifle	1244.6 mm / 49"	762 mm / 30"	4.05 kg / 9.0lbs
USA	M1896 Carbine	1046.5 mm / 41.2"	558.8 mm / 22"	3.488 kg / 7.75lbs
USA	M1898 Rifle	1247.1 mm / 49.1"	762 mm / 30"	4.05 kg 9.0lbs
USA	M1898 Carbine	1046.5 mm / 41.2"	558.8 mm / 22"	3.51 kg / 7.8lbs
USA	M1899 Carbine	1046.5 mm / 41.2"	558.8 mm / 22"	3.542 kg / 7.87lbs
USA	M1899 Constable Carbine	1046.5 mm / 41.2"	558.8 mm / 22"	3.614 kh / 8.03lbs
Norway	M1894 Rifle	1267,5 mm / 49.9"	760 mm / 29.9"	4.221 kg / 9.38lbs
Norway	M1895 & M1897 Carbine	1016 mm / 40"	520 mm / 20.5"	3.375 kg / 7.5lbs
Norway	M1904 & M1907 Rifle	1016mm / 40"	520 mm / 20.5"	3.78 kg / 8.4lbs
Norway	M1906 Boy's Carbine	986 mm / 38.8"	520 mm / 20.5"	3.375 kg / 7.5lbs
Norway	M1912 Short Rifle	1107 mm / 43.6"	610 mm / 24"	3.96 kg / 8.8lbs
Norway	M1923 Sniper Rifle	1117 mm / 44"	610,, / 24"	4.05 kg / 9.0lbs
Norway	M1925 Sniper Rifle	1117 mm / 44"	610 mm / 24"	4.455 kg / 9.9lbs
Norway	M1930 Sniper Rifle	1220 mm / 48"	750 mm / 29.5"	5.157 kg / 11.46lbs

See also

• List of firearms
• Jarmann M1884 - the rifle the Norwegian Krag-Jørgensen replaced.
• Krag-Petersson - the first rifle designed by Ole H J Krag that was adopted by a armed force
• Springfield 1903 rifle - the rifle that replaced the Krag-Jørgensen in US service

References

See Talk:Krag-Jørgensen for more details of the sources of the different sections.

• Egil Hanevik, Karl (1867). "Norske Militærgeværer etter 1867". ISBN 82-993143-1-3
• Trond Wikborg's web page on the Krag-Jørgensen Last retrieved on January 26th 2005.
• Cruffler.com's article on the Krag-Jørgensen Last retrieved on January 26th 2005.
• A good web page on the American Krag-Jørgensen and it's ammunition Retrieved on January 26th 2005.
• A webpage detailing the various Danish and Norwegian models in some detail Retrieved on January 26th 2005.

External links

• An exploded view of the Krag-Jørgensen mechanism
• Page detailing some of the different Norwegian Krag-Jørgensen rifles
• An in depth article on the M1894 "Long Krag"
• US Krags as used in the Spanish American War

Notes

1. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, page 74-77.
2. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, page 85-93.
3. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, page 78-84.
4. http://www.public.asu.edu/~roblewis/SMLE/IIID2a10b.htm, retrived 2005-01-26.
5. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, page 89-91.
6. http://home.sprynet.com/~frfrog/kragrifl.htm retrived at 2005-01-26.
7. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, page 94-96.
8. Despite what some people claim, the ammunition produced in Sweden and Norway is interchangeable. The Norwegian round is insignificantly longer, which means that a spanking new Swedish Mauser may require a certain push on the bolthandle to chamber it completly - thats all there is. The reason the rumour has survived is, most likely, that the Swedish arms historian Josef Alm repeted it in a book in the 1930s. See "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", pages 368 - 370 , ISBN82-993143-1-3.
9. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapters 7 (militarty rifles), 8 (civilian rifles), 9 (naval rifles) and 13 (M1894 w/ telescopic sights).
10. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapter 11.
11. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapter 12.
12. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapter 14.
13. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapter 15.
14. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapter 16.
15. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapter 17.
16. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapter 18.
17. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapter 19.
18. Information taken from an an online discussion on homeloading for the Krag-Jørgesen, retrived 2005-01-28.
19. website mentioned under American Krag-Jørgensen variants, retrived 2005-01-26.
20. Various parts of "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3.
21. Website detailing Danish Krag-Jørgensen variants, retrived 2005-01-26.
22. [http://home.sprynet.com/~frfrog/kragrifl.htm Website detailing American Krag-Jørgensen variants), retrived 2005-01-26.
23. "Norske Militærgeværerer etter 1867", ISBN82-993143-1-3, chapters 7 - 11 and 12 - 19.