Krag-Jorgensen Model 1894 (Series)

History of Krag-Jorgensen Type 1894 (Series)

The Krag-Jorgensen is a bolt-action rifle of Norwegian origin developed in the second half of the 19th century. Produced in various full-length rifle and shortened carbine forms, it has been the standard service rifle for the Norwegian, U.S. and Danish armies over the decades.

Design work began in 1886 and more than 700,000 rifle lines were produced, many of which continued to serve after more than 50 years in circulation during World War II. The Krag-Jorgensen family of long guns takes their unique name from their designers - Norwegian Army Captain Ole Herman Johannes Krag and State Armory Director/Gunnery Erik Jorgensen - and was born from the original "Model 1894".

The Norwegian rifle features a sleek and sophisticated profile with a long barrel wood frame combined with an integrated shoulder stock, receiver and fore stock. The barrel is "double-banded" (a metal ring holds the wood to the metal) and the front is covered with a smooth curved shape. All metal machined parts are placed in the wooden body, including the bolt action, firing mechanism, rear sight and barrel. Because the wooden front runs essentially the entire length of the rifle, there is only a small section of the barrel exposed. The bolt shaft is held at a 90-degree angle (as opposed to the so-called "straight bolt" bolt in modern rifles) and has a knob on the end for a firm grip.

The sights are iron, with the front (base post) on the muzzle and the rear (V-notch) in front of the action. The trigger is placed in the traditional position under the receiver and in front of the integral grip leading to the shoulder rest. Like the rifles of the time, Cragg-Jorgensen had a bayonet mounted under the barrel.

The rings are located on the second treadmill (innermost) and under the shaft for easy transport. The full-length carbine form of the rifle is nothing more than a compact version with a shorter barrel and front end, which makes it more manageable (at the expense of range) for cavalry soldiers and special forces like engineers and artillerymen.

Since the Krag-Jorgensen was put into service by foreign militaries, its stationary use naturally included the type of cartridge that was suitable for the customer. As such, the Norwegian rifle is armed with the 6.5x55mm M94 Norwegian Cragg frameless cartridge. Instead, the American model is for. The 30-40 "Krag" cartridge (roughly equivalent to a 7.62mm cartridge) and the Danish Krag-Jorgensen rifle were fitted with the local 8x58R rimmed cartridge (7.87mm caliber). In all cases, the action remains the same, although the muzzle velocity is variable, mainly depending on the type of ammunition used (and subsequent powder loading), with a typical value of 1,900 to 2,800 feet per second.

Effective range - again depending on the type of ammunition used (and environmental factors) - is closer to 900 meters. Feeds from a full five-round magazine.

One of the Krag-Jorgensen's distinguishing features was its ability to feed a single cartridge and didn't require a charger/"stripping clip" like other designs of the period. This also allows the operator to "top up" the magazine - another limitation of the charger's loading design.

Of course, the manual reload process consisting of single shots was a disadvantage to Cragg and others like it.

For the Norwegian Army, Krag-Jorgensen competed fiercely with the Mannlicher Model 1892 and Mauser Model 1892 in trials and began producing the indigenous Krag 1893. After a period of Army field evaluation, the Krag-Jorgensen design entered service in 1894 (referred to as the "Type 1894"). Its availability extends beyond military use, with thousands purchased on the civilian market.

Before long, the rifle was redesigned into a shortened carbine form, and specialized variants for military, hunting, and sporting purposes inevitably began to appear.

After the introduction of the Type 1889 on July 3, 1889, the Danes became the first operators of Krag-Jorgensen. The Americans followed the Norwegians in producing American Krags from 1894 until 1904.

During the First World War (1914-1918), the Cragg-Jorgensen type appeared in warfare. Although the rifle was in U.S. inventory (and arrived in Europe with troops), the weapon was not in front-line service during the conflict. In fact, the Cragg-Jorgensen had a short lifespan in the U.S.

Army as it was quickly replaced by the domestically developed bolt-action rifle and became the premier Springfield M1903 rifle. The main reason for the sudden action was the recent American experience during the Spanish-American War (1898), in which the Spanish Mausers defeated the slower-loading American Cragg Jorgensen with Chargers. Interestingly, the Mauser-based M1903 engineer Springfield Armory was also responsible for making the special Krag-Jorgensen rifle and required the .30-40 Krag cartridge.

Notably, a significant amount of money was allocated to re-equip U.S. facilities for locally licensed production of Krag-Jorgensen rifles and then thousands of rifles - all nullified by the arrival of the M1903.

Despite its origins in the 19th century, Krag-Jorgensen was available in large numbers and continued between the two world wars until World War II (specialized snipers were in vogue at the time and became available in the 1920s and perfected in the 1930s). As a result, they could be used for a while in conflicts with the Axis powers - Norway used an aging line of rifles against the Germans in the heat of battle, and the compact carbines proved particularly valuable.

The Krag-Jorgensen remained the standard rifle in service with the Norwegian army, and these were supplemented at the platoon level by Madsen 1909 and Colt-Browning 1909 machine guns. As the invading Germans occupied Norway, few of the active Krag-Jorgensen survived the transition to Britain as the Norwegian government fled.

Needing a quick solution to their security and military personnel in Norway, the Germans ordered the rifles to go back into production. However, these rifles were generally of poor/bad quality and the enslaved Norwegians took great care to produce poor quality end products for their German overseers.

The German military eventually demanded more than 13,000 rifles, whereas before the end of the war (1945), the Norwegian industry had supplied fewer than 4,000.

The Danish Krag was also used against the Germans during the German invasion of Denmark, although the Danish campaign in April 1940 was lost to the invaders.

The combat service of the American Krags goes beyond what they were previously mentioned in the Spanish-American War - they were used in the Philippine-American War (1899), the Boxer Rebellion (1901), and confrontation in "Tame" Native American tribes of the West. Hundreds more are understood to have been transported to Boers in southern Africa.

The "Boer War" lasted from 1880 to 1881, and from 1899 to 1902, with British troops fighting against Dutch settlers.

US Rifles covers all useful types, M1892 Basic Infantry Rifle, M1892 Carbine Form, M1896 Rifle, M1896 Cadet Model, M1896 Carbine, M1898 Rifle, M1898 Carbine, M1899 Carbine and M1899 Police Carbine. Some were experimentally equipped with simple telescopic sights and tested in long-range sniper roles.

Others tackled their feeds with experimental strippin attachments.

After World War II, the Krag-Jorgensen rifle was scrapped, becoming an extremely rare collectible today (2012) - so highly regarded. The Krag-Jorgensen is still the classic rifle of the time.

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