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Krag-Jørgensen
The Krag-Jørgensen is a series of bolt-action repeating rifles designed by Captain Ole Herman Johannes Krag and gunsmith Erik Jørgensen of Norway. Instead of being loaded through the action, the Krag's distinctive horizontal magazine is located beneath the bolt on the side of the rifle, with a prominent loading door on the right side of the action, so each round can simply be placed into the magazine, which leads to quick reloading. Unfortunately, a lack of a clip loading aid proved cumbersome in combat, and the Krag was largely removed from military use and replaced by clip-reloaded Mauser designs. However, the Krag's novel magazine and smooth action keeps it popular among gun enthusiasts today.
Background
Development
In 1884, Krag and Jørgensen decided to develop an alternative magazine design for the existing Norwegian service rifle, the tube-fed Jarmann rifle. They designed a 10-round spring-loaded magazine that sat horizontally beneath the bolt action and wrapped up around the left side of the receiver to feed cartridges into the action. A hinged gate on the right side of the magazine swung open for loading, simultaneously retracting the spring-loaded magazine follower.
Denmark
In 1886, the pair submitted a prototype to the Danish military service trials. The design was revised over the course of the test, eventually becoming an entirely new design with a single forward locking lug, elongated safety lug/bolt guide, and external claw extractor on top of the bolt. The magazine was reduced to 5-rounds, and featured a cutoff switch that prevented cartridges from feeding from the magazine; thus making the rifle into a single-shot action. The design also incorporated cock-on-opening, wherein as the bolt rotates into the unlocked position the cocking piece cams against a spiral-cut ramp in the wall of the bolt body pulling the firing pin backward and compressing the mainspring. The rifle proved successful, being selected for the Danish armed forces in 1889 chambered for the Danish 8x56mmR cartridge. Danish Krags featured a straight bolt handle, and a tubular steel barrel shroud running the full length of the barrel.
United States
In 1892 the United States Army held a competition to select a new bolt-action repeating rifle to replace the Model 1873/1884 Trapdoor Springfield Rifles . The Krag-Jørgensen was selected from 53 competing rifle designs. It was chambered in the .30USG cartridge (now known as the .30-40 Krag), which was specifically developed for the trial rifles by the US Army. The rifle featured a 30" barrel, Turned-down bolt handle, two-position safety on the rear of the bolt, and the magazine door hinge was made horizontal, so the door would open upward. The Krag design was chosen due to its ability to be reloaded without opening the bolt, and the magazine cutoff, which was seen as necessary to prevent soldiers from firing too rapidly and wasting ammunition. A carbine version with a 22" barrel was developed for the US Cavalry.
Roughly 442,000 rifles and 63,000 carbines were produced at the US Springfield Armory from 1894-1904, when the rifle was replaced by the M1903 Springfield after the Krag's poor performance against the Spanish M1893 Mauser during the Spanish-American War.
Norway
In 1891, the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway created the 6.5x55mm cartridge for use in all future military rifles. In 1893 the Norwegian Army held a competition to select a new service rifle, which was patterned after the earlier US Army trials. The Krag-Jørgensen design was selected based on the same criteria that won it favor with the US Army, but primarily because it was a domestic design. It was formally adopted in 1894. The Norwegian Krag featured a 30" barrel, half-length handguard, and a pistol-grip for more comfortable shooting. Roughly 215,000 long rifles and carbines were manufactured at Kongsberg Vapenfabrikk, the state weapons arsenal, and 33,500 were produced by Waffenfabrik Steyr, Austria.
Several hundred Steyr-manufactured M1894 long rifles were supplied via an unknown source to the Boers of South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Many lack the Norwegian acceptance stamps, but some with acceptance marks may have been supplied by a small Scandinavian volunteer force that fought for the Boers.
The Krag-Jørgensen and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hearts of the World | Robert Harron | The Boy | US M1898 | 1918 |
| French soldiers | ||||
| Shoulder Arms | Charlie Chaplin | Charlie | US M1898 | 1918 |
| US Army soldiers | ||||
| The Lost Battalion | American and German soldiers | US M1898 and M1899 | 1919 | |
| The Big Parade | American and German soldiers | US M1898 | 1925 | |
| The Merry Widow | A coachman | 1925 | ||
| The Lost World | Wallace Beery | Professor Challenger | US M1896 or M1898 | 1925 |
| Lewis Stone | Sir John Roxton | |||
| 7th Heaven | German soldiers | M1899 Constabulary | 1927 | |
| Four Sons | Charles Morton | Johann Bernle | US M1896 | 1928 |
| German soldiers | ||||
| Two Arabian Knights | Arabian and German soldiers | US M1898 | 1927 | |
| A Farewell to Arms | Italian soldiers | US M1898 | 1932 | |
| King Kong | S.S. Venture Sailors | US M1898 | 1933 | |
| Cavalcade | Herbert Mundin | Alfred Bridges | US M1896 | 1933 |
| Clive Brook | Robert Marryot | |||
| British soldiers | ||||
| China Seas | Malay pirates, British Sikh soldiers | US M1896 and M1898 | 1935 | |
| The Real Glory | Tetsu Komai | Alipang | US M1899 Philippine Constabulary | 1939 |
| US Army Troops, Philippine rebels | ||||
| Gunga Din | Victor McLaglen | Sergeant MacChesney | M1899 Constabulary rifle | 1939 |
| Douglas Fairbanks Jr. | Sergeant Ballentine | |||
| Cary Grant | Sergeant Cutter | |||
| Sam Jaffe | Gunga Din | |||
| Cultists | ||||
| Colonial troops | M1892 rifle | |||
| The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | British Royal Guards | Unclear full-length model, likely US M96 or M98 | 1939 | |
| Tarzan's Secret Treasure | Tom Conway | Medford | US M1898 Carbine | 1941 |
| Saboteur | US soldiers | US 1898 long rifle | 1942 | |
| The Fighting Seabees | John Wayne | Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan | US Model 1896 | 1944 |
| Japanese soldiers | ||||
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Gregory Peck | Atticus Finch | Sporterized US M1898 long rifle | 1962 |
| 100 Rifles | Raquel Welch | Sarita | US Model 1896 | 1969 |
| Aldo Sambrell | Sgt. Paletes | |||
| Indians | ||||
| The Wind and the Lion | Brian Keith | Theodore Roosevelt | US M1898 | 1975 |
| United States Marines | ||||
| Death Hunt | Lee Marvin | RCMP Sgt. Millen | Sporterized Norwegian M1894 long rifle | 1981 |
| Ironweed | Jared Swartout | US Army Officer | US M1898 | 1987 |
| U.S. Army Soldiers | ||||
| Public Enemies | East Liverpool Police officers | US M1898 | 1987 | |
| Sioux Falls vigilante | ||||
| April 9th | Pilou Asbæk | Second Lieutenant Sand | Danish 1889/24 Artillery and Infantry Carbine | 1987 |
| Danish soldiers | ||||
| Amigo | American soldiers | 2010 | ||
| Into the White | Norwegian soldiers | Norwegian Krag Model 1894 | 2012 | |
| The King's Choice | Norwegian soldiers | Norwegian Krag Model 1894 | 2016 |
Television
| Show Title | Actor | Character | Note / Episode | Air Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Three Stooges | Curly Howard | Curly | Spook Louder | 1943 |
| Hogan's Heroes | John Banner | Oberfeldwebel Schultz | 1965 - 1971 | |
| Werner Klemperer | Colonel Klink | Season 2 Episode 3 | ||
| Cliff Osmond | Marko | Season 3 Episode 1 | ||
| Bob Crane | Hogan | Season 3 Episode 8 | ||
| German soldiers | Used in place of Kar98k | |||
| Rough Riders | Freddie Joe Farnsworth | Sgt. Farnsworth | US M1896 Carbine | 1997 |
| Brad Johnson | Nash | |||
| Francesco Quinn | Lt. Castillo | |||
| Titus Welliver | Goodrich | |||
| Chris Noth | Craig Wadsworth | |||
| Buck Taylor | George Neville | |||
| Holt McCallany | Hamilton Fish | |||
| U.S. soldiers | ||||
| The Son - Season 1 | James Parks | Niles | 2017 |
Video Game
| Game Title | Appears as | Note | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Dead Redemption | "Bolt-Action Rifle" | US 1898 long rifle | 2010 |
| Red Dead Redemption II | "Bolt-Action Rifle" | Hybrid of US and Danish models | 2018 |
| Battlefield V | "Krag-Jørgensen" | Norwegian Model 1894 | 2018 |