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Krag-Jorgensen Rifle

Small Arms And Sidearms

The Krag-Jorgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed in the late nineteenth century by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jorgensen, distinguished by a side-loading magazine that wraps around the bolt and is fed through a hinged door on the right side of the receiver, letting a soldier top off the magazine with loose rounds at any time without having to open the bolt or empty a clip first. Denmark adopted the design in 1889 and Norway followed in 1894, and the United States Army adopted its own chambering as its standard service rifle in the 1890s, while roughly three hundred examples also reached Boer forces during the South African War at the turn of the century. The rifle remained in front-line or reserve military service in various countries from its adoption in 1889 through the Second World War in 1945, with total production across all national variants reaching around seven hundred forty-eight thousand rifles manufactured chiefly at the Kongsberg arms factory in Norway.

Facts
Classification
Caliber
6.5x55mm 1
Caliber
.30-40 Krag 1
Caliber
8x58mmR Danish Krag 1
Service Status
Retired 1
Weapon Class
Bolt-action rifle 1
Introduced Year
1889 1
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)
Rifle 1
FAQs

Why did the United States Army adopt the Krag-Jørgensen, and why did its magazine become a problem?

Officials thought the magazine cutoff and slower reloading conserved ammunition, but the design proved a disadvantage against the Spanish Mauser.

American ordnance officials believed the Krag-Jørgensen magazine cutoff and its lower reloading speed were an advantage, because they conserved ammunition on the battlefield. That view did not last. Once American soldiers met Spanish troops armed with the charger-loaded 1893 7mm Spanish Mauser in the Spanish-American War, the Krag magazine design became a distinct disadvantage.
Connections

Operated By

Source MilitaryFactory.com: Krag-Jorgensen Model 1894 (Series)
Source MilitaryFactory.com: Krag-Jorgensen Model 1894 (Series)

Used In

Source Wikipedia: Krag-Jorgensen Rifle
In the Other Atlases

Manufactured By

Also in Business Atlas: the manufacturer of this subject.

Source Wikipedia: Krag-Jorgensen Rifletier 4
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Krag-Jorgensen Rifle
Wikipedia
  • Lead paragraph
    Krag-Jørgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century.
  • Danish Krag-Jorgensen rifles section
    After strenuous tests, Denmark adopted the Krag-Jørgensen rifle on July 3, 1889.
  • Infobox: service
    1889-1945
  • Infobox: cartridge
    .30-40 Krag 6.5×55mm Swedish, 6.5×55mm 8×58mmR Danish Krag
  • Used In: Spanish-American War, Wikipedia article text
    service, the Krag eventually proved uncompetitive with Mauser-derived designs, most notably in combat operations in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.
View the Source
MilitaryFactory.com: Krag-Jorgensen Model 1894 (Series)
MilitaryFactory.com
  • Operated By: Wehrmacht, Operators
    [ Denmark; Nazi Germany; Norway; United States ]
  • Operated By: United States Armed Forces, Operators
    [ Denmark; Nazi Germany; Norway; United States ]
View the Source
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