Krag-Jørgensen: Difference between revisions

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-fed 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
Hearts of the World		French soldiers	US M1898	1918
Shoulder Arms	Charlie Chaplin	Charlie	US M1898	1918
Shoulder Arms		US Army soldiers	US M1898	1918
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
The Lost World	Lewis Stone	Sir John Roxton	US M1896 or M1898	1925
7th Heaven		German soldiers	M1899 Constabulary	1927
Four Sons	Charles Morton	Johann Bernle	US M1896	1928
Four Sons		German soldiers	US M1896	1928
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
The Real Glory		US Army Troops, Philippine rebels	US M1899 Philippine Constabulary	1939
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
The Fighting Seabees		Japanese soldiers	US Model 1896	1944
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
The Wind and the Lion		United States Marines	US M1898	1975
Death Hunt	Lee Marvin	RCMP Sgt. Millen	Sporterized Norwegian M1894 long rifle	1981
Ironweed	Jared Swartout	US Army Officer	US M1898	1987
Ironweed		U.S. Army Soldiers	US M1898	1987
Public Enemies		East Liverpool Police officers	US M1898	1987
Public Enemies		Sioux Falls vigilante	US M1898	1987
April 9th	Pilou Asbæk	Second Lieutenant Sand	Danish 1889/24 Artillery and Infantry Carbine	1987
April 9th		Danish soldiers	Danish 1889/24 Artillery and Infantry Carbine	1987
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

Krag-Jørgensen: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:54, 14 December 2023

Contents

Background

Development

Denmark

United States

Norway

Film

Television

Video Game

Navigation menu

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Image:DanishKrag.jpg|thumb|right|400px|An American Jorgensen.]]
+[[Image:DanishKrag1889.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Original Danish Krag-Jørgensen Model 1889/10 Rifle - 8x58R]]
+[[Image:Krag_1889_Carbine.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Danish Krag-Jørgensen Model 1889/24 Infantry Carbine - 8x58R]]
+[[Image:Danish_Krag_Carbine.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Danish Krag-Jørgensen Model 1889/24 Artillery Carbine - 8x58R]]
+[[Image:NorwegianKrag.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Norwegian Krag Model 1894 - 6.5x55mm SE]]
 [[Image:USKragRifle.jpg|thumb|right|400px|US Property Marked Krag-Jørgensen Model 1896 Rifle - .30-40 Krag]]
-[[Image:Kragcarbine.jpg|thumb|right|400px|1896 U.S.Krag-Jorgensen carbine,.30-40 Krag]]
+[[Image:Kragcarbine.jpg|thumb|right|400px|1896 U.S.Krag-Jorgensen Carbine - .30-40 Krag]]
+[[Image:DanishKrag.jpg|thumb|right|400px|US Model 1898 Krag-Jørgensen Rifle - .30-40 Krag]]
+[[Image:Sporterized Krag-Jørgensen.JPG|thumb|right|400px|"Sporterized" US M1898 Krag-Jørgensen long rifle - .30-40 Krag]]
+[[Image:KJ_M1899_CC.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Krag-Jørgensen US Model 1899 Constabulary Carbine - .30-40 Krag]]
-Designed in Norway, this rifle was adopted by the Danish and Norwegian armies (chambered in 8x58R).  It was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1892, chambered in .30-40 Krag (a.k.a: .30 U.S./.30 Army/.30 Government). This rifle had a distinctive magazine, that was integral with the receiver, featuring an opening on the right hand side for loading, with a hinged cover.
+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-fed Mauser designs. However, the Krag's novel magazine and smooth action keeps it popular among gun enthusiasts today.
-'''This rifle can be seen in the following movies:'''
+__TOC__
-==Film==
+==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 [[Trapdoor Springfield Rifle|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.
-* American troops in ''[[The Real Glory]]''
+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 [[Mauser Rifle Series#1893 Spanish Mauser|Spanish M1893 Mauser]] during the Spanish-American War.
-* United States Marines in ''[[Wind and the Lion, The|The Wind and the Lion]]''
+===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.
-* Used by the Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders and U.S. Infantry Units in the made for television movie ''[[Rough Riders]]''
+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.
-* ''[[Death Hunt]]''
-* ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' - "sporterized" version used by [[Gregory Peck]] 's character , Atticus Finch , to shoot a dog infected with Rabies.
+<br clear="all">
+-----
+{{Gun Title}}
+==Film==
+{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" border="1" style="border: 1px solid #D0E7FF; background-color:#ffffff; text-align:left; font-size: 95%"
+|-bgcolor=#D0E7FF
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="280"|'''Title'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="170"|'''Actor'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="200"|'''Character'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="300"|'''Note'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="50"|'''Date'''
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[Hearts of the World]]'' || [[Robert Harron]] || The Boy || rowspan="2"| US M1898 || rowspan="2"| 1918
+|-
+| || French soldiers
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[Shoulder Arms]]'' || [[Charlie Chaplin]] || Charlie || rowspan="2"| US M1898 || rowspan="2"| 1918
+|-
+||| US Army soldiers
+|-
+| ''[[The Lost Battalion (1919)|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 (1925)|The Merry Widow]]'' ||  || A coachman || || 1925
+|-
+| rowspan=2|''[[The Lost World (1925)|The Lost World]]'' || [[Wallace Beery]] || Professor Challenger || rowspan=2|US M1896 or M1898 || rowspan=2|1925
+|-
+| [[Lewis Stone]] || Sir John Roxton
+|-
+| ''[[7th Heaven]]'' || || German soldiers || M1899 Constabulary || 1927
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[Four Sons]]'' || [[Charles Morton]] || Johann Bernle || rowspan="2"| US M1896 || rowspan="2"| 1928
+|-
+| || German soldiers
+|-
+| ''[[Two Arabian Knights]] || || Arabian and German soldiers || US M1898 || 1927
+|-
+| ''[[A Farewell to Arms (1932)|A Farewell to Arms]] || || Italian soldiers || US M1898 || 1932
+|-
+| ''[[King Kong]] || || S.S. Venture Sailors || US M1898 || 1933
+|-
+| rowspan="3"|''[[Cavalcade]]'' || Herbert Mundin || Alfred Bridges|| rowspan="3"| US M1896 || rowspan="3"| 1933
+|-
+| Clive Brook || Robert Marryot
+|-
+| || British soldiers
+|-
+| ''[[China Seas]]'' || || Malay pirates, British Sikh soldiers || US M1896 and M1898 || 1935
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[The Real Glory]] || [[Tetsu Komai]] || Alipang || rowspan="2"| US M1899 Philippine Constabulary || rowspan="2"| 1939
+|-
+| || US Army Troops, Philippine rebels
+|-
+| rowspan="6"|''[[Gunga Din]]'' || [[Victor McLaglen]] || Sergeant MacChesney || rowspan="5"| M1899 Constabulary rifle || rowspan="6"| 1939
+|-
+| [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]] || Sergeant Ballentine
+|-
+| [[Cary Grant]] || Sergeant Cutter
+|-
+| [[Sam Jaffe]] || Gunga Din
+|-
+| || Cultists
+|-
+| || Colonial troops || M1892 rifle
+|-
+| ''[[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)|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
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[The Fighting Seabees]] || [[John Wayne]] || Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan || rowspan="2"| US Model 1896 || rowspan="2"| 1944
+|-
+| || Japanese soldiers
+|-
+| ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]] || [[Gregory Peck]] || Atticus Finch || Sporterized US M1898 long rifle || 1962
+|-
+| rowspan="3"|''[[100 Rifles]] || [[Raquel Welch]] || Sarita || rowspan="3"| US Model 1896 || rowspan="3"| 1969
+|-
+| [[Aldo Sambrell]] || Sgt. Paletes
+|-
+|  || Indians
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[The Wind and the Lion]] || [[Brian Keith]] || Theodore Roosevelt || rowspan="2"| US M1898 || rowspan="2"| 1975
+|-
+| || United States Marines
+|-
+| ''[[Death Hunt]] || [[Lee Marvin]] || RCMP Sgt. Millen || Sporterized Norwegian M1894 long rifle || 1981
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[Ironweed]] || Jared Swartout || US Army Officer || rowspan="2"| US M1898 || rowspan="2"| 1987
+|-
+| || U.S. Army Soldiers
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[Public Enemies]]'' || || East Liverpool Police officers || rowspan="2"| US M1898 || rowspan="2"| 1987
+|-
+| || Sioux Falls vigilante
+|-
+| rowspan="2"|''[[April 9th]]'' || [[Pilou Asbæk]] || Second Lieutenant Sand || rowspan="2"|  Danish 1889/24 Artillery and Infantry Carbine || rowspan="2"| 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==
+{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" border="1" style="border: 1px solid #D0E7FF; background-color:#ffffff; text-align:left; font-size: 95%"
+|-bgcolor=#D0E7FF
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="225"|'''Show Title'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="175"|'''Actor'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="200"|'''Character'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="275"|'''Note / Episode'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="75"|'''Air Date'''
+|-
+| ''[[The Three Stooges]] || Curly Howard || Curly || Spook Louder || 1943
+|-
+| rowspan="5"|''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' || [[John Banner]] || Oberfeldwebel Schultz || || rowspan="5"| 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]]
+|-
+| rowspan="8"|''[[Rough Riders]]'' || [[Freddie Joe Farnsworth]] || Sgt. Farnsworth  || rowspan="8"| US M1896 Carbine || rowspan="8"| 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==
+{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" border="1" style="border: 1px solid #D0E7FF; background-color:#ffffff; text-align:left; font-size: 95%"
+|-bgcolor=#D0E7FF
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="300"|'''Game Title'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="200"|'''Appears as'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="250"|'''Note'''
+!align=center bgcolor=#D0E7FF width="100"|'''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
+|-
+|}
 [[Category:Gun]]
 [[Category:Rifle]]
+[[Category:Battle Rifle]]

Krag-Jørgensen: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:54, 14 December 2023

Background

Development

Denmark

United States

Norway

Film

Television

Video Game

Navigation menu

Search