The Krag Jorgensen Rifle

In 1890, the U.S. Army decided it needed a repeating rifle to replace the single shot Springfield then in use.  A number of rifles were tested, and a design from Norway won the bid.  The rifle was the Krag-Jorgensen, designed by Captain Ole Hermann Krag and Eric Jorgensen, both of the Norway Arms Factory.  The Krag was bolt action, with rounds fed from a magazine into the chamber, and used smokeless powder.  The rounds were .30 to .40 caliber, and accuracy was good to 600 yards.  This was quite an improvement over the 200 yards of the incredible-at-the-time Kentucky Rifle.

 

The Krag was the Army's main battle rifle during the Spanish American War, and saw action in the Phillipines and Cuba.  Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders used the carbine version of the Krag in their cavalry charge (on foot) up San Juan Hill in Cuba.  Against elite Spanish forces in the Phillipines, the Krag proved inferior to the Mauser rifle, shooting a 7mm bullet.  The Mauser rifle had competed for the U.S. contract, and lost to the Krag. 

A skilled shooter using the Krag could shoot 43 aimed shots in 2 minutes, although the shortcoming was seen as it being slow to load the magazine.   Use of the Krag didn't last long.  The Army found a replacement for the Krag in the 1903 Springfield rifle, the Army's main battle rifle of WWI.

Comments

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[gbnyc]

"The rounds were .30 to .40 caliber,"

In the US, the bullet was .30 caliber, with the cartridge being known as the .30-40 Krag, or .30-40 Govt.

The "40" refers to the equivalent charge in grains of black powder for the smokeless powder charge actually used in the cartridge.

So, the .30-40:
A .30 caliber bullet with a smokeless powder charge equivalent to 40 grains of black powder.

This same method of nomenclature is used for the famous .30-30 Winchester cartridge- a .30 caliber bullet with a charge of smokeless powder equivalent to 30 grains of black powder.

The Krag was issued in Norway (cal. 6.5mm) Denmark (cal. 8mm), and Sweden (cal. 6.5mm), also.

[David Chappell (Krag-Jørgensen M1898 shooter!)]

I'm very sorry, but you are mistaken. The '40' in 30-40 does NOT refer to a 'black powder equivalent' at all. It simply refers to the charge weight, in grains, of the smokeless propellant used in the cartridge.

It is a hangover from blackpowder cartridge usage, and as it was the first smokeless US Government cartridge, they stuck with the same nomeclature - that is bullet calibre followed by charge weight!

It was the same for the later 30-30.

David

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