Krag-Jorgensen M1898

About the Krag-Jorgensen M1898

The U.S. Magazine Rifle, Model 1898, commonly called the M1898 Krag-Jorgensen, was the standard service rifle of the United States Army from 1898 until replaced by the M1903 Springfield. It was a Norwegian-designed bolt-action rifle chambered in the rimmed .30-40 Krag (.30 Army) cartridge, with a unique side-loading horizontal box magazine that could be topped off with the bolt closed. Famously praised for its smooth bolt action, it served U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War.

The Krag's defining feature was its silky-smooth bolt action, which generations of shooters considered the finest ever fitted to a service rifle. Yet it was also its undoing: the single locking lug couldn't safely handle the higher pressures of newer smokeless cartridges, and U.S. troops who faced Spanish 7mm Mausers in Cuba came home demanding a stronger rifle.

Krag-Jorgensen M1898 specifications

The Krag's relatively slow loading (no stripper clips) and limited cartridge pressure capacity led the U.S. Army to adopt the Mauser-derived M1903 Springfield after experiencing Spanish Mauser fire in Cuba.