Springfield M1892 Krag

About the Springfield M1892 Krag

The Springfield Model 1892 Krag was the first Krag-Jorgensen bolt-action rifle adopted by the United States and the first U.S. service rifle to fire a smokeless-powder cartridge, the rimmed .30-40 Krag. Manufactured under license at Springfield Armory, it featured the Krag's distinctive side-loading horizontal box magazine and famously smooth bolt throw. Owing to two years of tooling, most M1892 receivers were actually marked 1894, and the type saw front-line use during the Spanish-American War before being superseded by the improved M1896 and M1898 models.

The M1892 marked America's leap into the smokeless-powder era, but it arrived just as the world's armies were embracing faster stripper-clip loading. Its silky bolt earned shooters' affection while its slow single-round side magazine and weak single locking lug ultimately doomed the Krag family in favor of the Mauser-style M1903 Springfield.

Springfield M1892 Krag specifications

Production delays meant the great majority of M1892 rifles left Springfield in 1894-1896, and many surviving examples were later updated to M1896 standard. Early M1892s had a downward-swinging magazine cover and a cleaning rod carried beneath the barrel.