US Krag-Jorgensen Rifle

[Gildwiller1918]

When the US entered the war in 1917, it found that it lacked weapons to equip its armed forces. The M1903 Springfield was the main armament but only about 600,000 were available, and the M1917 Enfield was getting into production, based upon the British P14. So to make up for this lack of weaponry, the US broke out some of its older weapons still sitting in storage. One of these was the M1896/1898 Krag-Jorgensen Rifle. This rifle was the army issue rifle from 1894 to the introduction of the M1903 and was also was in service during the Spanish-American War. Additionally this was the first smokeless powder rifle used by US forces. Ironically the Spanish M1983 Mausers were a great surprise for the US forces, who found they were superior rifles, which led to the development of the M1903. 

The Krag was just under 50 inches in length, and weighed 9.3 pounds. The rifle used a .30-40 cartridge with a 220 grain bullet, that was quite below the requirements for the M1903. However in a supplemental role in WW1, it still had some service to offer. In the US, 32 camps were set up to train the recruits for the the demands of war, and they needed weapons to train with. The US released 160,000 of these rifles for various training purposes, which was better than some who got wooden dummy rifles. The US also authorized the production of newly made .30-40 ammunition for these rifles, which were loaded into bandoliers similar in appearance to the M1903 types, only outside difference was the markings (see examples below, top belt is still full, never opened, bottom one is empty). Interestingly enough, 2,000 of these rifles were sent to France with US railway engineers, however little is any use of them was recorded. In late 1917 and early 1918, these rifles were shipped back to the US as the M1903 and M1917 were into full production.

This rifle is the M1898 version, serial number 191482 which was manufactured in 1899, the stock is dated 1900. It has an original leather sling and metal oiler in the buut stock. This rifle was loaded by opening the lock on the right side and loading each cartridge one at a time, which was not as advantageous as the use of stripper clips, something that would also be added to the M1903. The bayonet used for the Krag was the model 1892, which look similar to the M1903 bayonet in appearance. This bayonet is made of steel with solid wood grips, the scabbard is also steel with a simple metal loop that attached to the web belts of the time.