U.S. Model 1898 Krag Rifle Manufactured at the Springfield Armory – Serial No. 146252

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U.S. Model 1898 Krag Rifle Manufactured at the Springfield Armory – Serial No. 146252 – The Krag rifle and carbine were the first smokeless powder, magazine loading arms used by the United States Army. The arm was adopted from a Norwegian design in 1892 and reached the troops starting in mid-1894. In Joe Poyer’s book “The American Krag Rifle and Carbine”, he states that the Krag rifle numbered 160061 was the end serial number in December, 1898. This Krag has a 30” barrel; the markings on the left side of the barrel, just above the receiver loading area, projection, states:

“U.S.

MODEL 1898   SPRINGFIELD ARMORY    146252”

The Model 1898 was the last of the Krags produced and serial numbers range from 125000 to 480000; serial numbers at or below 152670, as this example, are considered to be “antique firearms” in accordance with Federal laws. This Krag remains in overall very good condition, with some bluing and original finish; the stock is in fine condition, as well. The rifle’s firing mechanism functions properly. The bore is clean and retains fine rifling.

Like many other armed forces, the United States Military was searching for a new rifle in the early 1890s. A competition was held in 1892, comparing 53 rifle designs including Lee, Krag, Mannlicher, Mauser, and Schmidt–Rubin. The trials were held at Governors Island, New York, and the finalists were all foreign manufacturers—the Krag, the Lee, and the Mauser. The contract was awarded to the Krag design in August 1892, with initial production deferred as the result of protests from domestic inventors and arms manufacturers. Two rifle designers, Russell and Livermore, even sued the US government over the initial selection of the Krag, forcing a review of the testing results in April and May 1893. In spite of this, an improved form of the Krag–Jørgensen was again selected, and was awarded the contract. The primary reason for the selection of the Krag appears to have been its magazine design, which could be topped off as needed without raising and retracting the bolt (thus putting the rifle temporarily out of action). Ordnance officials also believed the Krag’s magazine cutoff and lower reloading speed to be an advantage, one which conserved ammunition on the battlefield. This magazine design would later resurface as a distinct disadvantage once U.S. soldiers encountered Spanish troops armed with the charger-loaded 1893 7mm Spanish Mauser in the Spanish–American War.

Around 500,000 “Krags” in .30 Army (.30-40) calibre were produced at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts from 1894 to 1904. The Krag–Jørgensen rifle in .30 Army found use in the Boxer Rebellion, the Spanish–American War, and the Philippine–American War. A few carbines were used by United States cavalry units fighting Apaches in New Mexico Territory and preventing poaching in Yellowstone National Park. Two-thousand rifles were taken to France by the United States Army 10th–19th engineers (railway) during World War I; but there is no evidence of use by front-line combat units during that conflict.^[5]

The US ‘Krags’ were chambered for the rimmed “cartridge, caliber 30, U.S. Army”, round, also known as the .30 U.S., .30 Army, or .30 Government, and, more popularly, by its civilian name, the .30-40 Krag. The .30 Army was the first smokeless powder round adopted by the U.S. military, but its civilian name retained the “caliber-charge” designation of earlier black powder cartridges. Thus the .30-40 Krag employs a round-nose 220-grain (14 g) cupro-nickel jacketed .30 caliber (7.62 mm) bullet propelled by 40 grains (3 g) of smokeless powder to a muzzle velocity of approximately 2000 feet (600 m) per second. As with the .30-30 Winchester, it is the use of black powder nomenclature that leads to the incorrect assumption that the .30-40 Krag was once a black powder cartridge.

In U.S. service, the Krag eventually proved uncompetitive with Mauser-derived designs, most notably in combat operations in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish–American War. It served as the U.S. military’s primary rifle for only 12 years, when it was replaced by the M1903 Springfield rifle in 1906 and many units did not receive it until 1908 and later.

Krag Rifle Serial Nos. – Dates of Production: Springfield Armory

Springfield Armory National Historic Site (source)

• 1894: 1-2,953
• 1895: 2,954-16,384
• 1896: 16,385-32,647
• 1897: 32,648-64,557
• 1897: 64,558-116,146
• 1899: 116,147-219,925
• 1900: 219,926-290,578
• 1901: 290,579-345,318
• 1902: 345,319-398,565
• 1903: 398,566-460,407
• 1904: 460,408-477,762