At the end of the 19th century, Norwegian designers, Army Captain Ole Krag and engineer Erik Jørgensen jointly designed a rifle that today seems strangely structured, named after the two designers the Craig-Jorgensen rifle. Today we will introduce the Klag-Jorgensen rifle equipped by the Norwegian army.
Norwegian smokeless powder gun and ammunition selection
At the end of the 19th century, Norway was not yet formally independent, was a member of the Norwegian-Swedish Union, and embraced the King of Sweden as monarch, but had autonomy. By the end of the 19th century, the Norwegian and Swedish armies had been equipped with the Jarmann M1884 rifle to replace the old Remington M1867 rifle, a revolving bolt-pull, tubular magazine rifle that fired 11.5x61mmR black powder rifle cartridges with a capacity of 8 rounds. The Yaman M1884 rifle was noticeably more advanced than the remington M1867, a single-shot rifle, but with france taking the lead in using smokeless powder rifle cartridges in 1886, the Yaman M1884 rifle was clearly lagging behind and was destined to be used only as a transitional weapon.
Jarmann M1884 rifle
Jarmann M1884 rifle
Jarmann M1884 rifle
11.5x61mmR black powder rifle cartridge
Therefore, soon after the arming of the Yaman M1884 rifle, Norway and Sweden decided to develop a new smokeless powder rifle cartridge and a new rifle to support it. In 1891, Norway and Sweden jointly formed a rifle committee to conduct extensive and meticulous testing of various smokeless powder rifle cartridges in Europe, and in the process they were deeply influenced by the Swiss engineer Eduard Rubin (the Rubin of the Schmidt-Rubin straight-pull bolt rifle), who believed that the new rifle shell should adopt a small-caliber, high-velocity armored warhead, and finally the two countries jointly determined that the new rifle bullet caliber was 6.5mm.
However, when it comes to the shell style, Norway and Sweden have differences. Sweden prefers flange bullets, because the bottom of the bullet is strong, and the thickness of the flange is a latching gap, and the size of the neck at the front of the shell is not high; Norway prefers bottomless edge bullets, because it is not easy to hook and hang in the magazine, and the supply is smooth, so at one time it made a compromise half bottom edge bullet. However, Sweden eventually accepted the bottomless edge bullet, which was defined as a 6.5x55mm bottomless edge rifle bullet.
A 6.5x55mm rifle cartridge commonly used in Norway and Sweden
The original 6.5x55mm rifle cartridge used a 10.1 g lead-cored copper armor round warhead, firing an initial velocity of 725 m/s with a long rifle and a muzzle kinetic energy of 2654J, which was similar to the 6.5 mm Tomosaka round head elastic energy fired by the Japanese 30-year rifle.
According to the agreement reached between Norway and Sweden, the two countries use the same rifle cartridge, but the standard rifle each chooses the appropriate model, and finally Sweden introduced the Mauser rifle technology, choosing the M1894 Mauser rifle as the standard rifle, which is also known as the "Swedish Mauser".
And Norway is not optimistic about the vertical magazine rifle, they prefer the design of their own designers Klagg and Jorgensen, although this cartridge reloading speed is slow, but at the end of the 19th century, the armed forces of various countries also generally believe in rifle long-range firing, the magazine is only a backup, and even to load the magazine separator, so Norway finally determined the Craig -Jorgensen M1894 rifle as its own standard rifle.
The Klagg-Jorgensen M1894 rifle selected by Norway (top) and the M1894 Mauser rifle selected by Sweden (bottom)
PS: Norway has been using 6.5x55mm round-head bullets until 1940 by the German occupation and did not change, Sweden initially used round-toe bullets, but in 1941 in the neutral status of World War II Sweden replaced the round-headed bullets with pointed bullets, the type of pointed bullet weighs 9.1g, pointed stern, initial speed of 800m/s, muzzle kinetic energy 2912J, is the old rifle bullet in the 6.5mm "small caliber" bullet the best performance, drug-like existence! Noma is still producing the bomb today, and it is a popular hunting and competition bomb.
A 6.5x55mm pointed bullet produced in Sweden after 1941
The Norwegian version of Craig-Jorgensen features and variants
Norway chose the Krag-Jorgensen rifle later than the United States, so many improvements to the American version of the Craig-Jorgensen rifle have also been used on the Norwegian version, such as the loading trap door is changed to a downward flip, the bullet is not easy to roll to the ground when reloading, the pull handle is changed to tilt downwards, the safety at the tail of the bolt is changed to Mauser-style paddle insurance, and the Norwegian Krag-Jorgensen M1894 rifle uses a horizontal gauge at the beginning, and the gauge plate is buried in the handguard, which is well protected by the handguard.
Details of the Craig-Jorgensen M1894 rifle
Details of the Craig-Jorgensen M1894 rifle
Details of the Craig-Jorgensen M1894 rifle
Details of the Craig-Jorgensen M1894 rifle
Details of the Craig-Jorgensen M1894 rifle
Of course, subject to historical limitations, the Norwegian Klag-Jorgensen M1894 rifle also has a magazine cutter, which can only be loaded with one shot after the magazine is disconnected.
The Craig-Jorgensen M1894 rifle also has a magazine cutter, which is the paddle located on the right side of the bolt's tail.
The Krag-Jorgensen M1894 rifle was produced from 1894 to 1922 by the Norwegian Arsenal of Konsberg, with a total production of 122,817 rifles, and in 1896-1897, Norway commissioned the Austrian company Steyr to produce 29,000 rifles, which were issued to military organizations such as the Norwegian Civil Shooting Association in addition to the Norwegian army.
The Craig-Jorgensen M1894 rifle also had a sniper version in 1910, which was based on the ordinary Craig-Jorgensen M1894 rifle with an optical sight produced by the German Voigtlander, and each infantry fired 5 in a row for shooting high-value targets on the battlefield. However, the Craig-Jorgensen M1894 sniper model did not perform well in the trial, the scope structure was complex, and it was never produced since.
Craig-Jorgensen M1894 sniper rifle
The sniper scope can usually be removed and carried in a wooden carrying box.
Scope carrying box
The scope is fixed to the mirror bridge on the side of the rifle receiver, and unlike modern sights, its gauge adjustment is external, displayed with a semi-circular dial.
In addition to the standard long rifle, the Norwegian version of the Klag-Jorgensen also has a carbine, the earliest model is the M1895 carbine, there are two types of cavalry and artillery, the common feature is that the handguard is shortened, the front of the barrel is exposed to reduce weight, there is no bayonet seat, the difference between the two types is the fixed position of the gun strap ring on the stock. The M1895 carbine production began and ended in 1898-1906, with a total production of 9309 pieces.
M1895 Craig-Jorgensen Cavalry Carbine
M1895 Craig-Jorgensen Cavalry Carbine
The second type of carbine is the M1904 sapper carbine and the M1907 field artillery carbine, the only difference between the two types of carbine is only the gun strap mounting method, the biggest difference compared to the M1895 carbine is the handguard, they put the upper handguard back, wrapped to the muzzle hoop position, there is a bayonet mount, can be installed bayonet. These two types of carbines are more like "short rifles" for sappers and artillerymen. Between 1906 and 1908, a total of 2,750 M1904 sapper carbines and 750 M1907 field artillery carbines were produced.
M1904 Craig-Jorgensen Sapper Carbine
M1904 Craig-Jorgensen Sapper Carbine
The third generation carbine is the M1912 carbine. The shape of this type is very distinctive, the most Norwegian national characteristics, generally do not admit mistakes. This type uses a handguard that is wrapped all the way to the muzzle, and there is a sturdy muzzle hoop and bayonet holder, and later this bayonet seat has a small improvement and becomes stronger, so there are M1912/16, M1812/18 and other subtypes, and the pull handle of the M1912 carbine is changed from a round head to a flat head with grid anti-slip patterns, which becomes more suitable for the gun body and has less bulges.
M1912 Craig-Jorgensen carbine
M1912 Craig-Jorgensen carbine
M1912 Craig-Jorgensen carbine
M1912 Close-up of the Muzzle Hoop/Bayonet Mount of the Craig-Jorgensen Carbine Gun
Norway attaches great importance to military physical education among young people, and since 1902 the Norwegian Shooting Sports Association has proposed to Parliament that shooting training be carried out among boys in secondary schools, and this recommendation was adopted in 1906, and secondary school boys aged 14-17 are required to undergo 3 hours a week or 36 hours of shooting lessons per year. To this end, Norway has produced a special variant of the Klag-Jorgensen rifle, the M1906 "Guttekarabin for Boys".
Special variant of the Norwegian Klag-Jorgensen rifle, M1906 "Guttekarabin for Boys"
Special variant of the Norwegian Klag-Jorgensen rifle, M1906 "Guttekarabin for Boys"
Special variant of the Norwegian Klag-Jorgensen rifle, M1906 "Guttekarabin for Boys"
The M1906 "Boy Carbine" is a simplified version of the M1895 carbine, removing the original small upper handguard, the upper part of the barrel is completely exposed, in order to adapt to the size of the teenager, the stock is cut short, other aspects are not much different from the Norwegian Klag-Jorgensen rifle. In addition to firing 6.5x55mm ordinary bullets, Norway also developed a "special bullet for military training" for this gun, which contains only a small amount of black powder in the shell, and the warhead is shorter and lighter than the military bullet to shoot safely at small ranges, and its design idea is very similar to Japan's "narrow shooting bullet".
Several Norwegian 6.5x55mm cartridges are compared to Mauser 7.92 rifle cartridges, from left to right: trainer, empty pack, military training and tracer.
The M1906 "Boy Carbine" supplied the production of 3321 units, of which about 315 were reloaded to fire safer and cheaper .22LR edge firing shells. Until the outbreak of World War II, military training shooting was a compulsory course in Norwegian secondary schools.
A reloaded M1906 "Boy Carbine" firing .22LR edge firing shell
A reloaded M1906 "Boy Carbine" firing .22LR edge firing shell
A reloaded M1906 "Boy Carbine" firing .22LR edge firing shell
During World War II, Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany, and the German occupation authorities confiscated various types of Krag-Jorgensen rifles, some of which were issued as spare weapons to the occupation forces in Norway, and a considerable part to the German-backed Norwegian fascist militia and puppet police. During the occupation, the German Army forced the Norwegian Arsenal to produce the Klag-Jorgensen rifle, the M1914 pistol (the Norwegian version of the Colt M1911 pistol) and the 40mm anti-aircraft gun for the German army, but production has been intermittently irregular due to the sabotage of the Norwegian underground resistance organization and the chaotic management of the German occupation authorities. During this time there was a strange variant of the Klag-Jorgensen rifle, which was produced from parts of the Mauser Kar.98k rifle plus the basic structure of the Krag-Jorgensen rifle, with a special name called Stomperud-Krag, which assembled about 1600 pieces.
Stomperud-Krag, a patchwork of Parts for the Krager-Jorgensen and Mauser rifles produced during the Nazi occupation.