US Krags :
152-733: Norwegian Krags : The Krag–Jørgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Norway, Denmark, and the United States. About 300 were delivered to Boer forces of the South African Republic . A distinctive feature of the Krag–Jørgensen action is its magazine . While many other rifles of its era use an integral box magazine loaded by
304-474: A half-capsule , containing only five rounds of ammunition instead of the previous ten. They also, over the next several months, combined what they considered the best ideas from other gunsmiths with a number of their own ideas to design a distinct bolt action for their rifle. The long extractor, situated on top of the bolt, was inspired by the Jarmann mechanism, while the use of curved surfaces for cocking and ejecting
456-421: A mag , is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm , either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holding several cartridges within itself and sequentially pushing each one into a position where it may be readily loaded into the barrel chamber by the firearm's moving action . The detachable magazine
608-490: A magazine (within or attached to the rifle ) and then fed individually into the chamber by a reciprocating bolt , via either a manual or automatic action mechanism, while the act of chambering the round typically also recocks the hammer / striker for the following shot. In common usage, the term "repeating rifle" most often refers specifically to manual repeating rifles (e.g. lever-action , pump-action , bolt-action , etc.), as opposed to self-loading rifles , which use
760-493: A speedloader ; or the en bloc clip for M1 Garand rifles, among others. Use of the term "clip" to refer to detachable magazines is a point of strong disagreement. The earliest firearms were loaded with loose powder and a lead ball, and to fire more than a single shot without reloading required multiple barrels , such as in pepper-box guns, double-barreled rifles , double-barreled shotguns , or multiple chambers , such as in revolvers . The main problem with these solutions
912-604: A "quad-column", can hold a large amount of ammunition. It is wider than a standard box magazine, but retains the same length. Casket magazines can be found on the Suomi KP/-31 , Hafdasa C-4 , Spectre M4 , QCW-05 and on 5.45×39mm AK rifle derivatives, and now the Kel-Tec CP33 as well. Magpul has been granted a patent for a STANAG -compatible casket magazine, and such a magazine was also debuted by SureFire in December 2010, and
1064-464: A Krag at once with no need for careful placement, and when shutting the magazine-door the cartridges are forced to line up correctly inside the magazine. The design was also easy to "top off", and unlike most top-loading magazines, the Krag–Jørgensen's magazine could be topped up without opening the rifle's bolt. The Krag–Jørgensen is a popular rifle among collectors , and is valued by shooters for its smooth action. The 1880s were an interesting period in
1216-524: A Parkhurst clip loading attachment to test use of Mauser-type stripper clips. In 1902, 100 rifles were made with 26 in (660 mm) barrels in an effort to develop one model acceptable to both infantry and cavalry. The so-called NRA carbines were rifles cut down to carbine length for sale to members of the National Rifle Association of America beginning in 1926 as a means of keeping skilled armoury workmen employed at Benicia Arsenal . In
1368-500: A change in surface treatment or other seemingly minor things. There were especially many model rifles made for the M1894, since several were sent to Steyr in Austria to work as controls and models. A small number of Krag–Jørgensen rifles were converted into harpoon guns, in the same fashion as Jarmann M1884s were converted to Jarmann harpoon rifles . It was realized that converting the Jarmann
1520-432: A charger or stripper clip , the magazine of the Krag–Jørgensen is integral with the receiver (the part of the rifle that houses the operating parts), featuring an opening on the right hand side with a hinged cover. Instead of a charger, single cartridges are inserted through the side opening, and are pushed up, around, and into the action by a spring follower. Later, similar to a charger, a claw type clip would be made for
1672-580: A commanding officer. The Krag–Jørgensen was formally adopted as the new rifle for the Norwegian Army on April 21, 1894. A total of more than 215,000 Krag–Jørgensen rifles and carbines were built at the Kongsberg Arms Factory in Norway. 33,500 additional M/1894 rifles were produced at Steyr (Österreichische Waffenfabrik Gesellschaft) in 1896–1897 under contracts for the Norwegian Army (29,000 rifles) and
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#17330857789801824-600: A conventional detachable box, but it was non-detachable and only reloaded by using 20 round stripper clips . Box magazines may come in straight, angled, or curved forms depending if the cartridges are tapered rimmed/rimless or bottlenecked. Straight or slightly curved magazines work well with straight-sided rimless cartridges, angled magazines work well with straight-sided rimmed/rimless cartridges and curved magazines work well with rimmed/rimless tapered cartridges. Pistol magazines are often single- or double-stack with single-feed, which may be due to this design being slimmer at
1976-483: A crucial safety feature for hunting dangerous game: when empty the follower stops the bolt from engaging the chamber, informing the operator that the gun is empty before any attempt to fire. The first successful semi-automatic pistol was the Borchardt C-93 (1893) and incorporated detachable box magazines. Nearly all subsequent semiautomatic pistol designs adopted detachable box magazines. The Swiss Army evaluated
2128-563: A drum magazine's extra capacity is its added weight that, combined with the gun, can affect handling and prolonged use. Drum magazines can be more difficult to incorporate into combat gear compared to more regular, rectangular box magazines. Many drum-fed firearms can also load from conventional box magazines, such as the Soviet PPSh-41 submachine gun, RPK light machine gun, and the American Thompson submachine gun . The term "drum"
2280-508: A feature known as a magazine cut-off . This is a switch on the left rear of the receiver. When flipped up (on the Norwegian Krag-J rifles and carbines), the cut-off does not allow cartridges in the internal magazine to be fed into the chamber by the advancing bolt. This was intended to be used for when soldiers were comfortably firing at distant targets. After each shot, the soldier would take a round out of his pouch and load it directly into
2432-416: A limited number of Krag–Jørgensens were made in purely civilian models. The Swedish-Norwegian Rifle Commission only briefly looked into bayonets , focusing on selecting the best possible rifle. However, their report mentions that they have experimented with knife bayonets and spike bayonets , both in loose forms and in folding forms. Very few of the experimental bayonets are known today. The bayonet that
2584-415: A single round of ammunition without manual reloading require some form of magazine designed to store and feed cartridges into the firearm's action. Magazines come in many shapes and sizes, with the most common type in modern firearms being the detachable box type. Most magazines designed for use with a reciprocating bolt firearm (tube fed firearms being the exception) make use of a set of feed lips which stop
2736-486: A single-feed design the top cartridge touches both lips and is commonly used in single-column box magazines, while a staggered feed magazine (sometimes called "double-feed" magazine, not to be confused with the firearm malfunction ) consists of a wider set of lips so that the second cartridge in line forces the top cartridge against one of the lips. The staggered-feed design has proven more resistant to jamming in use with double-column magazines than single-feed variants, since
2888-420: A special feed cover. The 75 rounds of ammunition were evenly distributed in each side of the magazine with a central feed "tower" where the ammunition is fed to the bolt. The ammunition was fed by a spring force, with rounds alternating from each side of the double drum so that the gun would not become unbalanced. Pan magazines differ from other circular magazines in that the cartridges are stored perpendicular to
3040-454: A specific demand, but there were also various attempts to increase the firepower of the weapon. The so-called "model rifles" were used both when the various sub types were approved and as a guide for manufacturing. Basically, the model rifle or model carbine was a specially manufactured weapon that showed how the approved weapon should be. They were numbered and stored separately. Several model rifles and carbines were manufactured for things like
3192-490: A toggle-link. There also exist lever-action rifles that feed from a box magazine, which allows them to use pointed bullets . A one-off example of Lever action reloading on automatic firearms is the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun . This weapon had a swinging lever beneath its barrel that was actuated by a gas bleed in the barrel, unlocking the breech to reload. This unique operation gave the nickname " potato digger " as
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#17330857789803344-541: A war, while denying the same advantage to the Swedes. However, after the rumour first surfaced in 1900, the issue was examined by the Swedish military. They declared the difference to be insignificant, and that both the Swedish and Norwegian ammunition was within the specified parameters laid down. Despite this finding, the Swedish weapon-historian Josef Alm repeated the rumour in a book in the 1930s, leading many to believe that there
3496-506: A wide range of national militaries. In 1890 the French adopted the 8mm Lebel Berthier rifles with 3-round internal magazines, fed from en bloc clips; the empty clips were pushed from the bottom of the action by the insertion of a loaded clip from the top. In the late 19th century, there were many short-lived designs, such as the M1895 Lee Navy and Gewehr 1888 , eventually replaced by
3648-518: Is a type of box magazine with another magazine placed in front. When firing, the bolt travels further back past the front section magazine until the rear section is empty, then uses the front section. Firearms using tandem magazines are the Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) and Gerasimenko VAG-73. The rotary (or spool) magazine consists of a cylindrical sprocket actuated by a torsion spring , with cartridges fitting between
3800-453: Is also likely that battlefield experience had proven the futility of this philosophy. One of the last new clip-fed, fixed-magazine rifles widely adopted that was not a modification of an earlier rifle was the M1 Garand . The M1 Garand was the first gas-operated semi-automatic rifle adopted and issued in large numbers as the standard service rifle of any military in the world. The M1 Garand
3952-413: Is held in place with a lever that fits into a notch. Moving this lever out of the notch will release the restraint on the bolt, allowing it to be drawn back. An extractor removes the spent cartridge, which is then ejected through the lever slot. A spring at the bottom of the magazine pushes up the reserve rounds, positioning the topmost between the bolt and the chamber at the base of the barrel . Pushing
4104-424: Is much more common because of its ability to store more rounds), since a staggered column is actually two single side-by-side vertical columns offset by half of the diameter of a round. As the firearm cycles, cartridges are moved to the top of the magazine by a follower driven by spring compression to either a single-feed (center-feed) position or side-by-side (staggered-feed) positions. Box magazines may be integral to
4256-466: Is no evidence of use by front-line combat units during that conflict. 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
4408-603: Is now sold as the MAG5-60 and MAG5-100 high capacity magazine (HCM) in 60 and 100 round capacities, respectively, in 5.56mm for AR-15 compatible with M4/M16/AR-15 variants and other firearms that accept STANAG 4179 magazines. Izhmash has also developed a casket magazine for the AK-12 . Desert Tech have also released the QMAG-53 compatible Quattro-15 lower receiver for the AR-15. A tandem magazine
4560-400: Is overcome. Other methods involve delaying the opening until two rollers have been forced back into recesses in the receiver in which the bolt is carried. Simple blowback action is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, but is limited in the power it can handle, so it is seen on small caliber weapons such as machine pistols and submachine guns . Lever-delayed blowback , as seen in for example
4712-411: Is removed from the rifle. It operates reliably with cartridges of different lengths. It is insertable and removable at any time with any number of cartridges. These features allow the operator to reload the gun infrequently, carry magazines rather than loose cartridges, and to easily change the types of cartridges in the field. The magazine is assembled from inexpensive stamped sheet metal. It also includes
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4864-471: Is sometimes applied to a belt box for a belt-fed machine gun, though this is just a case that houses a length of ammunition belt, not a drum magazine. [REDACTED] Media related to Drum magazines at Wikimedia Commons Before WWII the Germans developed 75-round saddle-drum magazines for use in their MG 13 and MG 15 machine guns. The MG 34 machine guns could also use saddle-drum magazine when fitted with
5016-589: Is sometimes colloquially referred to as a " clip ", although this is technically inaccurate since a clip is actually an accessory device used to help load ammunition into a magazine or cylinder. Magazines come in many shapes and sizes, from integral tubular magazines on lever-action and pump-action rifles and shotguns, that may hold more than five rounds, to detachable box magazines and drum magazines for automatic rifles and light machine guns , that may hold more than fifty rounds. Various jurisdictions ban what they define as " high-capacity magazines ". With
5168-410: Is still popular with some local law enforcement branches as a rifle that is easy to train officers who are already familiar with the pump shotgun. The bolt is a mechanism that is operated by hand to extract a fired cartridge, move a fresh round into the chamber and reset the firing pin, readying the weapon to fire again. The bolt closes the breech end of the barrel and contains the firing pin . The bolt
5320-555: Is that they increase the bulk and/or weight of a firearm, over a firearm with a single barrel and/or single chamber. However, many attempts were made to get multiple shots from loading a single barrel through the use of superposed loads . While some early repeaters such as the Kalthoff repeater managed to operate using complex systems with multiple feed sources for ball, powder, and primer, easily mass-produced repeating mechanisms did not appear until self-contained cartridges were developed in
5472-450: Is wrapped around the bolt-action to save vertical space and ease loading from the side. The Krag-Jorgensen bolt-action rifle is the only firearm to use this type of magazine and it was adopted by the militaries of Denmark, Norway, and the United States in the late 19th century. Drum magazines are used primarily for light machine guns . In one type, a moving partition within a cylindrical chamber forces loose rounds into an exit slot, with
5624-585: The .30-06 and 7.62mm NATO rounds. While this was found to be possible, it required a new barrel (or relined barrels) and modification to the bolt and receiver. The resulting cost of the conversion was about the same as that of a new gun of a more modern design. The last Krag–Jørgensen rifles in production were the M/1948 Elgrifle (moose rifle), of which 500 were made in 1948–49 and the M/1951 Elgrifle (moose rifle), of which 1000 were made in 1950–51. Before
5776-515: The American Civil War and the subsequent American Indian Wars , and the first repeating air rifle to see military service was the Windbüchse rifle . While some early long guns were made using the revolver mechanism popular in handguns, these did not have longevity. Even though the revolver mechanism was fine for pistols, it posed a problem with long guns: without special sealing details,
5928-479: The American Civil War . The Spencer used a tubular magazine located in the butt of the gun instead of under the barrel and it used new rimfire metallic cartridges. The Spencer was successful, but the rimfire ammunition did occasionally ignite in the magazine tube and destroy the magazine. It could also injure the user. The new bolt-action rifles began to gain favor with militaries in the mid-1880s and were often equipped with tubular magazines. The Mauser Model 1871
6080-594: The Battle of the Little Bighorn , and being the basis for the iconic Winchester lever-action repeating rifle , which is still in production to the present day. The Henry and Winchester rifles would go on to see service with a number of militaries including Turkey. Switzerland and Italy adopted similar designs. The second magazine-fed firearm to achieve widespread success was the Spencer repeating rifle , which saw service in
6232-571: The Bay of Pigs invasion . In 1919, the United States provided discounted arms sales to the Liberians, giving them a number of Springfield Krag rifles, in addition to Peabody and Mauser rifles. The Swedish-Norwegian Rifle Commission started its work in 1891. One of their first tasks was to find the best possible calibre for the new weapon. After extensive ballistic tests where different calibres were tested (8 mm, 7.5 mm, 7 mm, 6.5 mm etc.),
Krag–Jørgensen - Misplaced Pages Continue
6384-592: The Colt M1911 ), the barrel recoils only a short distance before decoupling from the breechblock. In a gas-operated mechanism, a portion of the gases propelling the bullet from the barrel are extracted and used to operate a piston. The motion of this piston in turn unlocks and operates the bolt, which performs extraction of the spent cartridge and via spring action readies the next round. Almost all modern military rifles use mechanisms of this type. Magazine (firearms)#Magazine cut-off A magazine , often simply called
6536-458: The Hotchkiss heavy machine gun in use in the Norwegian Army at the time. The backward and forward movement of the bolt operates a mechanism that moves the belt through the receiver, presenting fresh rounds for the weapon. While this may have been advantageous while fighting from fixed fortifications, it cannot have been very practical for the user of the rifle to carry a long feed belt with him in
6688-674: The Luger pistol using a detachable box magazine in 7.65×21mm Parabellum and adopted it in 1900 as its standard sidearm. The Luger pistol was accepted by the Imperial German Navy in 1904. This version is known as Pistole 04 (or P.04). In 1908 the German Army adopted the Luger to replace the Reichsrevolver in front-line service. The Pistole 08 (or P.08) was chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum . The P.08
6840-526: The M1903 Springfield rifle and Gewehr 98 respectively. The Russian Mosin–Nagant , adopted in 1891, was an exception. It was not revolutionary; it was a bolt-action rifle, used a small-bore smokeless powder cartridge, and a fixed box magazine loaded from the top with stripper clips , all of which were features that were used in earlier military rifles. What made the Nagant stand out was that it combined all
6992-510: The M249 and other squad automatic weapons , can feed from both magazines and belts. Many of the first repeating rifles and shotguns , particularly lever-action rifles and pump-action shotguns, used magazines that stored cartridges nose-to-end inside of a spring-loaded tube that typically runs parallel underneath the barrel, or inside of the buttstock. Tubular magazines are also commonly used in .22 caliber bolt-action rimfire rifles, such as
7144-598: The Marlin Model XT . Tubular magazines and centerfire cartridges with pointed ( spitzer ) bullets present a safety issue: a pointed bullet may (through the forces of recoil or simply rough handling) strike the next round's primer and ignite that round, or even cause a chain ignition of other rounds, within the magazine. The Winchester Model 1873 used blunt-nosed centerfire cartridges as the .44-40 Winchester . Certain modern rifle cartridges using soft pointed plastic tips have been designed to avoid this problem while improving
7296-567: The Ruger American series, the semi-automatic Ruger 10/22 , the bolt-action Ruger 77/22 and the Steyr SSG 69 . A capsule magazine functions similar to a box magazine, but the spring and follower is stowed away when the magazine bottom is flipped open. The cartridges are loosely dumped into the magazine and spring-fed to the chamber when the bottom is closed. On the Krag-Jørgensen the magazine
7448-538: The Sauer 200 STR was approved as the new standard Scandinavian target rifle, rebarreled and re-stocked Krag–Jørgensen rifles were the standard Norwegian target rifle together with the Kongsberg- Mauser M59 and M67 . The Krag was preferred for shooting on covered ranges and in fair weather, and dominated on the speed-shooting exercises due to its smooth action, and very fast loading with a spring speedloader, however it
7600-972: 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
7752-461: The Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle concept with its 30-round detachable magazine. After WWII, automatic weapons using detachable box magazines were developed and used by all of the world's armies. Today, detachable box magazines are the norm and they are so widely used that they are simply referred to as magazines or "mags" for short. All cartridge-based single-barrel firearms designed to fire more than
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#17330857789807904-556: The United Kingdom ) is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit, ready for insertion into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm. This speeds up the process of reloading the firearm as several rounds can be loaded at once, rather than one round being loaded at a time. Several different types of clips exist, most of which are made of inexpensive metal stampings that are designed to be disposable, though they are often re-used. The first clips used were of
8056-686: 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
8208-446: The War to End All Wars , military planners failed to recognize the importance of automatic rifles and detachable box magazine concept, and instead maintained their traditional views and preference for clip-fed bolt-action rifles . As a result, many promising new automatic rifle designs that used detachable box magazines were abandoned. An important development that took place during this war was
8360-565: The Wehrmacht 's use of the Krag–Jørgensen is hard to find, it is assumed that it was issued primarily to second line units since the Wehrmacht attempted to only issue firearms in standard calibres to front line troops. It was also issued to the Hird —the armed part of Nasjonal Samling (NS) ("National Unity"), the national-socialist party of Vidkun Quisling 's puppet government . It is further likely that
8512-521: The en bloc system is that the firearm cannot be practically used without a ready supply of (mosty disposable) clips. Paul Mauser would solve this problem by introducing a stripper clip that functioned only to assist the user in loading the magazine quickly: it was not required to load the magazine to full capacity. He would continue to make improved models of rifles that took advantage of this new clip design from 1889 through 1898 in various calibers that proved enormously successful, and were adopted by
8664-550: The en bloc variety, developed by Ferdinand Mannlicher and first adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Army , which would be used Austro-Hungarians during the first world war in the form of the Mannlicher M1895 , derivatives of which would be adopted by many national militaries. The Germans used this system for their Model 1888 Commission Rifle , featuring a 5-round en bloc clip-fed internal box magazine. One problem with
8816-434: The recoil , gas , or blowback of the previous shot to cycle the action and load the next round, even though all self-loading firearms are technically a subcategory of repeating firearms . Repeating rifles were a significant advance over the preceding single-shot , breechloading rifles when used for military combat, as they allowed a much greater rate of fire . The repeating Spencer rifle saw use by cavalry during
8968-482: The trigger guard . When operated, a spring in the tubular magazine pushes a fresh round into position. Returning the operating lever to the home position chambers the round and closes the breach. An interlock prevents firing unless the toggle is fully closed. The famous Model 1873 Winchester is exemplary of this type. Later lever-action designs, such as Marlin leverguns and those designed for Winchester by John Browning , use one or two vertical locking blocks instead of
9120-418: 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,
9272-566: The 1937 Parsley massacre was taken by US observers as evidence of the government's involvement in the killings. At the start of World War II, the Dominican government had 1,860 Krags on-hand, supplementing their over 2,000 Spanish Mausers. In Nicaragua, to support the government of Adolfo Díaz , the American government provided Krags to the newly formed Guardia Nacional in 1925. In 1961, Cuban militias were still fielding some Krag-Jørgensons during
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#17330857789809424-541: The 19th century. The first successful mass-produced repeating weapon to use a "tubular magazine" permanently mounted to the weapon was the Austrian Army's Girandoni air rifle , first produced in 1779. The first mass-produced repeating firearm was the Volcanic Rifle which used a hollow bullet with the base filled with powder and primer fed into the chamber from a tube called a "magazine" with an integral spring to push
9576-447: The 5-round stripper clips). Helical magazines extend the drum magazine design so that rounds follow a spiral path around an auger-shaped rotating follower or drive member , allowing for large ammunition capacity in a relatively compact package (compared to a regular box magazine of similar capacity). Early helical magazine designs include that patented by an unidentified inventor through the patent agent William Edward Newton in 1857 and
9728-447: The AK-47. The detachable magazine quickly came to dominate post-war military rifle designs. Firearms using detachable magazines are made with an opening known as a magazine well into which the detachable magazine is inserted. The magazine well locks the magazine in position for feeding cartridges into the chamber of the firearm, and requires a device known as a magazine release to allow
9880-560: The British Lee–Enfield , and the Norwegian Krag–Jørgensen are examples of bolt-action designs. In blowback operation, the bolt is not actually locked at the moment of firing. To prevent violent recoil, in most firearms using this mechanism the opening of the bolt is delayed in some way. In many small arms, the round is fired while the bolt is still travelling forward, and the bolt does not open until this forward momentum
10032-822: The Civilian Marksmanship Organisation (4,500 rifles). The various subtypes of Krag–Jørgensen replaced all rifles and carbines previously used by the Norwegian armed forces, notably the Jarmann M1884 , the Krag–Petersson and the last of the remaining Remington M1867 and modified kammerladers rimfire rifles and carbines. A number of 1896 and 1897 Steyr-manufactured Krag rifles resembling the M1894 Norwegian and chambered in 6.5×55, but lacking some Norwegian inspection markings and having serial numbers outside
10184-577: The French FAMAS assault rifle, can also handle more powerful cartridges but is more complicated and expensive to manufacture. In a recoil-operated firearm, the breech is locked, and the barrel recoils as part of the firing cycle. In long-recoil actions, such as the Browning Auto-5 shotgun, the barrel and breechblock remain locked for the full recoil travel, and separate on the return; in short-recoil actions, typical of most semiautomatic handguns (e.g.
10336-556: The German forces demanded that Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk build weapons for the German armed forces. They placed large orders for the Krag–Jørgensen, the Colt M1914 (license-produced Colt M1911 ), and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. However, production was kept down by sabotage and slow work by the employees. Out of the total of 13,450 rifles ordered by the Germans, only between 3,350 and 3,800 were actually delivered. Early deliveries were identical to
10488-601: The Kar98K. These shortened Krag–Jørgensen's were known in Norway as the Stomperud-Krag . A number of the Krag–Jørgensens manufactured for the Germans have been described as "bastards", created from mismatched parts left over from previous production. Experiments with using the German standard issue 7.92×57mm ammunition, a cartridge as powerful as the .30-06 and the modern 7.62 mm NATO , also took place. While information on
10640-496: The Krag by tying a piece of goatskin on string around the base of the cartridge." The 1916-1924 American occupation of the Dominican Republic resulted in a small flow of Krags to that country. The Guardia Nacional Dominicana issued the received Krag rifles, though the rifles broke down quickly when issued to unfamiliar Dominican troops, and spare parts were hard to obtain. The discovery of Krag bullets in victims' bodies in
10792-692: 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. Surplused Krags were given to the US Navy where they remained in second line service (to arm shore parties, boarding parties, and
10944-404: The Krag that allowed the magazine to be loaded all at once, also known as the Krag "speedloader magazine". The design presents both advantages and disadvantages compared with a top-loading "box" magazine. Normal loading was one cartridge at a time, and this could be done more easily with a Krag than a rifle with a "box" magazine. In fact, several cartridges can be dumped into the opened magazine of
11096-416: The Krag–Jørgensen rifle on July 3, 1889. The Danish rifle differed in several key areas from the weapons later adopted by the United States and Norway, particularly in its use of a forward (as opposed to downward) hinged magazine door, the use of rimmed ammunition, and the use of an outer steel liner for the barrel. The Danish Krag–Jørgensen was chambered for the 8×58R cartridge (0.31 in / 7.87 mm), and
11248-459: The M1894, but with German proof marks and substandard workmanship compared to M1894 produced earlier. During the war the model was altered to be externally more like the German Kar98K . This was achieved by shortening the barrel by 15 cm (6 inches) down to 61.3 cm (24 inches) and shortening the stock by 18 cm (7 inches), and adding a front sight hood similar to that of
11400-682: The Mark II Lee-Metford , three years after the Schmidt-Rubin. The first pistol with a double-stack, staggered-feed magazine was the Mauser C96 although it was an integral design fed by stripper clips. The first detachable double-stack, single-feed magazine for pistols was probably the one patented by the American Elbert H. Searle in 1904 and adopted by Arthur Savage though he didn't apply it in practice to his designs until much later. One of
11552-457: The Swedish Mauser action, i.e. requiring a push on the bolt handle to chamber in the Swedish arm. A rumour arose not long after the 6.5×55mm cartridge was adopted that one could use Swedish ammunition in Norwegian rifles, but not Norwegian ammunition in Swedish rifles. Some even alleged that this incompatibility was deliberate, to give Norway the tactical advantage of using captured ammunition in
11704-540: The United States, a number of states have passed laws that ban magazines which are defined as "high-capacity" by statute. High-capacity or large-capacity magazines are generally those defined by statute to be capable of holding more than 10 to 15 rounds, although the definitions will vary by state. Other nations impose restrictions on magazine capacity as well. In Canada, magazines are generally limited to 5 rounds for rifles and shotguns (with some exceptions) and 10 rounds for handguns (with some exceptions), depending on
11856-415: The aerodynamic qualities of the bullet to match those available in bolt-action designs, therefore extending the effective range of lever-actions. The most popular type of magazine in modern rifles and handguns, a box magazine stores cartridges in a column, either one above the other or in staggered zigzag fashion. This zigzag stack is often identified as a double-column or double-stack (The double-stack
12008-504: The axis of rotation, rather than being parallel, and are usually mounted on top of the firearm. This type is used on the Lewis Gun , Vickers K , Bren Gun (only used in anti-aircraft mountings), Degtyaryov light machine gun , and American-180 submachine gun. A highly unusual example was found on the Type 89 machine gun fed from two 45-round quadrant-shaped pan magazines (each magazine held 9 of
12160-491: 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
12312-402: The bolt handle with the help of a runner. The modification was deemed by some to be unnecessarily complicated. A separate pistolgrip was needed, and the receiver needed major modifications. Repeating rifle A repeating rifle is a single- barreled rifle capable of repeated discharges between each ammunition reload. This is typically achieved by having multiple cartridges stored in
12464-551: The bolt lever forward chambers this round and pushing the lever into the notch locks the bolt and enables the trigger mechanism. The complete cycle action also resets the firing pin. The Mauser rifle of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is the most famous of the bolt-action types, with most similar weapons derived from this pioneering design, such as the M1903 Springfield and the Karabiner 98 Kurz rifle (abbreviated often as Kar98k or simply K98). The Russian Mosin–Nagant rifle,
12616-469: The buttstock. In a classic lever-action firearm of the Henry-Winchester type, rounds are individually loaded into a tubular magazine parallel to and below the barrel. A short bolt is held in place with an over center toggle action. Once closed, the over center action prevents opening solely by the force on the bolt when the weapon is fired. This toggle action is operated by a hand grip that forms part of
12768-480: The cartridges being stored parallel to the axis of rotation. After loading of the magazine, a wound spring or other mechanism forces the partition against the rounds. In all models a single column is pushed by a follower through a curved path. From there the rounds enter the vertical riser either from a single or dual drums. Cylindrical designs such as rotary and drum magazines allow for larger capacity than box magazines, without growing to excessive length. The downside of
12920-622: The cartridges in to the action, thence to be loaded into the chamber and fired. It was named after a building or room used to store ammunition. The anemic power of the Rocket Ball ammunition used in the Volcanic doomed it to limited popularity. . The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action , breech-loading , tubular magazine-fed repeating rifle , and was an improved version of the earlier Volcanic rifle. Designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860, it
13072-506: The chamber as if he was using single-shot rifle. The rounds in the magazine are thus held in reserve. If the enemy suddenly charged or the soldier was ordered to charge, the soldier could then retract the cut-off for up to five rounds of rapid shooting. The M1903 Springfield that replaced the Krags had a magazine cutoff, as did the SMLE ( Lee–Enfield ) until 1915. After strenuous tests, Denmark adopted
13224-638: The civilian marksmanship organization serial number range are also known to be in South African museums and may have been used by Boer forces—it is suspected that these may have arrived in South Africa with a small Scandinavian volunteer force that fought for the Boers. A small number of Steyr 1897 M1894-like 6.5×55 rifles with 3-digit serial numbers outside the Norwegian contract ranges and in the same range as these Boer Krags, and lacking Norwegian inspection stamps like
13376-491: The clips to hold them in place so they would not fall out while the weapon was being transported or fired. A STANAG magazine or NATO magazine is a type of detachable magazine proposed by NATO in October 1980. Shortly after NATO's acceptance of the 5.56×45mm NATO rifle cartridge, Draft Standardization Agreement ( STANAG ) 4179 was proposed in order to allow NATO members to easily share rifle ammunition and magazines down to
13528-474: The cylinder produces a gas discharge close to the face when the weapon is fired from the shoulder, as was the common approach with rifles. Although most falling-blocks were single-shot actions, some early repeaters used this design, notably the Norwegian Krag–Petersson and the U. S. Spencer rifle . The former loaded from a Henry-style underbarrel magazine; the latter fed from a tubular magazine in
13680-413: The designers knew enough about firearms to be able to calculate the pressures and dimensions necessary. However, two designs were investigated further, and eventually one prototype was built. In 1915 Sergeant Sunngaard proposed a design for making the Krag–Jørgensen into a selfloading rifle. The design was considered over a period of time before it was declared to be 'quite without value', primarily because
13832-403: The development of modern firearms. During this decade smokeless powder came into general use, and the calibre of various service rifles diminished as new small-bore, high-velocity cartridges using smokeless propellant were developed. Many nations adopted repeating bolt-action rifles using such cartridges during this decade. Even though Norway had adopted the repeating Jarmann rifle in 1884, it
13984-417: The earlier features in a form that was to last virtually unchanged from its issue by Russia in 1894 through World War II and with its sniper rifle variants still in use today. A feature of many late 19th and early 20th century bolt-action rifles was the magazine cut-off, sometimes called a feed interrupter. This was a mechanical device that prevented the rifle from loading a round from the magazine, requiring
14136-774: The early 20th century, the United States also distributed the Krag to some Caribbean countries in which US forces intervened. These included Haiti, where they equipped the Gendarmerie d'Haïti (newly founded in 1915) with surplus Krags. A 1919 letter to the Marine Commandant from the First Provisional Brigade in Port-au-Prince noted: "...[A]bout 2,000 bandits infest the hills... I don't believe that in all Haiti there are more than 400 to 500 rifles, if that many. They are very short of ammunition.. They use our ammunition and
14288-447: The entire stripper clip into the hopper magazine. The Japanese Type 11 light machine gun was the only weapon system that used a hopper magazine. This light machine gun was fed by standard 6.5×50mmSR Arisaka stripper clips that were used by riflemen armed with the Type 38 bolt action rifle . The hopper is located on the left side of the receiver and held 6 of the 5-round clips, for a total of 30 rounds of ammunition. The hopper magazine
14440-455: The experiments with 7.92 mm ammunition means that the Germans considered a wider use of the Krag–Jørgensen. A few Krag–Jørgensen rifles were put together after 1945, for sale to civilian hunters and sharpshooters, among them 1600 of the so-called Stomperud Krag . While there were at no point any plans for re-equipping the Norwegian Army with the Krag–Jørgensen, attempts were made to adapt it to firing more modern, high-powered ammunition like
14592-496: The fact that both the Mannlicher and Mauser submissions were significantly faster to reload than the Krag, the latter, having been designed in Norway, was selected. As in the United States, rapidity of fire was deemed to be of lesser importance in an era when current military philosophy still emphasized precise aimed fire and conservation of ammunition. Instead, the magazine was looked upon as a reserve, to be used only when authorized by
14744-417: The field. Even so, it is an interesting and early attempt to increase the firepower of the Krag–Jørgensen. In 1923 Lieutenant Tobiesen, working at Kongsberg Weapon Factory, designed what he called a speed loader for repeating rifles . It can be seen as a new attempt to increase the firepower of the Krag–Jørgensen, just as the attempt to convert it to belt feed. The design consisted of a modified cover that let
14896-478: The firearm or removable: There are, however, exceptions to these rules. The Lee–Enfield rifle had a detachable box magazine only to facilitate cleaning. The Lee–Enfield magazine did open, permitting rapid unloading of the magazine without having to operate the bolt-action repeatedly to unload the magazine. Other designs, like the Breda Modello 30 , had a fixed protruding magazine from the right side that resembled
15048-568: The first double-stack, single-feed box magazines was patented in November 1888 by an English inventor called Joseph James Speed of Waltham Cross. Another was patented in May 1887 by the Austro-Hungarian Karl Krnka. The bolt-action Krag–Jørgensen rifle, designed in Norway in 1886, used a unique rotary magazine that was built into the receiver. Like Lee's box magazine, the rotary magazine held
15200-475: The help of master gunsmith Erik Jørgensen . Together they developed the capsule magazine. The principal feature of the capsule magazine was that instead of being a straight box protruding below the stock of the rifle, it wrapped around the bolt action. Early models contained ten rounds and were fitted to modified versions of the Jarmann—though they could be adapted to any bolt-action rifle. In 1886, Denmark
15352-486: The high cost of manufacturing a limited number of the devices. At the same time that the Hotchkiss heavy machine gun was introduced to the Norwegian Army, some people started considering modifying the Krag–Jørgensen to semi-automatic fire. Doing so would have multiplied the firepower of the infantry, allowing more weight of fire to be brought at a target. Most of the designs put forward were not very well thought out and few of
15504-448: The increased use of semi-automatic and automatic firearms , the detachable magazine became increasingly common. Soon after the adoption of the M1911 pistol, the term "magazine" was settled on by the military and firearms experts, though the term " clip " is often used in its place (though only for detachable magazines, never fixed). The defining difference between clips and magazines is
15656-869: The individual soldier level. The U.S. M16 rifle magazine was proposed for standardization. Many NATO members subsequently developed or purchased rifles with the ability to accept this type of magazine. However, the standard was never ratified and remains a "Draft STANAG". The STANAG magazine concept is only an interface, dimensional, and control (magazine latch, bolt stop, etc.) requirement. Therefore, it not only allows one type of magazine to interface with various weapon systems, but also allows STANAG magazines to be made in various configurations and capacities. The standard STANAG magazines are 20, 30, and 40 round box magazines, but there are many other designs available with capacities ranging from one round to 60 and 100 round casket magazines, 90 round snail-drum magazines , and 100 round and 150 round double-drum magazines. In
15808-607: The internal magazine of the Evans Repeating Rifle , patented in the late 1860s. This type of magazine is used by the Calico M960 , PP-19 Bizon , CS/LS06 and KBP PP90M1 . The North Korean military uses a 100- to 150- round helical magazine in the Type 88 assault rifle. Helical magazines offer substantially more ammunition carriage; however, they are inherently complex designs. As such, they can be difficult to load and may decrease
15960-470: The invention of Schmeisser's Cone in 1916 by Hugo Schmeisser which allowed high-capacity double-stack, single-feed box magazine using guns to function reliably although it wasn't implemented on any of his designs until after World War One . The first reliable high-capacity double-stack, staggered-feed box magazine was developed by an American designer called Oscar V. Payne for the Thompson submachine gun around
16112-500: The lever swung each time the weapon fired. With a pump-action firearm, the action is operated by a movable fore-end that the shooter moves backwards and forwards to eject a spent round, and extract and chamber a fresh round of ammunition. Pump-actions are usually associated with shotguns, but one example of a pump-action rifle is the Remington Model 7600 series. Rifles with pump action are also called slide-action. This style of rifle
16264-527: The like or stored in crates in the holds of older ships) well into the 1930s. US Marines were still using Krags in Nicaragua in the late 1920s. There were at least nine different models of the American Krag–Jørgensen: A few prototype Model 1898 sniper rifles were assembled with Cataract telescopic sights for limited testing. In 1901, 100 Model 1898 rifles, and 100 Model 1899 carbines were fitted with
16416-463: The low-numbered 1897 rifles in South African museums, are known to exist in the US—it is not known if these have Boer connections or were initially delivered elsewhere. The Krag–Jørgensen was produced in Norway for a very long time, and in a number of different variations. The major military models are the following: In addition, most models were produced for the civilian market as well. After World War II
16568-630: The magazine aligned horizontally over the barrel. Rather than being positioned laterally to the barrel like with the aforementioned examples, ammunition is positioned vertically with the bullet facing downward at a 90-degree angle relative to the barrel where it is fed into a rotary chamber before firing. The AR-57 , also known as the AR Five-seven, is an upper receiver for the AR-15 rifle lower receiver, firing FN 5.7×28mm rounds from standard FN P90 magazines. Another form of box magazine, sometimes referred to as
16720-546: The magazine through recoil or simply rough handling. This remains a concern with lever-action firearms today. Two early box magazine patents were the ones by Rollin White in 1855 and William Harding in 1859. A detachable box magazine was patented in 1864 by the American Robert Wilson. Unlike later box magazines this magazine fed into a tube magazine and was located in the stock of the gun. Another box magazine, closer to
16872-506: The magazine to be separated from the firearm. The Lee–Metford rifle, developed in 1888, was one of the first rifles to use a detachable box magazine, and the spare one could be optionally worn on soldier equipment , although with the adoption of the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield Mk I this became only detachable for cleaning and not swapped to reload the weapon. However, the first completely modern removable box magazine
17024-559: The magazine. One of the first detachable box magazines with a double-stack staggered-feed was the Schmidt-Rubin of 1889. Other examples include the patent of Fritz von Stepski and Erich Sterzinger of Austria-Hungary in May 1888 and the British patents by George Vincent Fosbery in 1883 and 1884. James Paris Lee is sometimes claimed to have invented the double-stack, staggered-feed detachable box magazine but he didn't design one until 1892 for
17176-535: The modern type though non-detachable, was patented in Britain (No. 483) by Mowbray Walker, George Henry Money and Francis Little in 1867. James Paris Lee patented a box magazine which held rounds stacked vertically in 1875, 1879 and 1882 and it was first adopted by Austria in the form of an 11mm straight-pull bolt-action rifle, the Mannlicher M1886 . It also used a cartridge clip which held 5 rounds ready to load into
17328-510: The narrowing of a magazine tube to a single-feed induces extra friction which the magazine springs needs to overcome. Some magazine types are strongly associated with certain firearm types, such as the fixed "tubular" magazine found on most modern lever-action rifles and pump-action shotguns. A firearm using detachable magazines may accept a variety of types of magazine, such as the Thompson submachine gun , most variations of which would accept box or drum magazines. Some types of firearm, such as
17480-527: The new assault rifle developed by the Germans. The SKS used a fixed magazine, holding ten rounds and fed by a conventional stripper clip. It was a modification of the earlier AVS-36 rifle, shortened and chambered for the new reduced power 7.62×39mm cartridge. It was rendered obsolete for military use almost immediately by the 1947 introduction of the magazine-fed AK-47 assault rifle, though it remained in service for many years in Soviet Bloc nations alongside
17632-447: The optimal caliber was determined to be 6.5 mm (0.256 in). Following this decision, a joint Norwegian-Swedish commission was established in December 1893. This commission worked through a series of meetings to decide on the different measurements for the cartridge case. A rimless cartridge case of 55 mm length was approved, and each possible measurement (diameter at base, diameter at neck, angle of case, angle of shoulder etc.)
17784-405: The presence of a feed mechanism in a magazine, typically a spring-loaded follower, which a clip lacks. A magazine has four parts as follows: a spring, a spring follower, a body and a base. A clip may be made of one continuous piece of stamped metal and have no moving parts. Examples of clips are moon clips for revolvers; "stripper" clips such as what is used for military 5.56 ammo, in association with
17936-459: The reliability of feeding the weapon. The hopper magazine is a very unusual design. Unlike many other types of magazine-fed machine guns, which commonly used either box magazines or belts to feed ammunition into the firearm's action, the hopper magazine functioned differently. It would use stripper clips from an infantryman or machine gunner to supply ammunition for the machine gun to operate. This could be accomplished at any time, by just dropping
18088-490: The requisite pressure would not be attainable without major redesign of the rifle. For this reason, no prototype was made. In 1938 a Swedish design called the SNABB was considered. This was a modification that could be made to virtually any bolt-action rifle allowing it to be converted into a self-loading weapon, therefore presenting a chance to cut costs as compared to manufacturing new weapons. The device used gas pressure to operate
18240-603: 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
18392-532: The rifle ready to be quickly reloaded. The M14 rifle , which was based on incremental changes to the Garand action, switched to a detachable box magazine. However, the M14 with magazine attached could also be loaded via 5-round stripper-clips. The Soviet SKS carbine, which entered service in 1945, was something of a stopgap between the semi-automatic service rifles being developed in the period leading up to World War II, and
18544-639: The rifle. Photographs of high-ranking Boer officers holding M1894-like rifles exist. Cartridge casings in 6.5×55 have been found on the Magersfontein battlefield and may have been fired by such M1894-like rifles. Some sources state that about 100 1896-date and at least about 200 1897-date rifles reached the Boers. Some rifles meeting this description exist in South African museums with Boer-war documentation, and in England documented as captured bring-backs. A few rifles having Norwegian inspector stamps and serial numbers in
18696-410: The rounds side-by-side, rather than end-to-end. Like most rotary magazines, it was loaded through a loading gate one round at a time, this one located on the side of the receiver. While reliable, the Krag–Jørgensen's magazine was expensive to produce and slow to reload. It was adopted by only three countries, Denmark in 1889, the United States in 1892, and Norway in 1894. A clip (called a charger in
18848-449: The same time as Schmeisser's Cone. As World War II loomed, most of the world's major powers began to develop submachine guns fed by 20- to 40-round detachable box magazines. However, of the major powers, only the United States would adopt a general-issue semi-automatic rifle that used detachable box magazines: the M1 carbine with its 15-round magazines. As the war progressed the Germans developed
19000-624: The sequences of those produced for Norway, were in Boer hands during the Second Boer War (1899–1902), most have serial numbers below 900. Markings show these rifles were manufactured by Steyr concurrently with a large order of M1894 rifles made for Norway. Some parts of rejected Norwegian rifles may have been used in these weapons—many small parts have serial numbers that do not match receiver numbers, these mismatched small parts sometimes have numbers in ranges of rifles made for Norway, yet appear original to
19152-428: The shooter to manually load each individual round as he fired, saving the rounds in the magazine for short periods of rapid fire when ordered to use them. Most military authorities that specified them assumed that their riflemen would waste ammunition indiscriminately if allowed to load from the magazine all the time. By the mid-20th century, most manufacturers deleted this feature to save costs and manufacturing time; it
19304-466: The spent round was probably inspired by the designs from Mauser . For a time after the weapon was adopted by Denmark they experimented with dual frontal locking lugs, but decided against it on grounds of cost and weight. The ammunition of the day did not need dual frontal locking lugs, and the bolt already had three lugs—one in front, one just in front of the bolt handle, and the bolt handle itself—which were considered more than strong enough. The rifle had
19456-417: The test, three rifles were shortlisted: About fifty Krag–Jørgensen rifles were produced in 1893 and issued to soldiers for field testing. The reports were good, and a few modifications were later incorporated into the design. For example, to prevent double feed manlfunctions , the extractor was redesigned to replace push feed with controlled feed , and sear leaf spring was replaced by a coil spring. Despite
19608-403: The tooth bar of the sprocket, which is mounted on a spindle parallel to the bore axis and rotates each round sequentially into the feeding position. Rotary magazines may be fixed or detachable, and are usually of low capacity, generally 5 to 10 rounds, depending on the caliber used. John Smith patented a rotary magazine in 1856. Another rotary magazine was produced by Sylvester Roper in 1866 and
19760-504: The top which can simplify the design of the pistol frame with regards to grip thickness. The FN P90 , Kel-Tec P50 , and AR-57 personal defense weapons use horizontally mounted feeding systems. The magazine sits parallel to the barrel, fitting flush with the top of the receiver, and the ammunition is rotated 90 degrees by a spiral feed ramp before being chambered. The Heckler & Koch G11 , an experimental assault rifle that implements caseless ammunition , also functions similarly with
19912-482: The user depresses the slide stop, throwing the slide forward, stripping a round from the top of the magazine stack and chambering it. In single-action pistols this action keeps the hammer cocked back as the new round is chambered, keeping the gun ready to begin firing again. During World War One, detachable box magazines found favor, being used in all manner of firearms, such as pistols, light-machine guns, submachine guns, semi-automatic and automatic rifles. However, after
20064-458: The user of the rifle attach a magazine from the Madsen light machine gun . The cover had a selector switch, allowing the user to select if he wanted to use the Krag–Jørgensen's internal magazine with its 5 rounds of ammunition, or if he wanted to use the external magazine with 25 rounds. The design was considered promising enough that eight prototypes were manufactured and tested. However, in testing it
20216-458: The vertical motion of the cartridges out of the magazine but allow one cartridge at a time to be pushed forward (stripped) out of the feed lips by the firearm's bolt into the chamber. Some form of spring and follower combination is almost always used to feed cartridges to the lips which can be located either in the magazine (most removable box magazines) or built into the firearm (fixed box magazines). There are also two distinct styles to feed lips. In
20368-412: Was a difference in cartridge blueprint measurements between Swedish and Norwegian 6.5×55mm ammunition, but this may be unintentional. Due to different interpretations of the blueprint standard, i.e. the standards of manufacturing using maximum chamber in the Krag vs. minimum chamber in the Swedish Mauser, a small percentage of the ammunition produced in Norway proved to be slightly oversize when chambered in
20520-471: Was a significant difference between the ammunition manufactured in Norway and Sweden. It is worth noting that Sweden would later adopt a 6.5×55mm rifle with a much stronger Mauser bolt action, the m/94 carbine in 1894 and the m/96 rifle in 1896, both of which were proof-tested with loads generating significantly more pressure than those used to proof the Norwegian Krag action. Once the question of ammunition
20672-534: Was also used in the weapons by Anton Spitalsky and the Savage Model 1892 . Otto Schönauer first patented a spool magazine in 1886 and his later design, patented in 1900, was used on bolt-action rifles produced at least until 1979, among them Mannlicher–Schönauer adopted by the Greek Army in 1903. The M1941 Johnson rifle also uses a rotary magazine. The design is still used in some modern firearms, most notably
20824-552: Was at least in the early years used as a single shooter with the magazine in reserve. It stayed in service right up to the German invasion of Denmark on April 9, 1940. Danish Krags were given the German identification code Scharfschützen-Gewehr 312(d) . While information on the various subtypes of the Krag–Jørgensen used in Denmark has proven difficult to find, at least the following subtypes were manufactured: Like many other armed forces,
20976-410: Was decided upon. The corresponding dimensions of the cartridge chamber to be used in a future service rifle was also determined. The cartridge became what is later known as 6.5×55mm. The round of ammunition is also known as 6.5×55 Krag, 6.5×55 Scan (Scandinavia), 6.5×55 Mauser, 6.5×55 Swedish, and 6.5×55 Nor (Norwegian), but they all referred to the same cartridge. Some historians have assumed that there
21128-439: Was designed with a series of mechanical teeth activated by a cam track on the gas piston to pull cartridges off each clip and into the action. After the fifth and final round from each stripper clip was fed and fired, the empty clip would then fall out the bottom of the hopper magazine and the next fully loaded stripper clip would then be dropped into place for feeding. There is a spring-loaded follower that applied pressure on top of
21280-415: Was fed by a special eight-round en bloc clip. The clip itself was inserted into the rifle's magazine during loading, where it was locked in place. The rounds were fed directly from the clip, with a spring-loaded follower in the rifle pushing the rounds up into feeding position. When empty, the bolt would lock open, and a spring would automatically eject the empty clip with a distinctive pinging sound, leaving
21432-489: Was finally approved, probably alongside the rifle itself, was a knife bayonet. Later on, longer bayonets were approved as well, and renewed experiments with spike bayonets took place during the development of the M/1912. A number of special bayonets and oddities were experimented with during the time the Krag–Jørgensen was a Norwegian service rifle, two of which are mentioned here. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany ,
21584-404: Was known to change its point of impact under wet conditions due to the single front locking lug. Thus, many shooters had both a Krag and a "Mauser" for varying conditions. The Krag–Jørgensen was manufactured for almost 60 years in Norway. During this time several special models and prototypes were designed and manufactured. Some of these special weapons were meant as an aid in production or to meet
21736-436: Was more cost efficient than converting the Krag–Jørgensen, so further conversions was halted. It is not known how many were converted in this way. The factory museum at Kongsberg Weapon Factory preserved a prototype of an M1894 modified for belt feed. Although no documentation has been uncovered, it's clear that the rifle has been modified at an early stage in the manufacturing process to use the same feed belts that were used on
21888-484: Was on the verge of adopting a new rifle for its armed forces. One of the early prototypes of the new rifle was sent to Denmark. The feedback given by the Danes was vital in the further development of the weapon. The test performed in Denmark revealed the need to lighten the rifle, as well as the possible benefits of a completely new action. Krag and Jørgensen therefore decided to convert the magazine into what they referred to as
22040-540: Was one of the first firearms to use self-contained metallic cartridges . The Henry was introduced in 1860 and was in production until 1866 in the United States by the New Haven Arms Company . It was adopted in small quantities by the Union Army in the American Civil War and was favored for its greater firepower than the standard issue carbine . Many later found their way Westward and was famed both for its use at
22192-599: Was originally a single-shot action that added a tubular magazine in its 1884 update. The Norwegian Jarmann M1884 was adopted in 1884 and also used a tubular magazine. The French Lebel Model 1886 rifle also used 8-round tubular magazine. Tubular magazines remain common on many makes and models of shotgun. The military cartridge was evolving as the magazine rifle evolved. Cartridges evolved from large-bore cartridges (.40 caliber/10 mm and larger) to smaller bores that fired lighter, higher-velocity bullets and incorporated new smokeless propellants . The Lebel Model 1886 rifle
22344-505: Was patented in 1908 by Arthur Savage for the Savage Model 99 (1899), although it was not implemented on the 99 until 1965. James Paris Lee’s patent of November 4, 1879, Number 221,328 would have been before Arthur Savage's magazine. Lee's magazine was also used on the Remington Lee model 1899 factory sporting rifle. Other guns did not adopt all of its features until his patent expired in 1942: It has shoulders to retain cartridges when it
22496-475: Was revealed that the heavy magazine mounted on the side of the weapon not only made the rifle more cumbersome to carry and use, but also made it twist sideways. It was decided that the "speed loader" was not a practical design for military use and no further manufacture took place. In 1926, a group of seal hunters approached Kongsberg Weapon Factory and asked to purchase a number of speedloaders for use when hunting seals from small boats. They were turned down due to
22648-514: Was settled, the Norwegians started looking at a modern arm to fire their newly designed cartridge. The processing was modelled on the US Army Ordnance selection process and considered, among other things, sharp-shooting at different ranges, shooting with defective or dirty ammunition, rapidity of shooting, conservation of ammunition, corrosion resistance, and ease of assembly and disassembly. After
22800-474: Was soon clear that it was at best an interim weapon. Ole Krag , captain in the Norwegian Army and director of Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk (the government weapons factory), therefore continued the development of small arms, as he had since at least 1866. Not satisfied with the tubular magazine of the Jarmann rifle and his earlier Krag–Petersson rifle (adopted by the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1876), he enlisted
22952-472: Was the first rifle and cartridge to be designed for use with smokeless powder and used an 8 mm wadcutter -shaped bullet that was drawn from a tubular magazine. This would later become a problem when the Lebel's ammunition was updated to use a more aerodynamic pointed bullet. Modifications had to be made to the centerfire case to prevent the spitzer point from igniting the primer of the next cartridge inline in
23104-402: Was the usual side arm for German Army personnel in both World Wars . The M1911 semi-automatic pistol set the standard for most modern handguns and likewise the mechanics of the handgun magazine. In most handguns the magazine follower engages a slide-stop to hold the slide back and keep the firearm out of battery when the magazine is empty and all rounds fired. Upon inserting a loaded magazine,
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