Kongsberg Vapenfabrikk Krag-Jörgensen 1894 Complete Specs and Full Gun Specifications

Over 122,800 Model 1894 rifles were manufactured until 1922 for the Norwegian Army in Kongsberg Vapenfabrikk. That makes Model 1894 rifle most common Krag rifle in Norway. Some of them were turned into sniper rifles. Manufacturing of civilian models of Krag rifle was going until 1940. The Krag-Jorgensen is a bolt action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag (gun designer and director of the Kongsberg Vapenfabrikk) and Erik Jorgensen (gunsmith) in the late 19th century. They designed many submodels of famous Krag-Jorgensen rifle. As a successful gun design, Krag-Jörgensen rifle was adopted as a standard arm by Norway, Denmark and the United States of America. A distinctive feature of the Krag-Jorgensen action was its magazine that was loaded from a right hand side, not from above like Mauser rifles. On Mauser style rifles loading is done by using 5 rounds ammo clip and rounds are pushed from top down into the internal magazine. On Krag-Jorgensen rifle magazine is loaded through side opening hinged door, one round at the time, and pushed up, around, and into the action by a spring follower. A total of more than 215,000 Krag-Jorgensen rifles and carbines were built at the Kongsberg Arms Factory in Norway. The Krag-Jorgensen rifle adopted by U.S. Army in 1893 were chambered in 30-40 Krag caliber and made by Springfield Armory. One of the reasons to adopt it was the fact that Krag-Jorgensen rifle was slower to reload and that believed to be advantage because it will save the ammo on battlefield. That belief was proven deadly for US soldiers in the Spanish-American War where they were outgunned by Spanish soldiers armed with faster loading, more powerful Mauser rifles. Year of production and serial numnbers: 1895 (20201-21100), 1896 (21101-24532), 1897 (24533-29200), 1898 (29201-30000, 39001-42023), 1899 (42024-46000), 1900 (46001-50350), 1901 (50351-54841), 1902 (54842-59900), 1903 (59901-65503), 1904 (65504-71100), 1905 (71101-76400), 1906 (76401-79199), 1907 (79200-81774), 1908 (81775-84900), 1909 (84901-89601), 1910 (89602-94499), 1911 (94500-99200), 1912 (99201-102280), 1913 (102281-105643), 1914 (105644-106781), 1915 (106782-110281), 1916 (110282-112200), 1917 (112201-127200), 1918 (127201-134300), 1919 (134301-140700), 1920 (140701-145600), 1921 (145601-150000), 1922 (150001-152000).