Quick-handling, light-kicking, accurate and plenty powerful,
this Krag Model 1898 sporter is a jewel.
As the United States service rifle, the Norwegian-designed Krag-Jorgensen was produced at the Springfield Armory from 1894 to 1904. It was used in the Boxer Rebellion, Spanish-American War and in the Philippine-American War before it was replaced by the Model 1903 Springfield.
This may represent a fairly short reign as our standard-issue service rifle, although it’s a couple of years longer than the M14 — although the ’14 remained in limited service for far longer.
Back In The Hunt
Although the Krag and its rimmed .30-40 cartridge may have been “obsoleted” by various Mausers, not to mention the Mauser-copycat ’03, it found favor with many hunters in sporterized trim. Its .30-40 cartridge — while not the equal of the .30-06 — was reasonably close ballistically to the similarly rimmed .303 British, at least in 180-grain configuration as opposed to the original 2,000 fps 220-grain loading.
It was, and is, a perfectly serviceable number for North American big game. In fact, it was used to take the world’s record (until recently) Rocky Mountain elk in 1899 according to Barnes’ Cartridges of the World.
Any commercial loading you may encounter is pretty much restricted to the 180-grain weight. Winchester, Hornady and Remington offer excellent hunting loads (Power Point, SP Custom and Core-Lokt) approaching the 2,500 fps mark — still about right for a general-purpose deer, bear and hog load. Regardless of fad and fashion, 3,000 fps is not the critical yardstick for a viable big-game load used at real-world yardages. Handloaders, of course, can go heavier or lighter.
Surplus Krags were shockingly inexpensive for decades and were often the only available choice for many hunters, particularly when there was a world war going on. The term “buck-fifty” Krag wasn’t all that much of an exaggeration.
The multi-lug Springfield ’03 (top) was stronger than the Krag. However, the single-lug
Krag was plenty strong enough for .30-40 pressures and was as smooth in operation as a bolt action gets!
Divine Flaws?
There were several American Krag variants — Models 1892, 1896, 1898 and 1899 in both rifle (30″ barrel) and carbine (22″ barrel) configuration. Many “civilianized” Krag sporters — usually 22″ carbine variants — had the side magazine “chopped” and replaced by a flush-fitting hinged cover. It only cut the 5-round cartridge capacity down by a couple of rounds but kinda destroyed the distinctive “Krag Kool” look of the originals.
Unfortunately for the prospects of Krag longevity, the Mauser stripper clip system had gotten all the major powers hot and bothered, so the simple, single-loading virtues of the Krag system were relegated to sportsmen. You could stuff a handful of cartridges in and — as long as the bullets were pointed the right way — once you snapped the cover shut, you were good to go.
Another factor contributing to the ’03’s adoption was the desire for an action permitting a more powerful cartridge than the 30-40 Krag (or .30 Army) which the .30-03 and .30-06 were. The single-lug bolt of the Krag action as slick-cycling as it was, couldn’t handle the pressures the multi-lug setup of the ’03 could.
The machining required to produce this wondrous side-magazine today would make any attempt at a current “Krag” prohibitively pricey. Me? I had one once, loved it, and traded it away. The lesson? If you have a nice Krag, hang on to it. Dump it and you’ll regret it. Trust me on this one.
One period military holdover is the magazine cut-off, a small lever at the left rear of the receiver which allows single loading without tapping into the main 5-round payload sitting in reserve.
Most changes in the M98 variant were minor and included a slight redesign of the bolt handle and a reversing of the operation of the magazine cut-off lever from the previous versions.
Incidentally, a few other notable American rifles have been chambered to .30-40 Krag, notably the lever-action M95 Winchester, the Remington-Lee Model 1899 bolt action and, much, much later, Ruger’s nifty little single-shot No. 3 Carbine.