And it so happened that after the appearance of the Peabody rifle, as it always happens, there were many imitations of it. This is the rifle of Roberts, and Vestel Richards, and Swinburne, and Cochran, but all of them simply cannot be listed. But improvements of a different kind followed immediately, for example, attempts to combine the Peabody bolt and the rifle magazine. So the Krag-Peterson rifle became the first magazine rifle adopted in service in Norway, and it again used the Peabody bolt, but with a unique drive system and, in addition, an underbarrel magazine. Another feature was … exceptional simplicity, since the cartridge fed into the receiver from the magazine was fed into the chamber … with a finger!
The first sample of the Ole Johannes Krag rifle, model 1869, with an under-barrel magazine and a bolt control lever located on the right of the receiver. Subsequently, the Rudolf Schmidt rifle, model 1873, received a similar lever.
12, 17 mm rifle "Krag-Petersson" M1876. (Defense Museum, Oslo)
Let's start with the authors. Ole Hermann Johannes Krag was an officer in the Norwegian army and served in the artillery. In 1870 he worked as an inspector at an arms factory in Kongsborg, and from 1880 he became its chief, at the same time he was engaged in the invention of hand-held firearms. In 1869 he offered his first rifle, in 1874, together with the Swedish engineer Alex Petersson, he created a successful model of a rifle adopted by the Norwegian and Danish navies, in 1888, in cooperation with Eric Iorgenson, he created a rifle, adopted in 1889 by the Danish army, in 1892 American, in 1894 - Norwegian. In 1902 he retired, and six years later he offered a self-loading pistol of the original design.
The caliber of the 1874 rifle was 12, 17 mm. The cartridge for it, loaded with black black powder, had a lead expansion bullet without a shell and side ignition. In total, about 900-1000 pieces were manufactured. Krag-Petersen rifles. At the same time, about half of this amount was made at the Karl Gustav factory in Sweden, and the other half was produced at the Karl-Johans factory in Norway. Moreover, it was the first rifle developed by Ole Krag, put into service. However, it was Axel Petersson who in 1871 proposed to change its design so as to achieve the utmost simplicity and use a minimum of details in it. In fact, a characteristic feature of all rifles with a Peabody bolt was the presence of a lever that controlled this bolt, and a hammer that hit the edge of a cartridge with side ignition or on the striker, which impaled the primer of the central battle. At the very beginning, Ole Krag also had such a lever. But Petersson found an even simpler solution.
Receiver of the Krag-Petersson rifle. Left view. The axle locking plate is clearly visible.
He proposed to make it possible to control the bolt with only one trigger, which immediately made the rifle mechanism both simpler and more reliable in operation. Well, the Ole Krag's tubular under-barrel magazine on the new model was also retained.
Receiver of the Krag-Petersson rifle. Right view. (Defense Museum, Oslo)
Details of the mechanism of the Krag-Petersson rifle. (Defense Museum, Oslo)
The result is a construction (see.photo), which is very simple in comparison with any modern rifles and consisted of only eight main parts: a receiver with a spring placed inside, a trigger (top left), a bolt (right), a striker (a part above the bolt), trigger and bolt attachment axles, and a locking plate for these axles, similar in purpose to the plate on the Remington rifle with a mounting screw.
Remington carbine chambered for 8x58R M1867. (Defense Museum, Oslo)
The designers tied the trigger on the rifle to the bolt and sprung it up, at the same time increasing it in size. Now it was enough to take the rifle by the buttstock neck and press the trigger lever so as to squeeze it all the way down so that the bolt moves down. At the same time, at first, the extractor threw a spent cartridge case out of the barrel, and then, since the bolt continued to go down, another cartridge was pushed out of the tubular magazine onto the feed tray in the upper part of the bolt, and the sleeve that was on the tray was pushed out accordingly. Now the lever could be released a little. The shutter rose, closed the opening of the store and put the cartridge lying on the feeder on the ramming line. From her, he went into the chamber with the finger of his left hand. The lever could now be released. At the same time, the shutter rose even higher, locked the chamber, but … the lever itself, which was also the trigger, remained cocked. When the trigger was pulled, he hit the striker, which was followed by a shot. A magazine containing 10 rounds was under the barrel. True, it was necessary to poke your fingers into the bolt carefully, since a person unfamiliar with the features of this weapon could pinch the bolt on the skin on the thumb.
As you can see, in order to activate the bolt, it was only necessary to squeeze the trigger lever all the way with the pad of the palm of your thumb … And then, again, push the cartridge into the chamber with your finger. It couldn't be simpler!
Such a simple and therefore reliable system could not have attracted the attention of the military. So when it was presented to the Norwegian / Swedish Artillery Committee in 1872, he liked it. It was proposed to continue testing the rifle, which was done in 1873 and 1874. In total, positive results were obtained. The reports particularly praised the rifle's accuracy, its rate of fire, and the fact that its extractor worked flawlessly. The last praise was due to the fact that on the Remington M1867 - the standard rifle of the Norwegian army - he very often could not remove the empty case and had to knock it out with a ramrod!
Having released the lever, it was possible to raise the bolt to the chambering line and send the cartridge with a finger into the chamber. Then the bolt rose even higher, locked the chamber and got up to a combat platoon.
It was noted that the rifle is not only very durable, but can freely make 18 - 19 aimed shots per minute. Again, faster than the standard Remington M1867, which fired only 13 rounds per minute. During the tests, it turned out that 11 charges - ten in the magazine and one in the chamber - could be fired in just 25 seconds. Well, and its strength turned out to be downright above all praise. So, during the tests, she was repeatedly thrown from a height of 4 meters on stones to see if at least one cartridge in the store would explode or not. And what? Superficial damage to the butt and stock took place. But none of the cartridges exploded, and the rifle mechanism was not damaged.
Clearly visible: breech, magazine feeder, bolt. (Defense Museum, Oslo)
After careful consideration, 30 rifles were transferred to the Royal Guard, where they were used from 1875. These 30 rifles differ from later rifles, being 35 mm shorter than the others. By the way, during the tests, approximately 15,000 shots were fired from each rifle. However, they all functioned very well.
Cartridge for the "Krag-Petersson" rifle.
However, the committee did not recommend the Krag-Petersson rifle as a weapon for the Norwegian and Swedish armies, primarily because the cartridge for which it was designed was considered obsolete. At the same time, the committee had already begun testing the Yarman M1884 rifle. Nevertheless, the Royal Norwegian Navy decided to adopt this rifle in 1876, indicating that they still continue to use the old M1860 bolt action rifle, paper cartridge (!) And primer ignition, which could do a maximum of four shots per minute. It was also clear that until the army was equipped with the Yarman rifle, the navy would not receive it, at least until the next decade.
Rifle "Krag-Petersson" М1876. Breechblock and trigger lever. (Defense Museum, Oslo)
The original order, placed by the Royal Norwegian Navy, included a total of 450 rifles, but then increased to 975. The weapon was ordered and supplied with all the necessary accessories, including a barrel cap, carrying strap and oil flask.
The bayonet for the rifle was of the so-called scimitar type, which had an S-shaped blade and a wooden handle with a copper guard and pommel. By modern standards, the bayonet was quite large with a total length of 71 cm, of which 57 cm was for the blade. It is interesting that today the bayonet for this rifle is even more rare than itself, and the bayonet can bring its owner about $ 1,000 if he is in good condition and wishes to sell it.
Bayonet for the M1876 rifle (Defense Museum, Oslo)
It is interesting that this rifle, being one of the first magazine rifles put into service, aroused great interest both in Europe and in many countries of the world. But despite the good reports on the test results, only Norway decided to use it, and then only in the navy. Most likely, the main reason for this is that the rifle was designed for an outdated cartridge, and there were doubts as to whether it could perform as well with more powerful ammunition.
Rifle caliber 12, 17 mm "Krag-Petersson" M1876. (Defense Museum, Oslo)
In 1876, the Danish Armed Forces tested two rifles from Norway, and they liked them so much that they ordered 115 more in 1877 to continue. But despite the good results, the Danes decided not to accept the "Krag-Petersson" into service. Therefore, Krag never received royalties for the production of the rifle in Denmark, but was later made a knight of the Order of Danebrog (the second most important order of Denmark!) As a reward for the Krag-Petersson and for the Krag-Jorgensen rifle, adopted by into service in 1889.
"Magazine switch" that did not appear on the rifle immediately.
France also checked the Krag-Petersson and accepted - without asking permission - the exact same magazine switch for their own Kropachek rifle. True, as compensation, Krag was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor. Russia and Brazil tested this rifle, but did not accept it for service.
A carbine based on the "Krag-Petersen" rifle chambered for 11-mm caliber. (Defense Museum, Oslo)
Interestingly, the Krag-Petersson served in the Royal Norwegian Navy for almost 25 years, along with the Yarman rifle and then, from 1896, the Krag-Jørgensen. By 1900, they were considered obsolete and sold to civilians. It is known that in 1928, only 70 of these rifles remained in military warehouses. Today they are very rare and cost from $ 2,000 and up.
An absolutely monstrous Norwegian Navy capsule rifle M1849-67 with a bolt-chamber, which was controlled by a side lever and with a trigger under the receiver.
Cartridge for this rifle.
It is known that Roald Amundsen had such a rifle with registration number 168, probably purchased from the Royal Norwegian Navy shortly after 1900. But it is unclear if she accompanied him on expeditions, as shown at the Fram Museum in Oslo.
