Hans Larsen was very focused on trying to design arms for the Norwegian Military forces, something evident from the number of different obviously military designs he made. Although Larsen knew Ole H. J. Krag (later to become the managing director at Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk) from the late 1860's and Erik Jørgensen (Krag Jørgensen) had been one of his apprentices, Larsen never managed to get military approval on any of his designs.
In 1876 Larsen established a subsidiary in Kristiania (Oslo) and in 1877 another one in Liege, Belgium. Rifles from his Belgium branch are usually marked “H. Larsen & Fils” or “Larsens’s rifle Co”.
The Kristiania subsidiary was sold off after only ten years.
Although the Larsen rifles were superior shooters, they became too old fashioned and way too expencive. The first civilian Krag Jørgensen's were assembled from parts rejected from the military and were very inexpencive.
Later Norwegian authorities made the Krag Jørgensen rifle more or less mandatory for "Det frivillige skyttervesen", something that really hurt Larsens business.
As so often with great men of vision, Larsen died alone and in near poverty. This man with all his success and ingenuity was not able to provide well for his last years. One does not really know what happened with the Belgium company and the Drammen workshop closed in 1908, only a year after his death.
There was an article in “Norwegian Sports Magazine” in 1881 about Hans Larsen. The final words in the article read (shortened down): As rather a good description of these two main emotions he expressed, pride and humbleness, he truly appreciates the common nicknames he is known by: “The Shooting King” and “Old Larsen”. |
