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| Norway's first repeating rifles |
| Krag Petersson M1876 (navy) The Krag-Peterson rifle was developed in conjunction between Ole H. Krag (later the director of Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk) and Axel Petersson (Swedish engineer that had moved to Norway). This was to be the first of Krag’s rifle designs set in production. The Krag Petersson had a falling block type mechanism where the block dropped when the hammer was pulled all the way back. The rifle was fitted with a tubular magazine under the barrel. It was chambered for the 12.17 mm rim-fire cartridge and was adopted by the Norwegian navy in 1876. The bayonet virtually the same as for the M1867 Remington, but with the serial number stamped on the brass guard. Only about 975 of these rifles were ever made, The two hundred at Carl Gustaf Stads gevãrfactori in Sweden, the next hundred at Carl Johans Vern in Horten, Norway, then 400 at Carl Gustaf Stads Gevärfactori in Sweden again and the last 275 from Swedish leftovers assembled in Horten. Krag Petersson is the rifle “everybody has heard about, but nobody ever seen”. The Krag Petersson must have been a terrible nightmare in use. In order to reload, one pulled the hammer all the way back and down. This would then force the falling block all the way down to the same level as the magazine. At the same time the extractor would pull out the empty shell from the barrel lying above the magazine. A new cartridge would be pushed in to a slot in the falling block from the magazine by the spring and the empty shell would be pulled by the extractor on to the top of the new cartridge. By letting go of the hammer, this would come halfway up and remain cocked and the falling block would also come halfway up. The empty shell would still be on top of the cartridge. Here comes what really Krag Petersson is all about: Push the rifle some 25-30 cm forwards and give it a good jerk back! This will enable the new cartridge to slide into the chamber, bringing the extractor forward with the cartridge. When the extractor is in forward position, the falling block comes all the way up and the old shell falls off. Wow – why do it simple or efficient when you can do it navy? Years back we found that an untrained person could fire 5-6 rounds twice as fast with the single shot Remington rolling block as with the repeating Krag Petersson – and that was when all the rounds already were in the magazine. With training, the speed is just about the same. We found out that you could also push the new cartridge into the chamber with your finger - if you were not afraid of being pinched by the block coming up. Expressing that this rifle was no great success is rather an understatement. The navy followed the army (for the first time) and exchanged it for the Jarmann in 1884 or 1885. The Krag Petersson was, however, still in use at some of the coastal fortresses as late as after WW1. |
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| The Norwegian navy was one of the first military forces in the world to adopt a repeating rifle - The Krag Petersson M1876. Eight years later, the army adopted the Jarmann bolt action. Both of these rifles are very difficult to obtain for collectors. Very few Krag Peterssons were ever made and the Germans made sure the rest of the Jarmanns were burned and melted down during WW2. |
| Jarmann M1884 Norway’s first repeating turn bolt action rifle was the Jarmann M1884, designed by Jakob Smith Jarmann and adopted when he was 68 years old(!). JS Jarmann came from way up in Gudbrandsdalen and had plans to become an officer in the Norwegian army. After having failed to pass his exam at Krigsskolen, he decided on becoming an engineer. In 1854 he was one of the two founders of Nylands Mek Verksted in Christiania (Oslo), one of Norway’s most successful shipyards in the last half of the 1800’s. He was also the managing director there in the 1870’s. |