Bolt Action Rifles. Wayne Zwoll

The M1896 carbine had a half-length forend with a barrel band to hold forend, hand guard and barrel together. The barrel band lies against the front end of the rear sight. These carbines had no ramrod or sling swivels, but were fitted with a so-called saddle ring on the left side of the stock.

      The biggest changes to both Krags came with the M1898 rifles and carbines. The two most noticeable changes were the reversal of the magazine cutoff so that it was in the ON position when swung down, by changing its spring, and eliminating the lip under the bolt-handle notch. Far more M1898 rifles were made than any others, nearly 263,000 of them. Only 5000 M1898 carbines were produced.

      The M1899 Krag carbine had a forend about 2” longer than the M1896 type and used the same length handguard as the rifle. This placed the barrel band about 2” ahead of the rear sight. The saddle ring was omitted, and some were made with a knurled, but unflared, cocking piece—commonly called a “headless” type.

      A number of very minor changes were made in the Krag from 1894 on, but they are not important enough to be mentioned here. Various rear sights were also used, and these, as well as other changes, are covered thoroughly in other books.

      Some unusual and now rare versions of the Krag were made. The Cadet rifle was similar to the regular M1896, but it lacked sling swivels and had a ramrod.

      A few 22 rimfire Gallery Practice rifles were made at Springfield Armory in 1906. They were single shot rifles based on the M98 action, the barrels offset at the breech and made with an auxiliary extractor. These 22 barrels were made under the watchful eye of famed barrelmaker Harry Pope. Some, at least, carry his name stamp.

      After the 1903 Springfield rifles were in production, most of the Krag rifles and carbines were sold to NRA members through the DCM at unbelievably low prices.* The carbines were far more desirable than the rifles, so many of the M98 Krag rifles were converted to the carbine style at the Benicia Arsenal. These were like the regular M99 carbine, but came with sling swivels and 03 Springfield front sights.

      U.S. Krag-Jorgensen Model 98 action.

      The Krag Action

      As already mentioned, those changes made in the Krag action were minor, relatively unimportant. Because the M98 Krag was made in the largest numbers and is the model most likely to be seen, I’ll describe it.

      The Krag has a very smooth-working turnbolt action with a unique non-detachable, but quick-loadable, horizontal magazine. It is probably one of the smoothest bolt actions ever made in the United States, but it does have its faults, as we shall see.

      The receiver was precisely machined from a one-piece steel forging. The barrel is threaded (square-type threads) into the front of the receiver. The barrel, made without a shoulder, has a flat breech end which butts against a collar machined inside the receiver ring. The round receiver ring has no recoil shoulder. The left wall of the receiver continues straight back from the ring, and since it is not milled out for a locking lug raceway, it is very thick. The receiver bridge is slotted for the extractor and top part of the bolt sleeve, but naturally has no cuts for a stripper clip, since the magazine can only be loaded from the side. The receiver ends in a tang, rounded on top.

      The one-piece smoothly machined and polished bolt has a single forward locking lug which engages a matching mortise milled in the bottom front of the receiver, just to the rear of the internal collar against which the barrel abuts. The rear surface of this mortise is partly inclined so that the locking lug can gain a purchase on it when closing the bolt, to force it forward the last .150” against the tension of the mainspring and/or a hard-to-chamber cartridge. When the bolt is locked, the locking lug is at the bottom, but on the ¼-turn required to open the bolt, the lug is to the right.

      On the center of the bolt body, 90° above the locking lug, there is a guide rib about 2.70” long. As the bolt is opened and closed, this guide rib, and attached long extractor, slides through the slot in the receiver bridge, helping to prevent any binding of the bolt movement. More importantly, however, the guide rib provides an auxiliary safety locking lug for the bolt; it engages forward of—but does not contact by a few thousandths of an inch—the front edge of the bridge.

      The bolt handle, integral with the bolt, is on the extreme rear of the bolt body. Its base is square; its shank is straight, round, heavy and tapered; and it ends in a round grasping ball. It is positioned at a very low angle when the bolt is closed and is still sufficiently low when fully raised to clear the eyepiece of a low mounted scope. The receiver tang is deeply notched to receive the square base of the bolt handle, and although there is normally considerable space between the rear of the handle base and the notch, this provides another safety lug to hold the bolt in the receiver should the single forward locking lug and the guide rib fail. More on the Krag locking system later on.

      The right rear of the receiver bridge is slightly angled. Primary extraction power is achieved on raising the bolt handle when its base slides along this surface.

      The face of the bolt is recessed the depth of the 30-40 cartridge rim. The rim around this recess is quite thin, but when the bolt is closed, the head of the bolt fits snugly within the receiver ring collar. Thus the cartridge head and rim are fully enclosed and supported.

      The firing mechanism is held in the bolt by a projection on the bolt sleeve which is milled to form a hook engaging over a raised semicircular collar on the rear end of the bolt. This projection houses the rotary wing safety, and in a slot in its front part, the long extractor is held with a rivet driven in from the underside.

      The striker rod, with its peened-on cocking piece, extends through the bolt sleeve; the coil mainspring is compressed over the striker rod against the front of the bolt sleeve and the separate firing pin. The firing pin fits over a groove on the front of the striker rod. When the striker is forward, a cocking cam on the bottom of the cocking piece extends forward into a deep notch cut into the rear of the bolt; on raising the bolt handle, the cocking piece is forced back, cocking the action.

      The safety consists of a wing-type lever, to which a round stem is permanently pressed in place, and a small spring and plunger assembled in the wing before the stem and wing are joined. The stem of the safety extends through a hole in the upper part of the bolt sleeve with the plunger engaging a shallow groove cut into the bolt sleeve. Swung to the far left, the safety is in the OFF or FIRE position. When the striker is cocked, swinging the safety upright or to the far right position locks both striker and bolt. There is a wide notch cut into the top of the cocking piece to allow the safety to be engaged (swung up or to the right) when the striker is forward, locking the bolt closed. Whether cocked or uncocked, the bolt is locked closed when the safety is up, or to the right, by the flattened end of the safety stem engaging a notch in the rear of the bolt.

      Left side of the Model 98 Krag action.

      The extractor serves several functions besides its primary job of extracting fired cases or cartridges. The extractor, about 5” long, is made of a rectangular bar of spring-tempered steel and is attached to the bolt sleeve by a rivet. A narrow hook on the front of the extractor extends over the forward end of the bolt and through a matching notch in the receiver ring collar when the bolt is closed. The breech end of the barrel also has a shallow inclined notch for the entrance of the extractor hook, so that it can engage the case rim when the bolt is closed. Although the long extractor itself is spring-tempered and made to lie with tension against the bolt, an additional small extractor spring is fitted into the underside left-front end of the extractor. It slides under a small shelf in the receiver and provides extra downward tension to the extractor for positive initial extraction.

      The extractor also functions as a means of holding the bolt in the receiver and in removing the bolt from the receiver. When the bolt is fully opened, it can be removed from the receiver by merely raising up the extractor hook so the bolt handle can be turned open further, and then the bolt can be pulled out of the receiver. The long stem of the extractor,