M1876 Krag Petersson
“The rifle everybody has heard about, but hardly anybody has seen”. The Norwegian navy were equipped with Norway’s first repeating rifle in 1876, the Worlds first military approved repeating cartridge rifle taken in to service? Well, the Norwegian navy was sort of not all that military, it sorted under the Postal ministry.
The KP took the 12 mm Remington cartridge and had a 8 round magazine beneath the barrel. The design was unique. A falling block mechanism that made the shooter loose his sight for every shot and where the balance of the rifle changed for every shot that was fired. The single shot Remington was probably equally fast in use.
Kongsberg made the first series of the Krag Petersson in 1874-75 – a total of 17, sold to the public – these are unknown as of today. The next series of 30 was ordered by the Norwegian army for use at the kings guard in Stockholm in 1875-76, most of these still excist. Then the Norwegian navy received serial # 1-200 from Carl Gustaf Stads Gevãrfactori in 1877, Carl Johans Vern in Horten also supplied # 201-300 in 1877. # 301-700 came from Sweden in 1878-79 and CJV produced the last 275 rifles 1879-81 – possibly of the remains from the Swedish production run. The Swedish produced rifles are marked with “Krag Petersson” in a circle and a crowned C, the Norwegian ones with CJV.
The bayonet is virtually the same as for the Remington, but with the serial number upside down on the crossbar. There are also a number of bayonets with both numbers on hilt and crossbar – experimental model or just saving money using old M1860 saber bayonets?
The Krag Petersson is one of first repeating rifles to be used by any armed forces in the world and is also one of the more difficult Norwegian rifles to get hold of. Most of them are in pretty poor condition (mind you, they would work, but they have no finish, the stock is tatty and there has been some rust), a few are like brand new, straight from the factory.
