WW1 krags

[bogtrotter2]

There are several pictures of American soldiers disembarking at Southampton docks showing rifles stacked. The rifles shown are Krags. However these units were part of Pershings staff so I doubt if these were ever fired during the war. I had heard of certain engineers studying the trench system with French coming under fire and replying using their Krags but had no idea that so many of them were used during the period of combat for the U. S. soldiery. Would you find out the documentation for this. I have a number of friends who deny that any were so used and would love to wave this in their face.
Love the Krag, I don't care if its Norwegian (my particular favorites), Danish or U. S. short or long.
Of course you can get as many arguments obout the U. S. Marines use of Krags, Winchester Lees or Remington Lees. Nothing like a few good friends having a couple of six packs quietly discussing the merits of both of these subjects (well maybe not so quite).

[kragluver]

See Canfield's book on US Infantry Weapons in WW1. There is a very good section on the Krag. Marines used the Krag from roughly 1900 (I don't have the exact year in front of me) until about 1909 or so if my memory is correct. The small caliber Lee straight pull rifle served well, but didn't have the lethality with ball ammo. There are stories of Krags being found on board Navy ships and Coast Guard cutters as late as WW2. Many Krags show up in the SRS listings as "donations to the Navy" in the 1940s. I've heard that Krags were sometimes used to explode floating mines or shoot the occasional shark.

As fragile as the Krag appears, documented history shows that the rifle held up well in some difficult climates (Cuba, Philippines, etc). Read the Shockley book.