Krag Rifles in World War I????

[Orsogato]

Hi all. I am trying to figure out whether the story in our family of an heirloom is correct. We have an 1896 Krag rifle that belonged to a Great Uncle who was a world war I veteran (US Army).

The story is that he had this rifle overseas. I'm not so sure and thought maybe he bought it through the VFW in the 1930s or so. Does anybody know whether any US Army units actually were armed with Krag rifles during World War I.

Information

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[kragluver]

This has been discussed to some extent on various forums and in books. Up to 160K Krags were available and used for training US troops during the war. A few early arriving units took their Krags overseas in 1917 (photos exist). I've read a couple of accounts indicating an AEF engineer unit armed with Krags came under fire in Nov 1917, so the US Krag may have seen combat during the war. This is discussed in Canfield's book US Weapons of WW1.

I might also add that the US Krag saw some limited combat on Guadalcanal during WW2. Mainly in the hands of the Japanese! See John George's book Shots Fired in Anger.

[Orsogato]

interesting.

My great uncle was wounded in action (shot through the shoulder) so whatever he was carrying, he was definitely in combat.

I'll have to try to research what unit he was in, it may shed some more light.

thanks.

[Griff Murphey]

A lot of Krags were sold in the 1920's by the DCM. I think they sold for $3 or something like that. The cheap price ($3 would have bought you 60 hamburgers) is partly why people disrespected them; cutting them up into "sporters" and neglecting to clean them after firing.

[jon_norstog]

OrsoG,
I'm with Griff on this one. The scarcity of Krags issued to the AEF, plus the difficulties inherent in relieving USA/MC of an issued weapon, suggest that your great uncle most likely picked that Krag up after the war.

But as an heirloom, it's a great item that the whole family can enjoy.

Good luck with it!

jn

[Nick Adams]

Based on the link Votan provided in his recent thread, the photo there shows Krag rifles issued to U.S. troops, circa 1917. These soldiers apparently headed through England with them on their way to "The Front."

Go you Big .30 U.S. Army ...