The Legacy of the Springfield Armory Model 1898 "Krag-Jorgensen" Rifle

The United States military has a long history of struggling with weapon procurement.  The adopted weapon platforms of the United States usually fall within two categories.  One, they are poor choices with serious flaws. Second, they are implemented well ahead of when they are ready.  The Springfield Armory Model 1898 falls into the former category.

After the Civil War the United States Military adopted the Springfield Armory 1873 Trapdoor rifle as the standard issue rifle.  In keeping with the period, the 1873 is a single shot, breach loading weapon chambered in .45-70.  Like the British with their Martini-Henry this single shot mechanism was standard practice of the era. However, by the 1880’s and with the invention of smokeless powder, many militaries were looking to upgrade their small arms. 

Germany was the first to adopt the highly successful Gewehr 1888 (88) rifle Chambered in 8MM Mauser.  The United States put out a bid for a new rifle in the late 1892.  The winning design was the Springfield Armory Model 1898 rifle.  This rifle was initially designed by Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen with Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk in Denmark as a possible design for the Army. 

Upon selection as the new battle rifle for the US Army, royalties were paid to the designers for the rights so Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts could produce it for the United States.  The U.S. has long had a stipulation that their main military weapon platforms be produced in the greater United States.  Around 500,000 Model 1898 Rifles would go on to be produced.

The rifle has a few unique features that are a bit foreign for modern shooters.  The Loading mechanism for the rifle differs greatly from the Gewehr 88.  While the 1898 features meany of the similar Mauser designs on order to load it you have to single feed the cartridges into a side loading gate that opens like a trapdoor.  It also sports a “Magazine Cutoff” switch that would also carry over to its replacement in 1903 with the Springfield Armory 1903.

  This was a common characteristic on rifles as the military tactics of the time would have their rifle man fire on command of their officers and load right afterwards.  It would not be until they issued the “fire at will” command that the rifleman would turn on the magazine feed and shoot the entire five rounds before reloading.

The single loading of cartridges was chosen by the U. to slow down the rate of fire in an effort to keep overall military costs down.  This put our soldiers at a great disadvantage during the Spanish American War in 1898.  The Spanish utilized this Spanish Mauser which was a copy of the German 88 and had a much higher fire rate.

It is a great honor to have such amazing weapons come through our shop here in New Prague.  It is not often you get to hold such unique history in your hands.  We have featured one of these rifles on our “From the Vault” series on Youtube.