The American Krag Rifle & Carbine

The Krag rifle and carbine were the first smokeless powder, magazine loading arms used by the United States Army. It was adopted from a Norwegian design in 1892 and reached the troops starting in mid-1894.

The Krag was the first precision-machined, small caliber, magazine loading rifle adopted by the U.S. Army. This meant that the production facilities and work force had to be completely rebuilt and reorganized. In just four short years, the entire U.S. Army, both mounted and dismounted branches, were completely equipped with the new rifle and carbine. So successful had been the design and initial production phase, that only minor changes were made to the rifle and carbine afterward.