Winchester Lever-Action Rifles by Martin Pegler

Author:Martin Pegler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472806581
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Published: 2015-04-27T04:00:00+00:00

A Model 1884 infantry-issue “Trapdoor” rifle. (© Royal Armouries XII.2572)

A Model 1896 Krag rifle. The Krag-Jørgensen weighed 7.5lb and had a 30in barrel. Magazine capacity was five rounds of the .30-40 cartridge. (NRA Museums, NRAmuseums.com)

In combat it was found that the Krag did not perform well in humid climates such as Cuba and the Philippines, and during the Spanish–American War of 1898, the Spanish soldiers’ Mauser – which chambered a higher-velocity 7mm ammunition – both out-ranged and out-shot the Krag. One serious defect of the Krag was that the side-mounted magazine proved to be slower to reload than the Mauser’s, and there were also problems with the Krag’s hinged door unlatching, accidentally emptying the magazine. The rifle stayed in service for only nine years, although in that time some 700,000 were manufactured; it was replaced by the Springfield Model 1903, which proved to be an excellent rifle.

Despite the terrible massacre of General Custer’s force at the Little Bighorn on June 25–26, 1876, whose men were armed with single-shot rifles, there continued to be little interest from the US Army in adopting repeating rifles, mostly due to the basic design concept of the lever-action. It was always going to be weak and the tubular magazine prone to jamming. Besides, the Army was wary of fast-shooting weapons that could consume huge quantities of ammunition. In reality, though, most of the real criticism was leveled at the poorly performing 44-40 cartridge. All attempts to get the US Government to adopt the Winchesters during the Indian Wars failed, mainly due to the lackluster performance of the available cartridges when compared to the issue .45-caliber ammunition. There was also strong competition from outside of the United States from bolt-action designs that chambered far more powerful ammunition than the Winchesters could.

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