It may have been included in the U.S. War Department's "Military Operations in China" but I'll keep looking. Damn! I should take notes when I find something good.
jn
It may have been included in the U.S. War Department's "Military Operations in China" but I'll keep looking. Damn! I should take notes when I find something good.
jn
Here's a citation:
"Reports on military operations in South Africa and China. July, 1901"
By United States. Adjutant-General's Office. Military Information Division, Stephen L'H. Slocum, Carl Reichmann, Adna Romanga Chaffee
Dr Bleed from UNL conducted the first modern archeological survey of Span-Am battlefield sites in Cuba. Very neat website listed below. That the research was allowed and conducted at all is Surprising all the more so for Americans to have permission to go there…both from the Cuban govt and the US! This given the inanity of our sanctions program - how's that working out now after 50 years? Oh, it's actually a 'wait till Castro dies' policy and foook the other ten million. Apologies for the digression.
http://cubanbattlefields.unl.edu
Last edited by Shooter5; 02-01-2014 at 03:26.
All you have to do is lay prone and try to load your Krag out of the Mills cartridge belt you are wearing to appreciate and see the superiority of the clip loaded mauser as a battle rifle.Forget the ballistics of their respective cartridges, 2200fps vs 2400fps vs 2600fps, it is all the same if you are hit in the head by one.
As I lay prone in the rapid fire COF at Camp Perry, I don't seem to have a problem with loading without a stripper clip. Now I agree that I'm not pulling single rounds out of a box or belt... but in the heat of battle, while I'm soiling myself, does it really matter? I'm betting that the Spaniards with the Mausers probably fumbled a few clips while reloading their rifles. I'm betting they were also soiling themselves and not really concerned with whether they had the superior rifle or not!
Biggest mistake with the M1892 and M1896 Krags was the lack of windage adjustements on the rear sights, rather strange in light of the adoption of the Buffington rear sight and the Army's marksmanship emphasis at the time.
Again, the Krag-like the Kroptaschek and the Lebel-was a First Generation design, and an evolutionary dead end so to speak. Both lacked features that were found to be desireable-necessary, due to battlefield experience, and they could not be easily upgraded.
Last edited by blackhawknj; 02-02-2014 at 02:29.
the five round magazine...
Should you ever find a Danish Krag, check how the magazine "box" fastens to the receiver.
It is not a far reach to consider a side mounted fixture with detachable magazines.
Sort of like a Johnson semi auto.
Lost causes and lost histories.
[and if you hear of 8x58DR [Danish] rifle rounds that don't exceed the national debt, I want to know the source.
Anyone traveling to Denmark in the near future?]