Springfield Model 1892 - 99 The Springfield Model 1892 - 99 Krag - Jørgensen rifle is a Norwegian - design bolt action rifle that was adopted in 1892 as the standard United States Army military longarm , chambered in U . S . caliber . 30 - 40 Krag . All versions and variants were manufactured under license by the Springfield Armory between 1892 and 1903 . The U . S . Krag was replaced beginning in 1903 with the introduction of the M1903 Springfield rifle . History . Like many other armed forces , the U . S . Army searched for a new rifle in the early 1890s to replace their old Springfield Model 1873 " trapdoor " single - shot rifles . A competition was held in 1892 , comparing rifle designs from Lee , Krag - Jørgensen , Mannlicher , Mauser , Schmidt - Rubin , and about 40 other military and civilian designs . The trials were held at Governors Island , New York . Despite protests from domestic inventors and arms manufacturers — two designers , Russell and Livermore , even sued the U . S . government over the choice — the Krag - Jørgensen design was chosen by the board of officers . Approximately 500 , 000 ' Krags ' were produced at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts from 1894 to 1904 . It was the U . S . Army ' s primary rifle from 1894 to 1903 ( when it was replaced by the M1903 Springfield rifle with its ballistically similar . 30 - 03 cartridge ) , and found use in the Spanish - American War and the Philippine - American War . In this later war the rifle was referred to in a song popular with U . S . troops , a parody of " Tramp ! Tramp ! Tramp ! " , with a verse running : " Damn , damn , damn the Filipinos ! < br > Cut throat kha - ki - ak ladrones ! < br > Underneath our starry flag , < br > Civilize ' em with a Krag , < br > And return us to our own beloved homes . " According to contemporary , perhaps sensationalized accounts , the Krag ' s complex design was outclassed by the Spanish Mauser during the Spanish American War , and proved ill - suited for use in tropical locales such as Cuba and the Philippines . American soldiers found themselves unable to match the volume of fire displayed by the Spanish 1893 Mauser rifle , with its box magazine that could be fully reloaded with clips , and a high - velocity , flat - shooting 7mm cartridge which was quickly dubbed the ' Spanish Hornet ' . During the American assault on the strategic Cuban city of Santiago , a small force of 750 Spanish troops armed with Model 1893 Mauser rifles defended positions on San Juan and Kettle hills . The attacking force consisted of approximately 6 , 600 American soldiers , most of them regulars , armed with the then - new smokeless - powder Krag - Jorgensen rifle and supported by artillery and Gatling gun fire . Though the assault was successful , the Americans soon realized that they had suffered more than 1 , 400 casualties in the assault . A U . S board of investigation pinned the blame on the superior firepower of the Spanish Model 1893 Mauser rifles , although modern analysis has determined that many of the casualties were due to superior Spanish fortifications on the high ground . With the Krag ' s replacement with the Mauser - derived M1903 , the rifle is tied for the shortest service life of any standard - issue firearm in US military history ( 1892 – 1903 ) . The Krag was completely phased out of service in the Regular Army by 1907 , as M1903 Springfields became available , however , the Krag was issued for many more years with the National Guard and the Army Reserve , including service in World War I with rear - echelon U . S . troops in France and as training arms at various Stateside bases . Later , many were issued to veterans ' organizations such as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars for use in military ceremonies . Still others were sold to civilians through the Civilian Marksmanship Program . Variants . There were at least nine different models of the U . S . Krag - Jørgensen : Ammunition . The U . S . Krags were chambered for the rimmed . 30 - 40 Krag round , also known as " . 30 Army . " From 1890 to 1893 a 230 - grain steel or cupro - nickel jacketed bullet was issued , for which no ballistic data is known . From 1894 to September 1899 a 220 - grain jacketed bullet loading was issued using 40 grains of nitrocelluose powder , which developed some 40 , 000 psi and a muzzle velocity of in the Krag rifle and in the shorter carbine . In October 1899 , after reviewing the experiences of the Spanish - American War , a new loading was developed for the . 30 Army in an attempt to match the ballistics of the 7x57mm Mauser cartridge . The new loading increased the Krag rifle ' s muzzle velocity to 2 , 200 f / s at 45 , 000 psi . However , once the new loading was issued , reports of cracked locking lugs on service Krags began to surface . In March 1900 the remaining stocks of this ammunition , some 3 . 5 million rounds , was returned to the arsenals , broken down , and reloaded back to the original specification . Although the . 30 - 40 Krag was the first smokeless powder round adopted by the U . S . military , it retained the " caliber - charge " designation of earlier black powder cartridges , thus the . 30 - 40 Krag employs a . 30 caliber ( 7 . 62 mm ) bullet propelled by 40 grains ( 3 g ) of smokeless powder . As with the . 30 - 30 Winchester , the use of black powder nomenclature led to the incorrect assumption that the . 30 - 40 Krag was once a black powder cartridge .