Norwegian Krags in their natural habitat.

[Bernt]

When the Krag was introduced in Norway in 1894, it soon would replace the range of older hunting rifles in use at the time. The range and accuracy simply outclassed the black powder rifles that were in use back then. I've been browsing some Norwegian internet archives and found some interesting period photographs.

First some pics. to show you the hunters from the pre-Krag days.

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[Bernt]

Then came the small bore, high power, smokeless Krag. The price was of course a lot higher than i.e. a rolling block, so many still used their older rifles, but eventually the Krag became totaly dominant in the woods or mountains.

This photo from 1910 shows a family up in northern Norway. Most of Norway is unfit for farming, so smaller farms could feed a cow or a few sheeps. When you see this pic. it's no question of how they kept meat on their table. The younger man holds a Krag. The big muzzle loader are what we call "bear rifles".

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These are more wealthy people. It's the "hunting cabin" of the rich industrialist Christian Thams from Orkanger, near Trondheim. Pic. is from 1912 when he had a visit from prins Albert of Monacco. The man next to the horse, holding a dog, is one of the princes men.

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Bear hunters.

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[Culpeper]

I see rolling blocks were popular, also.

[Bernt]

Hunting expeditions in the arctic were once big business. Mostly from the mid 1800's and onwards. They hunted seals, walruss and polar bears. In the beginning they used sailing wessels and muzzle loaders and single shot BP rifles. The introduction of engines and Krags were a revolution for these men. The "hakapik", a long rod with a large iron spike was used to crush skulls.
The top year for seal hunting was 1925, when 400 000 seals were caught. But life in the arctic was hard. Many ships were simply crushed by the ice, and the crews lost. Just between 1924 - 1939, 115 ships were lost. I remember a documentary were the old seal hunters told about the expeditions. Sometimes they were so far away on the ice, that they didn't get back to the ship before dark. To survive the freezing arctic night, they had to crawl into the pile of seal skins to keep a minimum of heat. One survived a shipwreck in the ice, were rescued by another ship, which later sunk as well, and then he was rescued a second time by a third ship. They also told about surviving for days on the ice, when their ship was crushed, with nothing else to eat than raw seal blubber.

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This crew were photographed in 1936. Three years later the ships disappeared in the ice.

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Use google translate on this story.
https://www.ishavsmuseet.no/fortellingar/selfangst/

There's some Krags in these videoes.
https://tv.nrk.no/serie/norsk-selfangst ... /avspiller
https://tv.nrk.no/program/FOLA01003171
https://www.videoarkivet.no/website/video.php?vid=393

[Bernt]

More seal hunters.

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[Bernt]

Polar bears were hunted because of the valuable fur. Polar bear hunting was finally banned in 1973. This kind of hunting were usually not done from boats. The hunters would build cabins from rocks, turf and driftwood, and spend the winter hunting bears in that area. One of my grandfathers uncles spent the winter 1898 - 99 on Svalbard, hunting polar bears. I found the story recited in his obituary from 1932. They were four men, and split in two groups, building cabins and prepering for the winter. The agreement was that they would meet again in the spring. My grandfathers uncle, Ole, spent the winter with a man that went mad, and on occations, had to be tied to his bed. When the spring came, the other two never showed up. Ole had to wait until the sea was open from all the ice, then he could sail to the other island. He found them both dead from disease in their bunks.

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[Bernt]

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These series of photos are from a hunting expedition in 1947.

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[Bernt]

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[Bernt]

Sometimes the polar bears got even and the hunter became the prey.

This Krag was found by Swedish exploreres on Svalbard in the 1963. Scattered around it were human bones. It is believed it was the hunter Georg Nilsen that disappeared in that area in 1921 - 22. Obviously the rifle jammed and the bear killed him.

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https://digitaltmuseum.no/011025067550/gevaer

[scottz63]

That is really cool to see what happened by a stoppage of time in the jammed rounds of the Krag. Like a watch/clock stopping at the exact time of a disaster.