The Krag action was plenty strong enough for the issue ammunition. It was 80 years after it's adoption they started to download the ammo. It's also very fast to reload without any clip. You just flip the magazine open, drop in a handfull of rounds and shut the lid. And you can do it with a round in the chamber. I don't think a K98K is that much faster to reload even with a clip. There was a charger designed even before the Krag was adopted, but the generals decided it was an unnecessary luxury. The Krag actually did well in combat. The germans learned that the hard way..., and they did issue lot's of Krags themselves, even on the russian front. Here's a pic. from Russia:
https://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/cross-search/search/_1433969073/?search[view]=detail&search[focus]=27
I'm a Krag fan, but of course I agree it's not the best battle rifle around.
Some pros and cons:
Pros:
- Great rifle in a great caliber. The 6,5 mm boattail spitzer had a very flat trajectory, and low recoil.
The Norwegians never issued a boattail spitzer round, instead they had a round nose bullet, the M94 standard 6.5 Swedish, another issue is the Krag action isn't designed to be shot with the current 6.5 Swedish on the market as all of it is based on the M/41 ammo which is higher pressure
- The M/12 carbine was a much handier version than the longrifle.
True but that can be said about virtually any countries carbine
- In winterconditions, the large boltknob was easy to grip with thick gloves (that was also the reason the downturned bolthandle on the M/12 was dropped).
True
- It's an accurate rifle, at least no worse than other rifles of the era.
The Norwegian Krags are very accurate rifles, I would love to get a Lang Krag to play with
- Despite the missing stripperclip slot, it's fairly quick to load, and the magazine can be topped off with a round still in the chamber.
The whole topping off with the round in the chamber detail is very much overrated, if your that desperate you just put half a stripper clip in for any other nation. The biggest issue with the Krag for loading is it uses loose ammo, which isn't bad in a modern context as you just grab some from your box of ammo and put it in the gun. If your in combat you have to try to keep the ammo somewhere it won't fall out too easily and is easy to grab. The ammo must be pointed the right way, so if you pull out say two rounds and one is pointed backwards you have to readjust it before putting it in, which slows you down. On top of that if you are using it in the winter I suspect you would have gloves on, it is much easier to grab a clip of 5 or 6 rounds than single rounds and hope they are pointing the right direction.
- It's a smooth action, and very comfortable to shoot.
Very true
- Excellent for rapid fire.
Until it came time to reload, in which case you hope your ammo is set up correctly
- A scoped sniper version was available.
True for most countries as well though
Cons:
- It was originally designed to be used as a singleloader, with the magazine in reserve, and has no guide for a stripperclip.
- The sights are very fine, and hard to see in dim light. but still pretty standard compared to other rifles of the period.
- The locking lugs are unsymetrical. The target rifles with thick freefloating barrels got a big change of POI when shot with wet or oily cartridges.
The fullstock military models didn't suffer from this flaw.
I did answer this on another forum as well. Go there to see pics. of the various clips for the Krag:
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?378957-Norwegian-Krag-in-WW-II-out-dated