July 1, 1898 - the Spanish soldiers defending the small stone fort at El Caney are well-entrenched, but I've lucked into a good vantage point where I can spot one now and again along the walls. The range varies, and I've got to take my shots quick, so there's no time to flip up the long-range ladder sight on my trusty Krag - just take "Kentucky windage" at targets of opportunity and fire. There's one now - a luckless turkey at about 150 yards. I take aim and fire. Ha! I dropped him! I crank open the butter-smooth bolt of my beloved Krag, the empty shell ejects smartly, and the bolt scoops up another round from the magazine on the way back. Now the bolt's home, and I seek another target. Aha! A fat, pompous pig - must be an officer - way out at a full 300 yards. Can I ring one in there? Ah... too far for "by guess and by gosh", I'd best flip up the ladder sight... and take careful aim, take up the first stage of the trigger, deep breath and half-exhale, squeeze... Bang! Yep, he jumped, and now he's wobbling.... I quickly reload, but then I realize I ought to be keeping my magazine-load in reserve, so I flip down the magazine cut-off, and take a brief respite from the battle to flip open the side-loading magazine cover and top it off, just in case they - or we - decide to charge. Then it's back to combing the rough terrain ahead, looking for targets....
I have no idea if the fight at El Caney was anything like that, but that's how it went for me, reliving it on a pleasant Wednesday afternoon, on the BGC rifle range with my Krag. I confess - in my heart I'm still only twelve years old - so though I was really only shooting steel silhouette targets (turkeys, pigs, chickens, rams), in my vivid imagination they were Spanish soldiers, etc, etc. Shooting the Krag - an M1898 U.S. infantry rifle, with full 30" barrel and all - tends to have that effect on me. The old song of its period proclaimed, "Civilize 'em with a Krag!" and it's almost impossible for me to handle or shoot the old rifle without being propelled back in time to the Spanish- American War, or the Phillipine Insurrection, or the seige of the Foreign Legations in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion - campaigns in which Krags figured prominently, and did more than their share of "civilizing". I sometimes feel sorry for folks whose only experiences with "old military rifles" are with Mausers, Springfields, Enfields, and the like. Oh, those are good rifles - but a Krag is extra-special.
I'd owned Krags before - years ago - but had been Kragless for at least a decade when I walked into a pawn shop, here in our small town, two years ago on my birthday, and found this prize of prizes standing there in the rack, wearing a small tag proclaiming "Springfield .30-06, for black powder cartridges only!" (as Dave Barry says, "I am NOT making this up!"). The tag also said "$125". Yes, I *did* fast-draw my wallet. Yes, I *did* leave the store with a tremendous grin on my face - and the Krag. As noted previously, it's a full-fig infantry rifle - unaltered, all "as-issue", with a 30" barrel and all. Actually, it probably *didn't* see service in Cuba - the stock cartouche says 1902 - but it may have been through hair-raising adventures in the Phillipines (or it may have stayed stateside and guarded some lonely outpost, who knows?).
After making sure the rifle was in good shooting condition, I set about
making some ammo for it. Having no "black powder .30-06" ammo
Krags have many "neat" attributes, which makes shooting them a unique
and delightful experience. The big side-opening magazine, which feeds
cartridges down and around under the receiver, so that the "top"
cartridge emerges from the left receiver wall where it is picked up
effortlessly by the bolt as it glides by. Loading the mag is *weird* -
you open that big "door" in the right side, just *drop* in your five
rounds down the loading trough, close the door and you're done. So long
as the rounds are all "pointy end forward" when they're dropped in, they
will almost always feed just fine. While you CAN jam a Krag - I did it
today, when one rim got abaft of another - it is a rare thing, and
easily remedied by just opening the magazine, jiggling the rifle a bit,
and closing it again. Once the magazine's loaded, you can "put it on
hold" by flipping down the cut-off lever, and then load single rounds
into the chamber, keeping the five in the mag reserved for "desperate
circumstances". Same as the Springfield '03, of course, which got that
little feature from its predecessor.
Another impressive feature of the Krag is the extreme *slickness* and
smoothness of the action. "Greased owlshit" doesn't begin to describe
it. The bolt slides back and forth as though there were no resistance to
its travel at all. When it goes home, picking up a cartridge on the way,
I still often pause and check to make sure it *has* picked one up.
A third impressive feature - the balance of the full-length rifle. It's
not clumsy, or bulky, or awkward like some of the other "Long Toms" of
its vintage. It actually feels rather muzzle-light. It handles more like
a trimmed-down sporter than a serious heavy-duty battle rifle - though
I'm sure it got heavier after a day of slogging along on the march, way
back when!
I don't do anything "practical" with the Krag, though I've tried to,
from time to time. My wife has hunted with it a time or two, but been
"skunked" so far, so no deer have fallen to it (since we've owned it, at
least). One time I wanted to try it in a "Service Rifle" DCM Match, but
was informed it didn't qualify as a "Service Rifle". This was news to
me! Go figure! I've threatened, now and again, to enter a silhouette
match at the BGC with it, just to "freak the mundanes", but haven't got
'round to doing that - yet. Mostly, I just take it to the range on
occasion and informally pop steel with it, basking in the confused
stares from the AR-15 shooters, the dudes sighting in their deer rifles,
and all the young people who've never been properly exposed to their own
history, and who shyly saunter over and ask "What's that old thing?"
"It's a Krag-Jorgenson M1898 U.S. infantry rifle," I tell them. "This is
what we used in the Spanish-American War. Want to shoot a round or two?"
Almost always, the young person DOES, and pretty soon they, too, are
back at El Caney, or Kettle Hill or somewhere, "civilizin' 'em with a
Krag"....
There's more to the overall "shooting report", I guess... I shot some
other guns but, the Krag kind of highlighted the day, so that's what I
wrote about this time. Next time I'll write about something else.
So, how was your Spanish-American War... uh, I mean, your Wednesday? :-)