Krag-Petersson M1876
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- Not recorded
- Weight, empty
- Not recorded
- Introduced
- 1876
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Krag-Petersson M1876 was a lever-operated repeating rifle designed by Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Axel Jacob Petersson, and the first repeating rifle adopted by a Norwegian armed force: the Royal Norwegian Navy. It used a Peabody-type pivoting breechblock in which the externally mounted central hammer doubled as the operating lever, fed from a tubular magazine under the barrel and chambered for the 12.17×44mmR rimfire cartridge.
The Krag-Petersson is the rare design that successfully bolted a repeating tubular magazine onto a Peabody pivoting-block action, borrowing a Remington-style hammer, a Peabody block and a Vetterli magazine, but its hefty 12mm cartridge was already a generation behind when it entered Norwegian naval service.
Manufacturer attribution is mixed across sources, which variously credit Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori (Sweden), Carl Johans Værn in Horten, and Kongsberg. Magazine capacity is reported as 8 or 10 rounds. Considered a practical disappointment as contemporaries moved to smaller-bore cartridges.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- Norway
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1876 to 1888
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Falling block
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Single stage
- Capacity
- 8
- Magazine
- Tube
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 381 m/s
- Effective range
- 900 m
- Rate of fire
- 19 rpm
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Hammer as operating lever
Pivoting breechblock
Tubular magazine
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magazine capacityAmong 1,611 rifles | 8 | 5 | Holds more rounds than about 70% |
Answers
Questions about the Krag-Petersson M1876
What caliber is the Krag-Petersson M1876?
The Krag-Petersson M1876 is chambered in 12.17×44mmR Rimfire.
How many rounds does the Krag-Petersson M1876 hold?
The Krag-Petersson M1876 holds 8 rounds, fed from a tube magazine.
Who makes the Krag-Petersson M1876?
The Krag-Petersson M1876 is made by Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk (Norway). It was designed by Ole Herman Johannes Krag.
When was the Krag-Petersson M1876 introduced?
The Krag-Petersson M1876 was introduced in 1876 and discontinued in 1888.
How does the Krag-Petersson M1876 operate?
The Krag-Petersson M1876 uses a falling block action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Royal Norwegian Navy
- 1876
Provenance
Confidence in this record
60%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/krag-petersson' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "krag-petersson", "name": "Krag-Petersson M1876", "manufacturer": { "id": "kongsberg-vaapenfabrikk", "name": "Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk", "countryCode": "NO", "foundedYear": 1814, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-04-05 22:24:37", "updatedAt": "2026-04-05 22:24:37", "version": "82608d925f094cc477278b4fee02a76abce31db3df38f56ecd3ebb324d0c6d62" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "NO", "year_introduced": 1876, "barrel_length_mm": null, "weight_empty_g": null, "action_type": "falling_block"}