The Last Krag — The Kongsberg M/1948 and M/1951 Elgrifle,Known as that odd bolt action rifle w

The Last Krag — The Kongsberg M/1948 and M/1951 Elgrifle,Known as that odd bolt action rifle with the sidemounted magazine, the Krag Jorgensen rifle was a popular military arm for Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the United States.  Perhaps it’s most famous role was as the primary rifle of the US Army during the Spanish American War and Philippine War.  It was also a very popular rifle among hunters and sportsmen.  However, by the end of World War II the old Norwegian rifle was a dated design that was no longer officially used by any nation’s military forces. While the Krag was made obsolete by other bolt action designs, by 1950 most nations were transitioning to semi-automatic firearms, thus making the Krag woefully obsolete. So in 1949 the Kongsberg factory in Norway decided to liquidate it’s supply in Krag parts before completely discontinuing the Krag design.  Called the Elgrifle (moose rifle), the last Krag design was produced primarily as a civilian hunting rifle as Norway has a strong hunting tradition.  The elgrifle was unique in that it was manufactured with a civilian sporting stock rather than tradition military stock, a half stock design that was held in place with a single barrel band.  Sights were simple with a fixed front blade sight and an adjustable rear sight.  They were chambered for the 8X57 Mauser cartridge, a popular cartridge in Europe that was cheap due to a glut of military surplus from Germany.  The elgrifle was produced in two production runs, the M/1948 of which 500 were manufactured in 1949, and the M/1951 in which 1,000 were manufactured in 1950 to 1951. -- source link

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