[snowhunter]

Souvenir Boer War-captured rifles and carbines were among the weapons
found by the British after the battle. Most were M1895/1896 Mauser
rifles and short rifles in 7mm, and some even had the distinctive stock
carvings favoured by the Boers.

At least one Norwegian Krag-Jorgensen
rifle, another “bring-back” from South Africa, was included in the lot.

https://kieranmcmullen.com/2011/11/01/weapons-of-the-irish-rebels-and-the-british/


.

 

[feuerwerker]

so a bring back? it seems

its a shame that irish mercenarys help the british imperalism to knock out the free boer republics instead of hunting redcoats in south africa.

 

[snowhunter]

There were only a handful of “Krags” taken from the rebels at the end of the rising in 1916 but how they arrived in Ireland is quite a story. The Krag was designed by Ole Johannes Krag and Erik Jorgensen, two Norwegians, in the late 1880’s and by 1892 it was the standard US Army Rifle. It was produced under license in caliber .30-40 US. The Krag was the standard rifle of Norway and Sweden (in the Swedish 6.5mm) and would be produced through WWII under Nazi control.

The Krag had a unique feature; the magazine loaded from the side. Where most military rifle used a “stripper clip” of five rounds that loaded from the top with the bolt open, the
Krag could be loaded with loose rounds from the side with the bolt closed and ready to fire. This type side loading meant that soldiers could “top off” the magazine without waiting to run out of bullets.

But how did they end upin Dublin in 1916? One of the buyers for Krags was the government of Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), commonly known as the Transvaal. You might remember that Major MacBride (who fought at Jacob’s Biscuit Factory) had led
the Irish Brigade in support of the Boers against England in the Second Boer War. Norway had delivered 300 Krags to the Transvaal forces shortly before the war. These rifles were remnants of that lost conflict. In fact, the slouch hats, with the sides turned up, worn by the ICA was in honor of the Boers. The Second Boer War had not been overly popular in Ireland.

https://kieranmcmullen.com/2011/11/01/weapons-of-the-irish-rebels-and-the-british/