Krag’s One Handed-Cocking M1907
In 1917 Sweden obtained a license to manufacture a variant of the John Browning-designed FN Model 1903. Designated the M1907, the pistol was produced by Husqvarna with nearly 90,000 manufactured by the time production ended in the early 1940s.
It appears that at some point in the process of selection of the M1907 the Norwegian firearms engineer Ole Krag submitted several improved FN Model 1903s for Swedish military testing.
While the entry in the Swedish Armemuseum’s catalogue does not give an exact date of when the pistol was submitted Krag died in December 1916, aged 79, just before production of the M1907 began at Husqvarna. So we can assume the submission was made in the early 1910s, Krag was granted a US patent for some of the experimental pistols features in 1912 (see below).
Krag’s improvements included a cocking method, similar to the Spanish Jo-Lo-Ar’s once handed cocking system and even more similarly - the Lignose Einhand, in which the front of the trigger guard could be grasped with the firing-hand and pulled back to pull the weapon’s slide back far enough to cock and chamber a round.
From the photographs we can see how the trigger guard has a concave shape to allow it to be pulled back with the first two fingers. It’s also possible to see where the two guide bars, which make up the bottom of the guard, can recess into the pistol’s grips - which differs from the Lignose Einhand in that only the front of the guard moves. The cocking piece is attached to the slide by a new piece which is attached to the slide rather than the frame.
Krag’s US patent for a smaller pocket pistol using his same one handed cocking system, dating from 1911 (source)
The pistol retains its grip and frame-mounted safeties and is marked as an FN Model 1903-produced pistol. Krag, however, has made a number of other changes. The left grip panel has been cut and inset with a cartridge counter, similar to that developed by George H. Powell, with markings for all 7 rounds. In addition to this Krag has also added a number of safety indicators including a pair of windows on either side of the slide to allow the user to see if the weapon’s hammer is cocked or not.
Another safety feature is Krag’s patented loaded chamber indicator, which can be seen on the top of the slide. Both examples of the Krag improved pistol held by the Swedish Armemuseum have these features.
Krags forsøkspistol - or ‘Krag’s experimental gun’ (source)
Krag produced a whole series of these pistols with his first patent for some of the features begin granted in 1910. The in-the-white prototype, dating from c.1909, above can be seen to include the cartridge counter windows and the one-handed-cocking system. It would seem that once Krag heard of the Swedish military’s interest in the FN pistol he endeavoured to improve it with some of his own pistol’s features. The Swedish military did not adopt any of Krag’s improvements but they did retain two specimens which are now held by the Swedish Armemuseum.
‘Automatic Repeating Firearm’, O.H.J. Krag, US Patent #1,028,032, 28 May, 1912 (source)
‘Automatic Repeating Firearm’, O.H.J. Krag, US Patent #954,441, 12 Apr. 1910, (source)
Krags forsøkspistol, Forsvarsmuseet, (source)
Pistol fm/1907, Armemuseum, (source)
Pistol m/1907, Armemuseum, (source)
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