Hello all,

  I am hoping that yall can help me out on this, im pretty confused at this point. I have an Old rifle that i believe was brought over by family from Norway that i know next to nothing about. I spent many years trying to identify it as a Steyr because it is marked as such, and finally sent a message to the steyr homepage about the weapon describing it and its markings. He informed me that steyr made several thousand Krag-Jorgensen rifles and he felt this is what i had. A short time later i did a search on Krag-Jorgensen rifles and found this website. I have looked into the forum as much as possible and have found little beyond the 1930 model year so i am confused by the 1944 year markings on the upper reciever. The closest match in the photos on this website would be to the Norwegian M94, in which the rifle is identical in all regards except one. The rifle i have is significantly shorter. It has not been cut down, however the section of barrel and wood in between the two metal bands is about 1/4-1/3 the length of the one in the picture. The upper reciever also has the "prancing lion holding a hatchet" that is seen on other Krag-Jorgensen rifles in addition to the Steyr markings. I have also noticed that the long range flip up sight which is marked from 100m-2200m does not match those pictured on this website, so that may be a Steyr piece. It has the name Norway hand scribed on the side of the upper reciever, i feel this was done by the owner and not the factory.

I am curious as to any and all information anyone can offer me about this rifle. I love the feel and balance of it, and would love to take it shooting, but dont know the caliber, or if its a good shooting rifle, or if it is a known deathtrap that backfires or breaks on firing. Naturally it would be nice to know something like that before i shoot it and have the bolt hit me in the face. Also i have heard about differences between swedish ammo in 6.5x55 and Norwegian 6.5x55 ammo, how do i find the safe ammo for the rifle and avoid the stuff that will cause damage?

I realize this is a very open ended and large order post, i appricate any and all who take the time to read it, and still have the energy to respond.

The descriptions very slightly between Malory and Brophy's books but it sounds like you have a Model 1894 Short Rifle and/or a M1943 Nazi Occupatin Carbine. These were made durring German occupation and the dimensions are similar to the german M98K. Some were converted from rifles in stock and some were made up from parts. Brophy puts production from 1943-1944 with serial number ranges from 152001-152300 and 301-1000. He also says "The recievers are marked diffrently, but most arms seen have had NA, NB, or NC preceeding the serial number, as well as the German Waffenamt (ordance) stamp."
Unfortunatly, Nord our Norwegian connection hasn't been on in a while, but hopefully he will check in and shed more light on this one.
I would be intrested in seeing pictures. If you can't post them here you could send them to me at nebutts@citlink.net
Ned

wow, well thanks for your information guys, this is getting pretty interesting. I have a digital camera and can work on getting some pictures to post. but how do i go about loading pictures onto the forum? are there size limits and stuff like that?

I have looked over the rifle some more, there are no nazi markings that i can find, just the date 1944 in very clear bold lettering, accompanied by the name Steyr. the NC and 637 are also very clear on the upper receiver above the breech. Ill get some pictures taken and see if i cant get them posted to try and help make it easier to identify.