Erik Jørgensen (17 May 1848 – 15 September 1896) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

master

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

, well known for his cooperation with

Ole Herman Johannes Krag Ole Herman Johannes Krag (7 April 1837 – 9 December 1916) was a Norwegian officer and firearms designer. Biography Ole H. J. Krag was born in Vågå, in Oppland county, Norway. Krag grew up in various locations where his father, Hans Peter S ...

in developing the successful

Krag–Jørgensen The Krag–Jørgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Norway, Denmark, and the United States. About 300 we ...

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

. Erik Jørgensen was born in the parish of

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greater Asker) in Viken county, ...

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main cou ...

, Norway and grew up on the farm Solstad. He educated himself to be a gunsmith and started working at

Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk Kongsberg Gruppen is an international technology group headquartered in Norway, that supplies high-technology systems to customers in the merchant marine, defence, aerospace, offshore oil and gas industries, and renewable and utilities industri ...

(the most important Norwegian weapon factory) in 1870. It was here that he met Ole H J Krag, and from 1871 Jørgensen worked with Krag on his rifles. As time went on, Jørgensen turned from just doing work for Krag to be an active participant in the development of the rifle which later became known as the Krag–Jørgensen.

References

Other sources

*''Norske Militærgeværer etter 1867,'' by Karl Egil Hanevik, Firearm designers 1848 births 1896 deaths People from Asker Place of death missing {{Norway-engineer-stub