Design an infantry rifle for the Civil War

[Kaylee]

Metallic cartridges have been available since before the Civil War

Very true.

However "were available" and "were available on a large enough basis to supply an army at war with" are very different things. There was no shortage of arms advanced enough to make an incredible difference already being made at the time - and many were used here and there. Heck, even contemporary Sharps breechloaders loaded with paper cartridges would have upped their rate of fire tremendousy.

But it simply wasn't logistically possible (especially this side of the line) to field even the existing "advanced" arms in large enough numbers to make that difference.

Now, if you go back to say 1845 rather than 1861 and build a factory and stockpile for fifteen years, that might make a difference. But the point is... arms technology was not a limiting factor in the US Civil War - logistics, camp sanitation, political considerations, tactics that hadn't caught up with what even contemporary issue arms were capable of -- all those were the issues at point.

 

[DixieTexian]

I'd bring a simple internal combustion engine and knowledge of how airplanes work. I bet the yankees would run scared if some gian bird flew over dropping hand grenades on them.

 

[axeman_g]

Darnit I cant remember the man's name. He was the Head of the Dept of War's armaments dept. He is the man personally responsible for the length and duration of the Civil War.

In approx 1855 when metallic cartridges first appeared, the US Army was given a trial of the new cartridges versus charged ball and shot. Although impressed, the powers that be decided that the cost of ammunition would be too much for the army to bear, therefore keeping the ball rds for another decade.

The other side to this issue was the each state had it's own firearm with a different caliber, so that the quartermasters had to acquire 9 different calibers for the Army of the Potomac alone. If the US Gov wanted to rearm all of the state militias to match a new metallic cartridge mandate, the price would have been much greater.

But, imagine if you will 1st Manassass. If one side, dont care which, had metallic cartridge and the other didn't. All of those people that predicted a two week war would have been correct. If the gray had them... there would not have been a US Army left and war over. If the boys in Blue had them, well the southerners would have been in trouble quickly with their lesser number of men in the army. Probably would have lasted a year.

 

[CajunBass]

Why bother? Considering the casualty lists, it seems the rifled musket did a pretty good job.

 

[308win]

For long range, a bolt action repeating type weapon that could be made from stamped parts as much as possible.

For shorter range pump action shoties such as 870's shooting buck in paper hulls.

M79's would be good if fusing system could be manufactured using their technology.

 

[mdao]

I'd just mass produce a short-barreled version of the Spencer rifle. The time necessary to redesign any weapons that did not exist in 1861 would just take away time that could be used to mass produce designs that already existed.

Then I'd introduce trench warfare and barbed wire a few years early.

 

[EricTheBarbarian]

ak 47

 

[DixieTexian]

I think bolt action might not work as well with black powder. It would shoot fine, but one magazine full and the bolt wouldn't move because of the fouling. It would have to be specially designed to deal with this.

 

[Gordon Fink]

I would take back the knowledge to engineer a diplomatic solution to the secession crisis and spare the nation from the horrible costs of that war.

But since it’s impossible to change history, I would stash a bunch of “antique” firearms in a nice, safe location. When I traveled back to the future, I would then collect said antiques.

~G. Fink

 

[Deanimator]

It's called the "Berdan 1". The Confederate Army would have been mown like hay.

 

[Deanimator]

I think bolt action might not work as well with black powder. It would shoot fine, but one magazine full and the bolt wouldn't move because of the fouling. It would have to be specially designed to deal with this.

Not really. The Mauser 71/84 worked just fine with black powder as did the Hotchkiss and Kropatchek.

 

[Deanimator]

Why bother? Considering the casualty lists, it seems the rifled musket did a pretty good job.

If the Union Army had been completely equipped with breechloading single shots like the Allin or Berdan, they could have scythed the Confederate Army from the prone position. Pickett's Charge, as bad as it was would have turned into a banzai charge.

 

[CajunBass]

If the Union Army had been completely equipped with breechloading single shots like the Allin or Berdan, they could have scythed the Confederate Army from the prone position. Pickett's Charge, as bad as it was would have turned into a banzai charge.

And the outcome would have been different how?

 

[Mk VII]

Does that mean I have to arrive butt-naked like Arnuld?

 

[doubleg]

Imagine what the confederates could have done if the Union didnt have a steady supply of poor imigrants to go die for them.

I would leave their weapons alone and have them change twards guerilla tactics. The war would probally still be going on if they had that knowledge back then.

 

[Jim Watson]

There is a school of thought that if the Union had better guns, equipment, officers, strategy, whatthehellever that would have let them defeat
the Confederacy sooner it would have been with with less total loss of life on both sides and with less hatred and less "screw the Southrons" politics afterwards.

 

[Deanimator]

And the outcome would have been different how?

The outcome would have been faster and the total casualties lower.

Perhaps Lee would have gone to Davis and told him that the war had reached the silly stage BEFORE Gettysburg.

 

[Titan6]

What fun during the lunch hour. Winning the Civil War all over again.

As many have pointed out there are a lot of things that would have likely had a bigger impact the a new MBR but that is what was asked for here.

Given the times, tactics, ranges of combat the fact that 90% of the fighting took place in the countryside I submit that the ideal rifle for the CW was probably the M1 Garand. I doubt either side could have made enough of them to the proper specs to be effective though... that is just a guess.

If they could not make enough good Garands than the 1903 Springfield is likely an excellent choice or the M44 with the nod to the Russian piece. The problem here is not so much the manufacture of the arms but the feeding. With as much as both sides had to go through collecting up bat poop and whatnot to produce enough black powder I imagine it would have been even tougher to produce enough smokeless powder.

But you asked for a new design... So I would go with anything exactly like an M44 but better. I am not sure how to improve on the M44, a lot better people than me have tried. You would need to keep that bayonet so it is not as simple as taking that off.

 

[VeryOldDog]

To answer a question from above, the Secretary of War was a man named Edwin M.Stanton. Stanton was the cabinet minister for the "War Department" equivalent to the Secretary of Defense in today's terms. Stanton and his department ran one of the most bureaucratic and corrupt organizations during the Civil War also know as the war of "northern aggression". The Henry Repeating Rifle was introduced, tested, and even presented to President Lincoln early in the conflict but the War Department declined only to accept contracts from the companies which made the predominant muzzel loaders of that day. The major reason was the receipt of "kickbacks" from these companies which fattened the pockets of the bureaucrats and the manufacturers who economically benefited from the war. This is the part of history which is not often discussed along with improperly manufactured cannon that exploded when charged and shoes that fell apart in 30 days of use. The historical economics of the war is a study all by itself. It was highly improbable that new firearm technology would be introduced and purchased unless it came from the manufacturing elite who financially benefited from this transaction. Prolonging the conflict only enabled a continuation of contracts and continued full employment of factories producing war materials.

New firearm technology progressed after the Civil War only because it moved from military purchase to civilian purchase. It was the European governments of the 1870's and 1880's that gave significant contracts to American firearm manufacturers during this period such a Russia and the Eastern European countries that kept Smith & Wesson, Remington, and Colt in business. By the 1890's, the U.S. military was purchasing European designed firearms based upon Mauser designed technology.

 

[mpmarty]

I'd go back to 1860 carrying a single shot Liberator pistol, shot Lincoln in the damn head and solved a hundred years of strife and suffering.

 

[F4GIB]

The gun that won the battle of Roark's Drift during the Zulu war as the 1871 Martini-Henry Mark I chambered in a .455 metallic cartridge.

Given military manufacturing lead times, wasn't that technology readily available just ten years earlier? Add "fire and maneuver" and you've got a winning combo.

 

[mavracer]

a henry would be fine I'll take the formula for. plastic and a little kevlar. a few claymore mines would shorten the war.how bout a simple mortar.

 

[Mk VII]

Stanton (who succeeded Simon Cameron in 1862, ousted because of incompetence or corruption or both) was Secretary of War but Brigadier-General Ripley was the Chief of Ordnance.
The obstacle to most of the above suggestions is, "Unless you reveal the secret of deep-drawing solid brass cartridge cases on an industrial scale, then all of your breechloader suggestions will fail in the service"

 

[Caimlas]

Me, personally, I'd forgo the firearms and focus on training and tactics. Just bringing back a half dozen modern military discipline books would likely do wonders.

If I couldn't do that, I'd have to settle for a firearm design. Thinking about it, trench warfare and the 'battle line' were common worldwide until World War I, when the US said "enough, let's send over some riflemen" - and it changed the face of war. I don't know if the technology to make firearms shoot 500+ yards with accuracy existed back then, after you consider the variance in powders, powder humidity, ball or bullet weight, and the quality of the rifle bores. Remember, even the 'primitive' black powder cartridges were quite a step up compared to those old things, and they weren't the greatest in terms of accuracy. While there were certainly individuals who'd worked it down to a science, it was hardly something of common understanding, and even then it was more of an art than a science.

I'd probably bring back the knowledge for modern powders, and the knowledge to make (say) a 1903 and optics, on the cheap (or as much as could be done - they didn't have electricity yet, afterall). It wouldn't be much, but in conjunction with a doctrine change, it might have been enough to help the south rise the first time.

EDIT: or, maybe I'd simply go back and hand Lee some grey-clad Kevlar with ballistic plates and say, "Here, don this, and take Washington. If you do, the war will be over in a month."

 

[Gifted]

Redo your logistics, and change the tactics.

Start converting(probably marines first, so you have a solid unit) to trapdoors(there's a reason they chose that course) chambered in the common calibers rather than messing with lining them down to .50, and introduce synthetic nitrates. That right there is what made WWI as long as it was. If Germany hadn't gotten that technique, they would have surrendered years earlier. it also probably improves the quality. You don't need a bolt action for long range work; the .45-70 was good to hundreds of yards in volleys. .50-70 had worse ballistics, and the larger bullets I'm proposing would be even worse, but they should still be good out farther than the minie balls. Make it a .52(or whatever)-90, and you can put a better bullet in there. They weren't afraid of recoil back then.

Redo the medical issues too. Penicilin might be nice, but there are other things known to have antibiotic properties, you just have to get them into production.

Screw the metal cartridges in the cannon. A good interrupted screw breech will do just fine. You can also start on picric acid HE shells, and long range bombardment.

Have the Greys drill on the coast, and convert their locomotives and steam engines to oil fired. Shouldn't be too hard.