garand due to unusual circumstances
to me it is truly amazing that the US army would be thinking far enough ahead to start the development of a semi auto battle rifle back at the begining of the 20th century. same-o for the 1911 and the '03 sprngfld, which were in their formative stages at that time. the groundwork was laid for the M1917 with browning's recoil operated patent in 1901. it was truly the golden years for military small arms procurement.
US small arms were pretty much developed and tested in the private sector by civilians before that time. the settlers in the west were well into lever actions when the army was still fielding trapdoor sprgflds. and the turks were wasting a vastly superior russian military force with peabody martini rifles at distance, and then mowing them down at close range charges with henry levers.
the krag had its sideloader magazine because the army didn't think the grunts would keep up with a spent removable box magazine. prob same-o for the garand en bloc. the original 1911 models had lanyard loops on pistol and magazine for this reason.
"When they had no experience with machineguns, they nevertheless managed to acquire and test Gatlings."
well, not really. gatlin tried to sell his tumbling self loader to both the north and the south for the civil war. the brass in both were too wise to buy into a hairbrain system like that, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD SEEN IT WORK WITH THEIR OWN EYES. "intellegence" told both govts that it was a plot to involve manpower and manufacturing in a system that wouldn't work.
luckily for the south, the confederate officer who commanded the fort in new orleans trusted his eyes, and had made enough money in the shipping business pre-war to outfit his fort with this system. too bad for the union kids who tried taking it by full all-out charge until his ammo ran out.
john browning went to the army when it became obvious the US would get sucked into WWI, seeking funds to develop a lightweight fully that one grunt could carry from trench to trench in advance, or retreat. JMB wasn't a military man, yet foresaw this need. the army didn't.
LUCKILY, JMB WAS A PATRIOT, as he built and refined the BAR before we got into the war...AND GAVE THE RIGHTS TO THE ARMY, FREE GRATIS.
whereas now the military procurement system seems to be run by big business and politicians, scratching each other's backs. the small arms are designed to unrealisticly specified design parameters, and then changed to meet monetary constraints, and tested in the field by the soldier.
truly the worst shape it has been in from day one.
gunnie
to me it is truly amazing that the US army would be thinking far enough ahead to start the development of a semi auto battle rifle back at the begining of the 20th century. same-o for the 1911 and the '03 sprngfld, which were in their formative stages at that time. the groundwork was laid for the M1917 with browning's recoil operated patent in 1901. it was truly the golden years for military small arms procurement.
US small arms were pretty much developed and tested in the private sector by civilians before that time. the settlers in the west were well into lever actions when the army was still fielding trapdoor sprgflds. and the turks were wasting a vastly superior russian military force with peabody martini rifles at distance, and then mowing them down at close range charges with henry levers.
the krag had its sideloader magazine because the army didn't think the grunts would keep up with a spent removable box magazine. prob same-o for the garand en bloc. the original 1911 models had lanyard loops on pistol and magazine for this reason.
"When they had no experience with machineguns, they nevertheless managed to acquire and test Gatlings."
well, not really. gatlin tried to sell his tumbling self loader to both the north and the south for the civil war. the brass in both were too wise to buy into a hairbrain system like that, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD SEEN IT WORK WITH THEIR OWN EYES. "intellegence" told both govts that it was a plot to involve manpower and manufacturing in a system that wouldn't work.
luckily for the south, the confederate officer who commanded the fort in new orleans trusted his eyes, and had made enough money in the shipping business pre-war to outfit his fort with this system. too bad for the union kids who tried taking it by full all-out charge until his ammo ran out.
john browning went to the army when it became obvious the US would get sucked into WWI, seeking funds to develop a lightweight fully that one grunt could carry from trench to trench in advance, or retreat. JMB wasn't a military man, yet foresaw this need. the army didn't.
LUCKILY, JMB WAS A PATRIOT, as he built and refined the BAR before we got into the war...AND GAVE THE RIGHTS TO THE ARMY, FREE GRATIS.
whereas now the military procurement system seems to be run by big business and politicians, scratching each other's backs. the small arms are designed to unrealisticly specified design parameters, and then changed to meet monetary constraints, and tested in the field by the soldier.
truly the worst shape it has been in from day one.
gunnie