I know the Ming Dynasty went after Christians in its early years, so maybe get the idea of potentially reaching Europe from China by sailing East going during the Yuan, and have a group of Christians desperately try to reach Europe and hit the California coast instead. Roman Catholicism was...
This article talks a little about the sea transportation required to get the two waves of the US Army Camel Corps' animals from the Med to Texas: https://armyhistory.org/the-u-s-armys-camel-corps-experiment/
They seemed to do fine compared to horses in that regard. No worse at least it seems...
The US might even go after Mexico instead of the CSA given that the west is less likely to have built of defensive positions, depending on when the CSA invades Mexico. Regain territory without having to deal with another campaign against Richmond.
So read up a bit on the sharps and it sees that while the slant breech model had a significant gas leak problem, the M1859 sharps' breech significantly fixed this problem. While reproductions of the M1859 also have a breech seal problem, they apparently use a slightly different breech design...
That's a good point about accuracy. I always thought the problem of loading a muzzle loader lying down was overstated, but since you always hear the line that you couldn't load them without standing up so I tired to compromise between my suspicion and what I've always heard by phrasing you...
That's only true for reliability of the firing mechanism as the type of lock has no effect on whether or not a breech loader works, and given the horrific conditions the Ferguson was tested and worked in, it didn't seem to matter much that it was a flintlock. The bolt seems to have been made of...
Really interesting info on the Ferguson Rifle, and a good insight into the problem of gas sealing, RodentRevolution (and the fact I responded to everything in your post is a pretty good sign I did read it all :p). I've heard talk about how the sharps fixed this problem of sealing, but I can't...
So you see no change in the creation of Ferguson's rifle corps OTL during the ARW, except they've got a better weapon? Also I think Ferguson's salesmanship was an issue at all, he generated wide acclaim for the weapon, it just had significant expense and enough issues to prevent significant...
What would have happened if British Major Patrick Ferguson instead of inventing the OTL Ferguson Rifle with its complex parts and easily fouled breech screw, invented a falling block breech loader like the sharps rifle and carbine of ACW fame? Would it be a simpler and more reliable mechanism...
Have a surviving Western Roman Empire that maintains Ireland as a squabbling dysfunctional war zone of rival tribes in order to use it as a supply of slaves for the empire. That way you have the cultural bias against the Irish as uncivilized barbarians and the widespread use of them as slaves.
I have this terrifying idea that this thread's title could become the name of a tv show on a althistory.com version of nickelodeon.
If you want to be an absolute monarch, find a country that is inhospitable, with a big army, and valuable resources that take a lot of effort to get at...
Yeah, I remember it wasn't that many years after my parents started allowing me to collect them that the actual military GI Joe started disappearing. Interesting that they were a brief comeback after Vietnam. My mom tells me about the talking marine one her brother had. I'd expect to see more...