Best World War I Equipment?

Firearms:
semiautomatic sidearm: Colt 1911 or Mauser C-96 red 9 version
revolver sidearm: Colt or Smith & Wesson 1917 or Webley revolver
Bolt Action rifle: Short Magazine Lee Enfield or Mauser
semiautomatic rifle: Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusil_Automatique_Modèle_1917
Automatic rifle: Browning Automatic Rifle or Lewis gun
medium Machine gun: Browning M1917
Heavy Machine gun: Browning M2
shotgun: Winchester M1897 or M12
submachine gun: MP18 Bergmann
other rifle: Winchester M1895

And for fun Blades, the Bayonet, Kukhri and the US M1917 trench knife
 
Firearms:
semiautomatic sidearm: Colt 1911 or Mauser C-96 red 9 version
revolver sidearm: Colt or Smith & Wesson 1917 or Webley revolver
Bolt Action rifle: Short Magazine Lee Enfield or Mauser
semiautomatic rifle: Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusil_Automatique_Modèle_1917
Automatic rifle: Browning Automatic Rifle or Lewis gun
medium Machine gun: Browning M1917
Heavy Machine gun: Browning M2
shotgun: Winchester M1897 or M12
submachine gun: MP18 Bergmann
other rifle: Winchester M1895

And for fun Blades, the Bayonet, Kukhri and the US M1917 trench knife
I'd choose the same set of weapons except for the following:
Bolt Action rifle: M1917 Enfield (combined all the best features of bolt-actions of the day with the powerful .30-06 cartridge)
Semiautomatic rifle: Meunier A6 (had night sights, among other things, and wasn't constrained by having to use Lebel components or rimmed Lebel ammunition)
Medium/Light machine gun: Parabellum MG14 (probably the lightest belt-fed rifle-caliber machine gun of the war, weighed less than the Lewis when air-cooled while having the firepower of the Vickers when water-cooled)
Submachine gun: Annihilator (the early name for the Thompson Submachine gun)
 

Redbeard

Banned
May I add the Madsen LMG. Already in service by 1901 (and produced until the 1950s) it was not only the first LMG but also an excellent one. However only used in small numbers in WWI on Russian and German side.
 

Insider

Banned
Best light gun? Best field gun? Best heavy? Best Mortar?
My picks would be
Skoda 75 mm Model 15 for light or mountain gun.
Field... now the though choice Krupp 105m K 14/17 is the best in absolute terms, but french fire control makes schniders 155 C a first pick.
Heavy ... Canon de 155mmGPF
Mortar 25cm Schwerer Minenwerfer
 
For most revolutionary, the Fedorav Avtomat. Who knows where infantry tactics would have gone if the Russian Revolution hadn't stopped production and development.

For vehicles, I'd say the Queen Elizabeth class battleship.
 
I'd choose the same set of weapons except for the following:
Bolt Action rifle: M1917 Enfield (combined all the best features of bolt-actions of the day with the powerful .30-06 cartridge)
Semiautomatic rifle: Meunier A6 (had night sights, among other things, and wasn't constrained by having to use Lebel components or rimmed Lebel ammunition)
Medium/Light machine gun: Parabellum MG14 (probably the lightest belt-fed rifle-caliber machine gun of the war, weighed less than the Lewis when air-cooled while having the firepower of the Vickers when water-cooled)
Submachine gun: Annihilator (the early name for the Thompson Submachine gun)
The Enfield is good, but that Tommy gun is cheating, lol
 

Driftless

Donor
Pick a year.... Compare apples to apples.

1914 - Who came into the fight with good gear?

1915 - What equipment came out of the lessons-learned in the first battles?

1916-1917 - What equipment was the best of the lot in the middle years?

1918 - What was the best for the final battles?

1919 - What was to come into service - if the war continued into 1919?

A number of the weapons listed (not all) were later developments. For instance, if you look at early 1915 days, the top fighter planes changed from one machine to another every 3-4 months as technology and doctrine advanced.
 
The Enfield is good, but that Tommy gun is cheating, lol
The OP didn't say it had to have seen action, and the first shipment did make it to Europe as the war ended.

Best light gun? Best field gun? Best heavy? Best Mortar?
My picks would be
Skoda 75 mm Model 15 for light or mountain gun.
Field... now the though choice Krupp 105m K 14/17 is the best in absolute terms, but french fire control makes schniders 155 C a first pick.
Heavy ... Canon de 155mmGPF
Mortar 25cm Schwerer Minenwerfer
My personal picks would be:
QF 3.7-inch Mountain Howitzer for mountain gun (has a split trail)
Cannone da 75/27 Modello 11 for light field gun (first split trail gun in the world, designed by Joseph-Albert Deport, who also designed the revolutionary French 75 Model 1897)
Canon de 155 C modele 1917 Schneider or the Rimailho 155 Model 1904 TR for heavy field gun/howitzer (The 155C due to its range and efficiency, and the 155 Model 1904 TR for its insane (15 rounds/min max) rate of fire for a 155 mm howitzer)
Canon de 155 GPF for heavy gun (first heavy gun with a split trail)
Stokes Mortar or Granatenwerfer M16 for mortar (basically the world's first modern mortar and spigot mortar, respectively)
 
Vickers MMG, for when you really, really need to fire all day and all night....... and the next day etc etc :)
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Besides that, my Great, Great Grandad served in the Machine Gun Corps (MGC)
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Though someone with an Enfield may well be able to drop the Tommy wielder before Tommy Boy can get in range. ;)

If they are willing to wait until 1921.....The Thompson was the M1921 for a reason - it was not a WW1 gun

There was only one real practical WW1 SMG and that was the Bergman MP18
 

Redbeard

Banned
For vehicles, I'd say the Queen Elizabeth class battleship.

As we're in ships I would also add the V class destroyers - punching way above weight at their introduction and many years after and useful for decades. I suppose we also should mention HMS Argus - the first true aircraft carrier - the basic concept is still ruling.
 
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