CanadianGoose
Banned
I have a confession to make. 99 times out of 100 I don't believe in "overlooked technologies", as many proponents of "what if AK-47 had been invented in 1905" tend to overlook one or many "small details" which made said weapon impossible/impractical in said times. Moreover, most of technologies had been tried and rejected before time was ripe for them. As they say about tactic manuals, "This book written not in ink but in blood of smartypants who did othewise".
Actually AK-47 (low-powered rugged auto/semiauto rifle) in 1905 is a wonderful example. Yes, it could be built then, but:
1. Intermediate round is inherently underpowered for long-range shooting. AK is useless farther than 500 m, at least for an average conscript soldier. Today this is covered by squad- or platoon-level "universal" machineguns, such as PK or MAG, plus wide range of mortars, vehicle-mounted heavy weapons and such. And even with that Soviets kept designated marksmen with full-powered semi-auto rifle (SVD) in all APC- (as opposed to IFV-) based units. No such weapons had been avaliable in the 1905.
2. Having both intermediate round for infantry rifle and full-power round for machinegun basically doubles logistic load, and it was hard enough as it is.
3. Closely related to the #2, any supply officer in 1900 would soil his pants at thought of delivering amounts of ammo necessary for infantry units with AK-47. Trucks was at their infancy and railroad network was not as developed as in 1930-s. Remember, that SMLE at this time had special latch converting it from magazine feed to single-shot, with magazine being reserved for "most critical" moments of a battle.
4. Smokeless powder in 1905 was not suitable for gas-operated systems. Read about travails of the "potato digger".
5. Several important technologies had been developed or greatly improved in 1905-1947 which essentially allowed to built AK-47 as reliable rifle. If built using 1905 technologies, it would suffer all kinds of problems after 1 or 2 months of active combat service (barrel will be worn and bolt damaged).
6. Horse. Military rifle of 1905 had to immobilize horse with a single hit. Not easy with intermediate round.
Same discougaring analysis can be done for almost every weapon discussed here. Katyushas were not possible before great improvement in propellant technology. Propellant charges in WWII-vintage Katyusha rockets are as distant from anything avaliable around 1900 as M-16 from Brown Bess. Actually Russian Imperial army retired it's black-powdered rockets (probably best known black powdered designs) around 1880, as they utterly lost to improved breechloading artillery. Black powder-firing Gatling is inherently unreliable and no amount of mechanical tinkering is going to deal with that, as reason of flaw is with black powder itself, not with design. And so on, and so forth.
Actually AK-47 (low-powered rugged auto/semiauto rifle) in 1905 is a wonderful example. Yes, it could be built then, but:
1. Intermediate round is inherently underpowered for long-range shooting. AK is useless farther than 500 m, at least for an average conscript soldier. Today this is covered by squad- or platoon-level "universal" machineguns, such as PK or MAG, plus wide range of mortars, vehicle-mounted heavy weapons and such. And even with that Soviets kept designated marksmen with full-powered semi-auto rifle (SVD) in all APC- (as opposed to IFV-) based units. No such weapons had been avaliable in the 1905.
2. Having both intermediate round for infantry rifle and full-power round for machinegun basically doubles logistic load, and it was hard enough as it is.
3. Closely related to the #2, any supply officer in 1900 would soil his pants at thought of delivering amounts of ammo necessary for infantry units with AK-47. Trucks was at their infancy and railroad network was not as developed as in 1930-s. Remember, that SMLE at this time had special latch converting it from magazine feed to single-shot, with magazine being reserved for "most critical" moments of a battle.
4. Smokeless powder in 1905 was not suitable for gas-operated systems. Read about travails of the "potato digger".
5. Several important technologies had been developed or greatly improved in 1905-1947 which essentially allowed to built AK-47 as reliable rifle. If built using 1905 technologies, it would suffer all kinds of problems after 1 or 2 months of active combat service (barrel will be worn and bolt damaged).
6. Horse. Military rifle of 1905 had to immobilize horse with a single hit. Not easy with intermediate round.
Same discougaring analysis can be done for almost every weapon discussed here. Katyushas were not possible before great improvement in propellant technology. Propellant charges in WWII-vintage Katyusha rockets are as distant from anything avaliable around 1900 as M-16 from Brown Bess. Actually Russian Imperial army retired it's black-powdered rockets (probably best known black powdered designs) around 1880, as they utterly lost to improved breechloading artillery. Black powder-firing Gatling is inherently unreliable and no amount of mechanical tinkering is going to deal with that, as reason of flaw is with black powder itself, not with design. And so on, and so forth.