Small arms AH challange

Your challange is to make this weapon in this configuration the standard side arm of the US army POD no earlier than Jan 1 1918

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This is the m1911 with a 25 round mag... these where used during ww1 by pilots
 

Macragge1

Banned
Based on my limited knowledge this is a pretty hard challenge; after all, the whole point of a sidearm is to be lightweight and portable - both in terms of ergonomics (can't holster it) and weight this configuration misses the mark, especially in an era before widespread adaptation of bullpups or SMGs - with all the troops running around with full-sized rifles (and full kit), adding a big pistol would seem like an unnecessary extra burden.

I also wonder how much more effective it would be as a weapon than a vanilla M1911 - obviously it's got a way bigger clip and automatic fire, but in the claustrophobic melee of trench raids where sidearms become useful this isn't a huge advantage - a couple of shots at point blank range will kill a hun just as surely as twenty-five.

It's a cool find though and I guess like you say it'd have some use as a PDW for pilots, tank crews and the like - kinda like a prehistoric micro-uzi.
 
Maybe as a PDW

Sorry, this isn't going to happen...

As a PDW for tank crews, perhaps (but unlikely....too bulky), but even here it just doesn't offer very much. An SMG gives you more lead to throw, and they were well-developed at this point. For officers, it is too MUCH firepower (and it would ruin the cut of their uniforms!), and for rear-echelon troops it offers too little firepower.

Neither fish nor fowl, it fails both...
 
There is a version of this weapon (forgive me for not having a photo) where the 25 round mag was in a very long stick, as opposed to a drum. It was found to have severe feeding problems and be very prone to jamming, so they did the drum instead
 
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Here is a pic of the 15 round long stick... the 25 stick was VERY long (like it protruded more than a foot out of the butt of the pistol) and made out of stamped sheet metal
 
But why?

What real advantage does this offer? We are talking about a pistol round, and sidearms of this sort simply weren't used in extended engagements. Outside of action films, you don't really need a 25 round magazine (of course it would be nice, but anything with that many rounds is going to be heavy and bulky, and I have never met a soldier yet who thought heavy and bulky was worth trading for any tactical benefit), and yet that is really all ths offers...
 
1917: Nine-year old Ian Fleming is fascinated with the attachments to the US Army M1911 pistol shown to him by a member of the Lafayette Escadrille. He later creates a 1920s vintage adventure character based on a British Army officer, who in one movie scene teams up with a US Army officer sporting a .45 caliber pistol and (through changing magazines) a seemingly endless supply of rounds.

Yeah, it's fiction. But it is a US Army sidearm. :p
 
IIRC a lot of the first ww1 pilots were first in the cavalry, is it feasible that one pilot squadron, short on planes, goes back to cavalry on the eastern front, and does excellently with their new-fangled pistols?
EDIT: oh shit, just realized it said US army...umm idk honestly, maybe some kind of spin-off of mine?
 
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