Great update. Do you care to do an installment on the Taylor-Jalenson?
Sure.
A British Army Taylor-Jalenson SMTJ No. 3 bolt-action rifle, with a 10-round magazine and polished wood finish. The No. 3 and No. 4 standards of the SMTJ are the most common versions of this rifle, and it is primarily used for heavy game hunting and sport shooting. Some versions of the rifle are still in service with a few countries around the world, including Madras, Burma and the various Caribbean countries.
Name: Taylor-Jalenson bolt-action rifle
Designer: Patrick Nelly Taylor and George Elliot Jalenson [1] (produced by Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield)
Type: Bolt-action rifle
Caliber: .303 British (7.7x56mm)
Feed system: 10 round detachable box magazine (usually reloaded by magazine [2])
Adopted: 1897-1904 across the British Empire
Users: British Empire, dominions and colonies
Notes: By the time of the eve of the 20th century, the British Army realised that the collection of old rifles that they had in stock at the time were becoming completely useless due to the rapid innovations that weapons had been making since the mid 19th century. Rapid fire bolt action weapons had become the norm in the world, while the single shot muzzle loader and the single shot breech loader had entered its final days as the standard weapons of the day. In the late 1880's the British Army presented an ultimatum to the gun designers of the day to design a bolt action weapon that can counter the famous Dreyse-Mauser Waffenfabrik AG in Prussia and the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in the United States. Two pairs of designers, James Paris Lee & William Ellis Metford and Patrick Nelly Taylor & George Elliot Jalenson won out, but Taylor and Jalenson won out after Lee and Metford bankrupted themselves creating their weapon. The rifle entered service with the British Army in 1897 and gained a prominence for its fast bolt action and powerful round, things that would prove useful during the Great War where it faced Imperial French Army forces carrying French built Lebel-Berthier Modele 1902 rifles. In the field, the Taylor-Jalenson became infamous for its tactic of the "Jalenson Gallop", a tactic where British troops try to fire as many rounds from the rifle down range in a semi-accurate formation in a time for a horse to gallop 5 furlongs, which is about a minute. The rifle was also rugged and reliable, with many rifles managing to survive the rainy storms and sticky French mud and still work afterwards. After the Great War, the rifles continued in service with the British Army until it was finally replaced with the equally famous Batts-Enfield assault rifle in 1953.
[1] These fictional two weapons designers replaced James Paris Lee and William Ellis Metford in the rifle business after the latter two went broke in early 1891, making the Taylor-Jalenson bolt-action rifle for RSAF Enfield. Taylor and Jalenson are presented as fictional rivals to Lee and Metford in ATL.
[2] Differing from OTL policy on reloading the Lee-Enfield, which was reloaded by using two stripper clips, the British Army decided it would be too clumsy to try to reload two 5 round stripper clips in the field, so they used the magazine, which was intended to be fixed on the rifle as the new reload. This helped the SMTJ stay reliable when the Great War rolled around and the magazine protected the rounds from being clogged up by dirt or water.
