TL-191: Featherston's Finest - Uniforms, Weapons, and Vehicles of the CSA and Freedom Party
- Thread starter Alterwright
- Start date
Even though my TL is with out Featherstone I'll post this here too
The Tredegar Self Loading Rifle TSLR for short was developed in the early 1920s as the Confederate military began to look for ways to augment its manpower disadvantage. The TSLR featured the Gass blowback system that would be refined later for the TAR. It used a detachable 10 round box magazine and used the .30-08 round that the Tredegar M1908 had used. Adopted as the M1923 the TSLR would have a short career as the main battle rifle of the CSA with the TAR supplanting it in 1938 as the M1938. Still the TSLR would see combat during the second Great War as there were not enough of the Newer TAR to equip every soldier. Soldiers who carried it loved it for its heavier punching power.
While the TAR would not be exported the TSLR would become the standard rifle of the Mexican Empire and would even supplant the venerable Enfield SMLE in Britain who adopted as their main battle rifle in 1928 where it would be produced by Vickers. The Vickers Self Loading Rifle as it was known was chambered in the Enfield .303 round.
The Tredegar Self Loading Rifle TSLR for short was developed in the early 1920s as the Confederate military began to look for ways to augment its manpower disadvantage. The TSLR featured the Gass blowback system that would be refined later for the TAR. It used a detachable 10 round box magazine and used the .30-08 round that the Tredegar M1908 had used. Adopted as the M1923 the TSLR would have a short career as the main battle rifle of the CSA with the TAR supplanting it in 1938 as the M1938. Still the TSLR would see combat during the second Great War as there were not enough of the Newer TAR to equip every soldier. Soldiers who carried it loved it for its heavier punching power.
While the TAR would not be exported the TSLR would become the standard rifle of the Mexican Empire and would even supplant the venerable Enfield SMLE in Britain who adopted as their main battle rifle in 1928 where it would be produced by Vickers. The Vickers Self Loading Rifle as it was known was chambered in the Enfield .303 round.
I wonder what "Wonder Weapons" would the Confederacy cook up in the last months of it's existence?
I imagine most more "practical" things like super barrels or attempts at their own turbo fighters, like has been suggested before. I don't think they had the critical mass of education for too much more.
Perhaps attempts at biological warfare. Of some manner of early ballistic missile submarine or large bomber meant to carry confederate rockets to the west coast.
Or if we want to get really silly, some eccentric genius hillbilly physicist trying to make a sonic death ray in his backwoods lab.
Looking for feed back on this one. As A Confederate barrel yes its a kit bash little bits of Pershing, S-35, Sherman, M24 (i just don't know if I like it)
I'm trying to come up with completely new barrel drawings for my PNT TL new tanks all the way round for many countries. at least this is my goal This is going to be an interwar barrel (and remember both the CSA and Italy have SI's in leadership positions)
I'm more happy with my Union barrels (Interwar)
I'm trying to come up with completely new barrel drawings for my PNT TL new tanks all the way round for many countries. at least this is my goal This is going to be an interwar barrel (and remember both the CSA and Italy have SI's in leadership positions)
I'm more happy with my Union barrels (Interwar)
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I like your Union barrels too. Your CS barrel isn't bad, if anything it's just the suspension and hull that don't mix well, I would change one or the other.
Might I suggest for your Confederate barrels you borrow bits from British and French tanks? I used British bits for most of my alt-CS barrels, it made sense to me because the CSA was allied to Britain and France.
Good luck with your future designs, looking forward to what you come up with.
Also I have a lot line drawings of WWII tanks in the same scale, if you need some pics to work with, just post here what you need and if I have them, I'll PM them to you.
Canonically, they had a super-heavy tank with a "4.5 inch or 5 inch" gun--presumably the TTL Maus equivalent. They also had strategic bombardment rockets (used to strike Philadelphia), built in Huntsville, AL. My headcanon is that the OTL Belgian-American Karel Bossart is their Von Braun equivalent (his family leaving Belgium in the aftermath of the German conquest). Given that they have nuclear weapons, I'm inclined to say that the CS doesn't have much else in the way of wonderweapons because their military research is run more practically than the OTL German programs were.
With that said, if Howard Hughes (OTL born in Texas to a father from Missouri--possibly a Confederate citizen ITTL) still exists and founds a Rebel Hughes Aircraft ITTL, the Confederates might have tried fielding early homing missiles before the end of the war--AIM-4 equivalent, perhaps.
The tank in the books isn't a Maus, but more of a heavy tank like the King Tiger. Or perhaps more similar to an IS-2, with had a 122mm gun (which is about 4.8 inch). Missiles would also be far out of their ability to field in any reasonable timeframe. The only real equivalent might be some sort of large AA rocket meant to attack bomber formations by exploding at a set altitude among them.
I could see it being an IS-2, especially since the armor seems a bit thin (Morrel manages to destroy it with his own barrel).
As to rockets, remember that TL-191 is a bit tech-advanced compared to OTL (atomic bombs at least a year ahead of OTL), and the first radar-guided missiles began flight tests IOTL in 1947. It would be a stretch, but I could see the Confederates put a lot of faith in guided missiles (particularly as US bomber efforts intensify, and with help from British radar experts), and consequently them rushing at least one prototype into combat testing before the war's end.
Atomic bombs were a year advanced because Turtledove couldn't rationally make the Confederates last more than a little over three years in a war, and so atomic bombs needed to happen before then. Otherwise, tech is no more advanced than historical.
Further, the Confederates simply do not have the amount of technologically advanced industry and technicians to make a radar guided missile in the timeframe of the war. The fact they got a fizzled atomic bomb out of Henderson FitzBelmont is a miracle in and of itself
Further, the Confederates simply do not have the amount of technologically advanced industry and technicians to make a radar guided missile in the timeframe of the war. The fact they got a fizzled atomic bomb out of Henderson FitzBelmont is a miracle in and of itself
I posted this in the ‘Yankee Joe’ thread and wanted to make sure there was a link to that question, since it applies equally to the subjects covered by this thread.
Please don’t be afraid to share your thoughts!
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...u-s-armed-forces.452967/page-71#post-24141300
My little sketch for a Barrel Variant of the Ripper MG and a Tredegar Automatic Rifle with accessories.
I like it it looks like you too the M14 magazine and married it with the M1941 Johnson. The barrel moving with the recoil will make shot grouping hard (this was the issue the Army had with the Johnson in otl ) but the AK47 is proof that assault rifles don't need that. And I never got the impression that troops armed with TARs were counting bullets (until the end that is )
This is the final version that will appear in Paths
Picture is working for some reason
Picture is working for some reason
The Tredegar M1916 Machine-Gun and it's accessories.
Developed in the late 1920s, the M1916 from the Tredegar Company was designed to serve as the standard weapon for the aircraft for the newly created Confederate Air Force, both as the main offensive armament for fighters as well as both a turret and a flexible mount for multi-seat aircraft such as bombers and recon aircraft. The weapon had a rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute and fed from a 65 round drum, and the weapon was fired from either a trigger mechanism (as shown above) or from a remote controlled mount. In addition to serving as an aircraft weapon, the M1916 was also used by ground forces with little modifications (such as the water jacket and a bi-pod.) The weapon would see service in several other militaries (as they often came mounted on Confederate built aircraft that were also exported), being used by South Africa, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Russia, Venezuela, and Japan (which the Japanese Army had a licensed copy known as the Type 98.) Interestingly, the Tredegar Company submitted a modified version of the M1916 for the 1935 MG trials, which ended up losing out to Marlin's design which became the infamous "Ripper" machine-gun.