Shootin' Irons!

[Carthaginian]

Since Borys's mention of his military caliber has sparked a little side debate in the Brandenburg Gazette, I felt perhaps it's own thread might be in order.

To bring everyone up to speed...
http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=798.msg12004#msg12004

And now... fire away!

[Carthaginian]

I picked the 1894 Winchester lever-action in .38-55-255 for the CSA because chambering a round is far easier compared to a bolt action. Personally, I have no problem lying on the ground in a prone, unsupported position and working the lever. It's only about a 6" throw- much shorter than the average man's forearm length, even in 1908.

Also, it's a side-loader... you don't have to remove the rifle from your face to reload the magazine, either. A trap door on the side of the weapon allows rounds to be fed into the rifle rather easily while it's in firing position. You cannot use stripper clips with this design, true, but I can achieve a fair reload rate with a Model 94 (.30-30), and don't fire one all that often.

It's a rather older rifle by this time (14 years) and will probably be replaced by 1910-12. This means it's something that the average Johnny Reb on the Street would have civilian experience with... an added bonus as civilian draftees will require little training to be effective.


Will edit to include rifle pics and pistol info shortly...

[Korpen]

I picked the 1894 Winchester lever-action in .38-55-255 for the CSA because chambering a round is far easier compared to a bolt action. Personally, I have no problem lying on the ground in a prone, unsupported position and working the lever. It's only about a 6" throw- much shorter than the average man's forearm length, even in 1908.

Also, it's a side-loader... you don't have to remove the rifle from your face to reload the magazine, either. A trap door on the side of the weapon allows rounds to be fed into the rifle rather easily while it's in firing position. You cannot use stripper clips with this design, true, but I can achieve a fair reload rate with a Model 94 (.30-30), and don't fire one all that often.

It's a rather older rifle by this time (14 years) and will probably be replaced by 1910-12. This means it's something that the average Johnny Reb on the Street would have civilian experience with... an added bonus as civilian draftees will require little training to be effective.


Will edit to include rifle pics and pistol info shortly...

14 years of age is nothing, rifle models from the mid 90;s rifles were still in use close to 100 years later.

I Have not quite decided what rifle is going to be the standard for the Netherlands forces, historically the Netherlands bought Steyr Mannlicher M95s and Belgium manufactured Mausers under licence. So it will be one or the other, or a happy mix of them, a bit like the Italian Carcano M91.

Nice page for weapon porn: http://world.guns.ru/rifle/rfl00-e.htm

[Borys]

Ahoj!
The short rifle/carabine used by the Habsburgs is almost identical to the real life Mannlicher 03, used by the Greek army between 1903 and 1941.
http://www.sunblest.net/gun/Mann03.htm
The only change I made was to replace the feed mechanism for a smimpler one, more dirt resistant.

A nice calibre is 7mm (no idea what that is in inches).
Borys

[Korpen]

The drawback is it is pretty damm hard to reload leaver action rifles while prone.
And depending on the design, there might be no need to remove your face to reload a bolt action rifle.

Not really...  And it would be chamber next round and not reload.  I have done so and it works fine, you do loose your aim point as it works best to tilt the weapon to side.  If your in a trench its perectly fine.  Also leaver action have a higher rate of fire than bolt-action. 

The weapons big disadvantage is that you can't use anything like a stripper clip with it and have to reload it one bullet at a time. 

Michael

Hm, it seems a lever action can use strip feed as well: http://world.guns.ru/rifle/rfl25-e.htm

[Korpen]

Ahoj!
The short rifle/carabine used by the Habsburgs is almost identical to the real life Mannlicher 03, used by the Greek army between 1903 and 1941.
http://www.sunblest.net/gun/Mann03.htm
The only change I made was to replace the feed mechanism for a smimpler one, more dirt resistant.

A nice calibre is 7mm (no idea what that is in inches).
Borys

I think a higher sensitivity to dirt and fouling is inherent in all straight-pull systems, at least it seems that way.

[Borys]

I ditched the Mannlicher 95  due to it being straight pull. The Greek Mannlicher-Schoenaur 03 was bolt action.
In OTL the Habsburg Monarchy was very seriously considering a switch to a new rifle, in 7mm calibre, bolt action.
http://www.sunblest.net/gun/Mann14.htm

ADDED LATTER:
Hmm, not so sure now about the switch to bolt action considered in 1914. But I'm fairly sure such a move was more or less a given for after the war.
BTW - in 1917 the AH army prepared an OdeB for AFTER the war ...
Borys

[Carthaginian]

Ahoj!
The short rifle/carabine used by the Habsburgs is almost identical to the real life Mannlicher 03, used by the Greek army between 1903 and 1941.

A nice calibre is 7mm (no idea what that is in inches).
Borys

I read that in the link you PM'ed me.
I like her.

My rifle is closer to a 9mm. :D Of course, in the CS Army, bigger is better!

This is mostly because the wars fought on the plains in the black powder era required larger rounds that could fire long distances, and that lesson hasn't been forgotten. A .36 caliber muzzle-loading 'squirrel gun' might have been adequate for the forests of the Eastern Seaboard during the War of Secession, but the long sight distances on the Plains required a far more powerful, longer ranged weapon.

[Carthaginian]

First off, the standard Infantry Rifle:
(based on the OTL Winchester Model 94 in .38-55 Win)


The  Fayetteville Arsenal Model 1895 is a very dependable weapon, present in enormous quantities in the Confederacy, both as a civilian hunting rifle and as a military longarm. The military version uses the extremely powerful .38-55 cartridge, which fires a 255 grain projectile reliably and accurately to distances of up to 300 yards, and is capable of being fired 1000 yards with the correct sights (a Vernier Sight is standard issue for all snipers).

Caliber:                  .38-55
Magazine Capacity:     7
Barrel Length:              26"
Overall Length:              44 1/8"
Nominal Weight:           7 lbs. 4 oz.
Rate of Twist:               1 turn in 15"


(poorly retouched pic of a Lemat revolver, imagine it to be a break-top)
(round fired is identical to OTL .44-40 caliber)


The Lemat Model 3 is the most common sidearm of the Condeferate military, issued to all officers and NCO's for close-in fighting as sabers and swords are no longer effective on the modern battlefield.  The new model is chambered for the excellent .44 Lemat, introduced in the 1880's, and retains the Model 2's accuracy.

The Lemat's most distinguishing feature remains the small shotgun barrel located coaxially with the main barrel. This has made the difference in many a firefight, and Lemat continues to retain this feature despite the added weight, though the Model 3's has a .20 gauge barrel firing a paper cartridge rather than the older 16 gauge muzzle-loading barrel found on the Model 2.

Caliber:                  .44 Lematt
Magazine Capacity:     8
Main Barrel Length:      6 1/2"
Grape Barrel Length:     5"
Overall Length:              13 1/4"
Nominal Weight:           3 lbs. 12 oz.

[Desertfox]

The standard Swiss rifle is an improved Mauser G-98, called the G-01. Very accurate, reliable, and powerful, but also quite heavy. As a result most of the Elite or Special units and the Cavalry use the K-01 carbine version.

There is also a very powerful air rifle in very limited service with the SSS and Special Ops.  Both services also use modern crossbows.

With the phase out of the G-98 during 1901, the rifles where sold on the sulprus market or given to militia units. As a result most civilains in NS own a G-98. The other popular rifle among civilians especially in Australia is the Winchester 94, even some Australian Cavalry units also use that rifle.

The newest rifle in the Swiss inventory is the Swiss-Mexican Mondragon Semi-Automatic Rifle:
http://world.guns.ru/rifle/rfl26-e.htm
It's inaccurate and unreliable compared to most rifles in service at this time, but it's rate of fire make up for those deficiencies. Right now its only being used in selected units, but will eventually be used primarly by cavalry units.

[Ithekro]

The Rohirrim would likely be using lever action weapons and pistols (having a large cavalry force might dictate the seletion process a bit).  Caliber?  Not sure.  It depends on what system of measure is used.  The warships have been in feet and inches, yet the money is in troy ounces.

[Walter]

I think among the main weapons used by Japan are the Type 57 and Type 65 rifles (historical Type 30 and Type 38 rifles respectively), the Nambu Type A pistol and the Type 53 revolver (historical Type 26).(*)
There are probably also some various foreign weapons around as well (whatever is considered to be useful).


(*) The type numbers refers to the Imperial year 2557 (1897) and 2565 (1905) for the rifles and 2553 (1893) for the revolver. Since there is no Meiji emperor, I cannot use the historical numbers for the weapons.

[Borys]

Ahoj!
The Habsburg Heer, after the mudbath of Spanish Winter decided to drop straight-pull weapons. Also, the Spanish Civil war showed 800+ capability to be rarely used.
Hence the move away from Mannlicher 95. The .256 round is good enough for individual rifle fire.
And more can be carried.
The same ammunition is used by thye Schwarzlose, a delayed blowback weapon, simpler than the Maxim. And - in part due to the calibre, much lighter - 32kg versus the more or less standard 40kg of the other weapon. This weapon is issued at divisional level.
To use up the old 0.31 (8mm) ammo, the Browning HMG is issued to corps level HMG battalions.
The Navy has the Browning 0,433 (11mm) for shopboard use, with range tables for blackpowder ammunition. Waste not, want not ...
Over time, when 8mm stocks are used up, the 8mm Brownings will be rebarreled and rechambered for the 0,433, this feature being built into the design from the start. The resulting weight penalty is  acceptable.

Borys