What stopped 18-19th century armies with guns from being able to create automatic weapons like AK-47s and Uzis?
Since they don’t use electricity I feel like they’re made with materials and technology that was already available in the 1750s, surely they could’ve put their heads together to create a machine gun and just annihilate any ops…
Thanks
In: Engineering
Powder fouling and interchangeable parts.
Black powder doesn’t burn away completely when it is fired, and this makes it counterintuitive for high volumes of repeat fire.
Modern firearms use smokeless powder, which doesn’t leave as much residue behind. This allows for more firing before the gun needs to be cleaned.
The other thing is replaceable parts. It’s one thing to build a weapon, it’s another thing to build 100 examples of that weapon which all have similar parts tolerances. Exotic weapons for the rich have existed for centuries- there are plenty of unique firearms in European museums that use uniquely made cartridges, sights, or other useful features that don’t become commonplace on weapons for at least another century or two.
Without replaceable parts, any advanced weapon is unique and only functional as long as someone with enough skill and knowledge to maintain it is present. It’s also worth mentioning that a lot of the tools used to make these sorts of weapons are also one-off items, usually the result of a master craftsman making their own tools. A master craftsman with their workshop full of irreplaceable tools isn’t something that dragged along with your average army supply train or packed into the hold of a warship.
By the end of the 19th century, standards of measurement and gradually increasing access to machine tools was making replaceable parts more and more common.
Black powder machine gun concepts did exist in the latter half of the 19th century, but they were usually multi barrel weapons that were crew served- the sort of weapon that would be used by naval ships in the late 19th century for close combat.
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