eli5 Why weren’t machine guns possible to make in the past?

Question

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

Answer 1

You want to look up the Henry or Spencer repeating rifle. These are the first cartridge fed rifles That saw wide spread use.

the limiting factor is *mass production*. You need to be able to reliably and repeatably produce parts and pieces faster than workers. That also means getting into the bowels of the Industrial Revolution, and that means having power sources that are reliable and extendedable. This starts with water wheels, and then gets into steam power.