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
Manufacturing at scale and advancements in material technology.
Could some smart guy make a machine gun in 1750 if they realized the knowledge? Probably. Would it last more than a few dozen rounds? Unlikely. Manufacturing good steel springs ain’t easy.
They didn’t even have cartridges until the 1800s (first was 1808) and they didn’t have smokeless powder until almost the 20th century (1889).
The answer is they didn’t have the technology.
Another hurdle was perceived need. While an M16 is viewed as better for soldiers than previous guns, adoption of even semi auto rifles was slow and only accepted as armies with them dominated. It takes actual application to realize the flaws in your plans.
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