Being a gun nut, I’ve thought on this. Take something simple like an AR-15 back. They wouldn’t have had the metallurgy 150 years back to duplicate it. Not the barrel or bolt anyway. Springs? Certainly not the propellant. What about the precision needed for the shells alone? And forget rifling a barrel!
I’ve got a couple of 130-yo, double-barrelled shotguns. One is Damascus steel, the other is Belgian laminated steel. Sounds fancy, may rapidly disassemble with modern shot.
Bet the mechanisms and overall design would be a mind blower! Mankind, being mankind, would certainly figure a way to get some kinda better killing machine out of the deal.
LOL, this would have been a solid /r/AskHistorians question!
Being a gun nut, I’ve thought on this. Take something simple like an AR-15 back. They wouldn’t have had the metallurgy 150 years back to duplicate it. Not the barrel or bolt anyway. Springs? Certainly not the propellant. What about the precision needed for the shells alone? And forget rifling a barrel!
I’ve got a couple of 130-yo, double-barrelled shotguns. One is Damascus steel, the other is Belgian laminated steel. Sounds fancy, may rapidly disassemble with modern shot.
Bet the mechanisms and overall design would be a mind blower! Mankind, being mankind, would certainly figure a way to get some kinda better killing machine out of the deal.
LOL, this would have been a solid /r/AskHistorians question!