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If smokeless powder was already invented then and machines to help make rimfire cartridges, could a sub/light machine gun be invented?

Eric clifford
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    Strongly related, if not even duplicate https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/10610/30492 – L.Dutch Mar 22 '19 at 09:27

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Of course it could. One could argue if someone didn't had such idea at that point. The main drawbacks were, probably:

  • repetition in creation (so what industrialization bring)
  • precision
  • real need to kill many people at once.

First submachine appeared during first World War. With almost 10 millions army men dead. For example Russian-Japanese war had "just" around 1,2 millions participants on each side. Italo-Turkish war had 40 thousands participants on each side.
There was just no need for such kind of weapon to be supplied with money for R&D, materials or building whole infrastructure around it.

SZCZERZO KŁY
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    no. definitely not. you need machinery, and, most of all, suitable metals, none of which was available. – Burki Mar 22 '19 at 09:46
  • @Burki please read my answer once more. Especially last sentence. – SZCZERZO KŁY Mar 22 '19 at 10:07
  • Reading it again, i still fail to see how you take metallurgy into account. Or precise machinery. – Burki Mar 22 '19 at 11:00
  • Leonardo da Vinci already had concepts of tanks and multiple firing guns, I really think the need for such kind of weapons was already there. – L.Dutch Mar 22 '19 at 11:05
  • @Burki " The main drawbacks were [...] •repetition in creation (so what industrialization bring) •precision , There was just no need [...] materials or building whole infrastructure around it. – SZCZERZO KŁY Mar 22 '19 at 11:21
  • @L.Dutch As I noted, the idea was there. The need to put resources into production of such items was not there. If your battle is 10K people of which maybe 2-3k are infantry do you really need to "waste" resources into sophisticated machines? In modern world it would be the case of german atom bomb. Time, money and effort needed to develop it was far beyond success date if blitzkrieg so They decided to just not push it. We now know that those 3 years to develop the bomb would change war drastically. But back then they felt such long effort is needed. – SZCZERZO KŁY Mar 22 '19 at 11:26