Modelling > Engineering Dept.
Guns, guns, guns?
elmayerle:
Yes, I can see Winchesters as a definite possibility, exact model depending on precisely where in the latter half of the 19th century you landed. For revolvers, both Smith & Wesson and Colt would be the front-runners though other, less well known suppliers did exist. For rapid fire, you would likely be stuck using Gatling guns. If you landed near the very end of the century, you might be able to acquire the same Krag-Jorgensen rifles the US Army used at the time.
apophenia:
Just playing with a couple of ideas for more conventionally-made fire arms, FWIW ...
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The rifle is a Lee-Metford (WS). Built under a private contract by Webley & Scott in Birmingham, this was essentially a Magazine Lee–Metford with updates (thanks to your character's 20/20 foresight). To permit the use of cordite in .303 Mark II cartridges, the barrel is rifled in Enfield-style square-cut lands and grooves. That barrel has also been shortened to the SMLE length of 25.2 inches. The box magazine is of the later 10-round staggered style (rather than the Metford single-stack 8-round type). In other words, the Lee-Metford (WS) generally anticipates the Lee-Enfield SMLE.
The submachine gun is the Purdey Machine Carbine Mk I. Unbeknownst to makers James Purdey & Sons, [1] this SMG was based on the design of the future Bergmann MP 28/II. Fitted with a Lee-Metford style stock, the gun mimics the real world Lanchester. Differences include the use of a Lee-Metford rear leaf sight and removal of the RW Lanchester's bayonet mounts (generally useless on SMGs). Most importantly, the Machine Carbine introduced a staggered-column, curved magazine holding 34-rounds (taken from the RW Stirling L2A3).
For use by specialists, the Purdey Machine Carbine Mk II featured a folding butt stock. This sideways-hinged, tubular butt was based on the RW Carl Gustaf M/45 gun. With this stock folded, the Purdey's normal length of 33.5 inches was reduced to 23.1 inches. Barrels for both Marks of Purdey Machine Carbine were made by Holland & Holland. With no suitable British cartridge available for the Machine Carbine, the new 9 mm Parabellum round was licensed from Georg Luger at Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken.
The new Parabellum cartridges were made by G. Kynoch and Co in Wiltshire. Designated as Cartridge S.A. Ball .354 inch Mark I, the complete round measuring 0.354 by 0.748 inches. Usually referred to as 'Point 35' or 0.35-inch rimless, these automatic pistol cartridges gave flawless performance as submachine gun rounds.
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[1] Specifically to meet this order, Purdey took over a machinist shop in Essex. Considered close enough to the London head office, Chelmsford was a more discrete location and had skilled workers available. A new name was needed for this SMG since, in 1889, George Lanchester was only 15 years old.
kim margosein:
Wait, wasn't the Maxim MG invented around the 1890s? Could the Mauser and Luger actions be scaled up to rifle caliber. However, since they weren't, I imagine there was a reason they couldn't. IIRC, the Germans developed a cheap simple SMG around 1918, along the lines of the Sten gun.
Volkodav:
The elephant in the room, the Mauser C96 and its carbine derivatives. Back when British army officers were responsible for furnishing their own side arms it wasn't an uncommon sight, Churchill even carrying one during his time in uniform.
apophenia:
Kim: The Vickers-Maxim in .303 was a British Army service weapon by 1893 at least ... so, presumably is excluded. That German SMG was the Bergmann MP 18 (from which the MP 28/II and Lanchester were derived).
And Georg Luger did produce a toggle-locked action rifle in 8x57mm Mauser in 1906.
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/early-semiauto-rifles/german-luger-rifle/
The RW British Army later tested a few toggle-action semi-automatics. There was the Vickers-Armstrong submitted
Pedersen T1 in .276 which had a toggle-delayed blowback action. And the J.C. White (White Automatic Gun Corporation) 'Experimental' in 30-06. That said, I doubt either toggle action would've performed very well with the required rimmed .303 round.
http://www.quarryhs.co.uk/White.htm
https://www.historicalfirearms.info/post/115974894709/the-vickers-armstrong-pedersen-rifle-in-1919-the
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