what is this?

[Jim Keenan]

Obviously, I meant the guns of 1891, not the M23 laser rifle which will be issued in 2085. The Carcano (and all Italian guns) seem to be despised by most Americans, for no especially good reason. The rifles were comparable to those adopted by other countries at the time. The Italians did have to keep an old design for a long time, but then so did the British.

The Carcano was a six shot, high velocity, flat shooting rifle in service at the time the US was still using the trapdoor. Custer's "last stand" was in 1876, not 1891, so he could not have had most of those rifles mentioned in any case.

Had the Carcano existed, though, Custer would have been better off with it than with a rifle and ammunition that consistently jammed.

The Winchester and other lever action rifles were turned down by almost every army because they were (and are) complex, hard to take apart for cleaning and very susceptible to dirt and dust.

By the way, the Indians at the Little Big Horn did not all have Winchesters; in fact, only a few had any kind of repeating rifle, and most had bows. It was not a case of the troops being "outgunned"; it was a story of numbers and a complete breakdown of command and control by Custer and his officers.

Jim