PF 006 Lonestar.

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

M1917 revolvers are far simpler for a lower tech level to produce than the M1911. The M1911 requires milling machines and highly trained machinists making multiple setups and many, many, cuts. I would stick with the M1903 for the rifle, as the modules Krag-Jorgenson's are mechanically more difficult with the rotary magazine to justify manufacture. Additionally, the M1903 has a three lug bolt (it's a Mauser copy after all) and a much stronger action. I would throw in a twist with M1903s in 7.62 NATO instead of 30.06 since that is the brass and dies the Republic had. Probably would nerf them a bit because of lower quality propellants do drop 2 points off damage.

For uniforms...... I would stick with the blue denim and stetsons for the cavalry... It's Texas and that is all the justification they need. On the other hand..... the WW1 khakis, canvas web gear, and doughboy helmets is perfect for the Infantry and Armor troops of the Republic... justify this by saying patterns came from collectors and museums post war salvage.

As for a machinegun... going with the BAR for everyone with the exception of the M1 and M2 coaxial MGs. That the Republic does not have the tooling or equipment to make disintegrating link belts, thus all such are hoarded for the tanks and IFVs.

Grenades...... German potato mashers.. the complicated fuses of even the MK1 pineapple or british Mills bomb are out of the Republics reach. The friction pull igniter is not. Therefore, Republic grenades are the wooden handle variety with HE, Frag, and smoke being most common with a large demo variety and a 2kg charge for Engineers being uncommon.

Totally Ok with swords, sabers, trench knives, maces, spears, and lances.. though I would suggest working up a quick reference chart for damage based on PC or NPC strength and modifiers against types of armors to keep game play moving.

Anti armor weapons.. none modern. The threat from the Brotherhood comes as a surprise.. the M1s are the only AT defense with infantry or cavalry improvising using HE grenades and demo packs in close defense. TMP members don't have time to teach making mines, pole charges, and rockets, plus there isn't time for the Republic to make them. The Republic is going to make a crash program to make molotovs and ship those to infantry or militia in the defense.

Artillery.... The Republic doesn't seem to have any. We might assume that self propelled and towed versions did not survive the nuke strike on Ft. Hood. Additionally, no mortars... I chalk that up to no pressing need with the highly mobile horse mounted tactics of the Cavalry versus low tech and unsophisticated tactics of previous bandit threats. Something the TMP won't have time to teach and the Republic has no time to build.

Communications....... write it down and send a rider. Everything is worn out, broken, cannabalized, or destroyed. Even phone lines are out without a means to insulate cables.

Fuel..... actually, in abundance. Oils, grease, gasoline, diesel, and solvents in significant quantities...... Distribution is primitive and inefficient. Pipelines are proposed with effort into how to make pipe, valves, and hardwared being researched. The Republic doesn't have significant smelting and casting infrastructure.

Food. Abundant, but primitive. Rations are cooked at field kitchens or field bakeries. Luxurious, nutritious, and wholesome compared to the field rations of centuries before. TMP members will be curious about the hard tack, dried beef, dried vegetables, or fruit of the infantry or cavalry marching rations. The garrison and forward field kitchens produce hot meals twice a day of cereals, soups, stews, and anything else that can be boiled, baked, or fried.

I have been thinking about this and decided that the Texas remnants might be one of the areas that might salvage machine shops and their users.

[mmartin798]

A quick search for vendors that service the petroleum industry in Texas that offer machining services yields about 100, some with mobile on-site capabilities, many of which are in the greater Houston area. If some of these were considered necessary for survival, then it is likely that a few mills and lathes may have survived. The bigger questions are: did enough skilled operators survive that can mill replacement parts for the machines, can tooling be created of sufficient quality and hardness to keep up with wear and can the generators be maintained.

I would claim that on a small scale this is possible, but whether or not it scales to the manufacturing of arms for an army is your call.

[ArmySGT.]

Machine shops require huge quantity of consumables to make product.

High speed steel to make tool bits or tungsten carbide premade bits. Those are consumed as resharpened or chipped in use. Cutting oils and kerosene for lubricating parts as these are cut and generating heat. Sand paper in strips or sheets from 80 grit to 5000 grit to polish parts for fit gets used up fast. Sandpapers think three to six feet of strips for barrel polishing. Valve grinding compound in 40 to 600 for final fitting two parts that must have below .003 tolerances like gas valves. Drill bits (especially certain preferred sizes) last from a month to a year with periodic resharpening. Same goes for reamers to be sure a hole is true to the specified diameter.

Barrel reamers (cutters or buttons) are made by few specialized shops (Pacific Tool & Gauge is one) as are the specific reamers for a chosen caliber. These come in sets of three. One and Two basically open up and establish to chamber shape and size. Number three is the Final and cuts the chamber to SAAMI specs in depth, shoulder, and leed. One and Two would last about six months if you used a drill bit to hog out material. Three or Final has to be precise and would be out of spec if you were trying to cut several chambers a day for a month.

A machine shop needs three phase 240 or 440 watt power at 60 cycles without interruptions. Any loss or power that fluctuates will cause imprecise cuts a trained machinists would need to assess and recut.

Most of all a machine shop needs steel, iron, aluminum, copper, and lead in pure or as alloys in correct ratios. Most salvaged metals can't be trusted to make parts that must endure with out destructive testing first for hardness, ductility, etc, etc.

The Republic is must build a blast furnace to be fed with coke (cooked coal) and some metallurgists that know how to add in alloys like chromium, manganese, boron, and others to make steels for various purposes.

That is why I think the Republic and the KFS have a trade established about New Orleans with beef, ammonium nitrate, leather, motor oil, gear oil, lamp oil, kerosene, diesel, and plastic pellets going to the KFS. The KFS is sending back textiles, machine shop consumables, containers (55 gallon and 30 gallon drums, metal boxes with lids, and assorted tupperware or glass jars with lids), and horses for the Cavalry.

[Matt W]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

That is why I think the Republic and the KFS have a trade established about New Orleans with beef, ammonium nitrate, leather, motor oil, gear oil, lamp oil, kerosene, diesel, and plastic pellets going to the KFS. The KFS is sending back textiles, machine shop consumables, containers (55 gallon and 30 gallon drums, metal boxes with lids, and assorted tupperware or glass jars with lids), and horses for the Cavalry.

Agreed.

There should be trade between the major "industrial" nations. But I don't think you have to go all the way to New Orleans. Somewhere like Vicksburg might be a "free city" that trades with Texas and KFS if you include Truckers .

A minor detail I would add is that synthetic rubber should be on the list of Texas exports. Somebody has to make tyres for the Truckers and Bikers

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Matt W

Agreed.

There should be trade between the major "industrial" nations. But I don't think you have to go all the way to New Orleans. Somewhere like Vicksburg might be a "free city" that trades with Texas and KFS if you include Truckers .

A minor detail I would add is that synthetic rubber should be on the list of Texas exports. Somebody has to make tyres for the Truckers and Bikers

Truckers and bikers works. I was thinking of the Shipmen/Boatmen... I would have sworn there was a separate encounter group for the traders/pirates moving cargo and people up and down the Ohio, Upper Mississippi, Illinois and Tennessee.

[ArmySGT.]

I like New Orleans as a trade center just for the historical reference to it always having been one. Vicksburg works too, maybe the Natchez Trace is once again running mule trains?

[mmartin798]

The problem with New Orleans is that the Mississippi River likely would have changed course and no longer empties near it. The Army Corp of Engineers fights a continuous battle to maintain the course of the Mississippi at no small cost. It would not take long for the Old River Control Structure (ORCS) to fail.

This was a major concern in the late 70's, since the flood of 1973 almost did undermine the ORCS. There was a paper written about the physical and economic consequences of such a failure in 1980 by two professors at Louisiana State University. An excerpt from the abstract reads:

"Were a major flood to destroy the ability of the ORCS to control the distribuion of flow between the Lower Mississippi River and the Atchafalaya River, then major flooding would occur in the Atchafalaya Basin, highway and railroad bridges would be destroyed, gas pipelines severed, and industrial production along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge (BR) and New Orleans (NO) would be reduced. The dry weather period following the flood would result in reduced discharges in the river between BR and NO. This would permit salt water from the Gulf of Mexico to fill what is now the main stem of the river. The present channel would become a salt water estuary of the Gulf of Mexico."

It goes on to discuss the saltwater making existing potable water supplies unusable requiring a plan to replace them. It is a good read if you want a realistic idea of what likely happens in the lower Mississippi River after the war. The paper is the "Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute, Bulletin 12, September 1980". Using that as a search term in Google will take you to a PDF of the entire paper.

[tsofian]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Machine shops require huge quantity of consumables to make product.

High speed steel to make tool bits or tungsten carbide premade bits. Those are consumed as resharpened or chipped in use. Cutting oils and kerosene for lubricating parts as these are cut and generating heat. Sand paper in strips or sheets from 80 grit to 5000 grit to polish parts for fit gets used up fast. Sandpapers think three to six feet of strips for barrel polishing. Valve grinding compound in 40 to 600 for final fitting two parts that must have below .003 tolerances like gas valves. Drill bits (especially certain preferred sizes) last from a month to a year with periodic resharpening. Same goes for reamers to be sure a hole is true to the specified diameter.

Barrel reamers (cutters or buttons) are made by few specialized shops (Pacific Tool & Gauge is one) as are the specific reamers for a chosen caliber. These come in sets of three. One and Two basically open up and establish to chamber shape and size. Number three is the Final and cuts the chamber to SAAMI specs in depth, shoulder, and leed. One and Two would last about six months if you used a drill bit to hog out material. Three or Final has to be precise and would be out of spec if you were trying to cut several chambers a day for a month.

A machine shop needs three phase 240 or 440 watt power at 60 cycles without interruptions. Any loss or power that fluctuates will cause imprecise cuts a trained machinists would need to assess and recut.

Most of all a machine shop needs steel, iron, aluminum, copper, and lead in pure or as alloys in correct ratios. Most salvaged metals can't be trusted to make parts that must endure with out destructive testing first for hardness, ductility, etc, etc.

The Republic is must build a blast furnace to be fed with coke (cooked coal) and some metallurgists that know how to add in alloys like chromium, manganese, boron, and others to make steels for various purposes.

That is why I think the Republic and the KFS have a trade established about New Orleans with beef, ammonium nitrate, leather, motor oil, gear oil, lamp oil, kerosene, diesel, and plastic pellets going to the KFS. The KFS is sending back textiles, machine shop consumables, containers (55 gallon and 30 gallon drums, metal boxes with lids, and assorted tupperware or glass jars with lids), and horses for the Cavalry.

Machine shops do not need electricity at all. They need an energy source but it could be steam or hydraulic to name two. There was a long period when all the machines in a shop were powered by belt drives off line shafts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D_V5smCaOw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_shaft

Perfect alloys make equipment last a lot longer, but they aren't required. Most of the alloys you mention didn't come into general use until well after the 1903 Springfield was in production. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel#History

Also steel is widely recycled today https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrap#...etal_recycling so getting it graded and sorted is not only possibly but commercially viable.

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by tsofian

Machine shops do not need electricity at all. They need an energy source but it could be steam or hydraulic to name two. There was a long period when all the machines in a shop were powered by belt drives offline shafts.

Those have been out of fashion since the 1930s and won't be found outside of a museum with most having been scrapped for the metals in WW2. Postwar date 1989 or 2017 electrically driven machinery is going to be found in industrial zones, high schools, colleges, and trade schools.

forget conversion. That would take more effort than it would be worth.

[tsofian]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Those have been out of fashion since the 1930s and won't be found outside of a museum with most having been scrapped for the metals in WW2. Postwar date 1989 or 2017 electrically driven machinery is going to be found in industrial zones, high schools, colleges, and trade schools.

forget conversion. That would take more effort than it would be worth.

Who said conversion? This technology will be remade after the war. Folks will use generators and remaining fuel to build systems that are sustainable. Things like hit and miss engines and PTO off truck and tractors will be powering equipment. Antique stores and museums and barns will be raided for hit and miss motors and similar pre electrical technology. This won't happen everywhere. The places it doesn't happen will either find other ways or not develop technologically

[tsofian]

Originally Posted by mmartin798

A quick search for vendors that service the petroleum industry in Texas that offer machining services yields about 100, some with mobile on-site capabilities, many of which are in the greater Houston area. If some of these were considered necessary for survival, then it is likely that a few mills and lathes may have survived. The bigger questions are: did enough skilled operators survive that can mill replacement parts for the machines, can tooling be created of sufficient quality and hardness to keep up with wear and can the generators be maintained.

I would claim that on a small scale this is possible, but whether or not it scales to the manufacturing of arms for an army is your call.

In the late eighties a lot of things had not yet been outsources so large industrial facilities often had their own in house machine shops. These places also often had emergency generators. Some of these facilities will be in the middle of nowhere and won't be nuclear targets. Marine salvage yards will also have machine shops and may be able to get out to sea for a the immediate postwar period (forming the beginning of the Gulf shipmen). Remember the scale up doesn't have to happen in a minute, they have decades to switch from cannibalization and salvage to restoration and new construction.

BTW here is an interesting article on ammunition feed systems http://www.m1919tech.com/26513.html