Go-guns

With all of modern history retconned, Andalusada faces an enormous number of problems. One of the smaller but more nagging ones was first mentioned here: the verse has (almost) no gun brands, and a universe of generic products wrecks verisimilitude.

And so, in the interest of verisimilitude, I introduce to you the official infantry small arm of the Imperial Union. It comes in more varieties than Heinz ketchup, and in all of them it's called the Go-gun.

The history of the Go-gun

When smokeless powders were introduced, they quickly rendered Europe's arsenals obsolete. France was the first to modernize, followed in very short order by the rest of Europe (except Poland-Ruthenia.) England-Scotland, France's new eternal nemesis, was amongst that number, but settling on a replacement for what they had [what?] took an unusually long time. [details?] A bit part of this was Anglo-Scottish decentralization; while they share a nominally common military, it doesn't share a common military culture, and it was awhile before something was developed that satisfied everybody who had a say in the matter.

That something was a bolt-action design submitted by a two-man team, messieurs Grant and Olson; it was finally adopted as the new standard infantry musket. In a variety of configurations, it remains the standard-issue long arm of the poor bloody infantry decades later, known under a variety of names and acronyms. The one detail they all share in common is the intials G.O. stamped into the receiver and grafted onto the end of those acronyms; the nickname "Go-gun" was inevitable.

Technical specifications of the Go-gun

Because I'm lazy (and don't know a lot about gun mechanics), I'm going to say flat-out that the Go-gun is essentially the same as the Lee-Enfield it replaces. It has a detachable magazine (held in place by pins on the more recent models, and chains on the older ones); it fires a three-line bullet typical for the period; it comes right-handed only. You know the routine.

Unlike the SMLE, though, Go-guns come in an enormous range of sizes - and the standard size is long. The Infantry Pattern Musket sports a 30.3" barrel, with fittings for a bayonet. This is quite enough barrel for impressive ballistics at shooting ranges; it's too much barrel for a lot of actual combat environments, which is a big part of why the Go-gun has spawned a family of variants. Other major Go-gun patterns include, but aren't limited to:

• Irish Pattern Musket, 27.5" (a bit shorter to account for the slightly different stature of the Irish regiments);
• The Guinea Pattern Musket, widely used in both English and Scottish Guinea; very common amongst the Maroons. The Guinea Pattern was the first Go-gun pattern whose magazines were designed to be pinned in place (stolen ones trade for their weight in copper out in the bush.)
• The various Navy Patterns, with various finishes and configurations intended to stop them from rusting quite so fast; all of them are heavier and none of them really keep the rust away, but they're also shorter, so they have their supporters regardless.

This is a stub. It will be expanded upon.