Here is a hypothetical question for the gun cranks and history buffs.?

Question

Suspend disbelief and imagine the year is 1908.

You are in charge of what is ostensibly a major archeological expedition to study the Silk Road.  To all appearances, the Smithsonian Institute, the British Museum, and the Royal Geographic Society jointly finance your expedition.  In actuality, you have a second and more important mission from the British Military Intelligence Service/

Your mission is to travel the Silk Road from Shanghai, China all the way to the Mediterranean Coast at Antioch, Turkey.  Along the way, you are to determine the military and political situation among the Central Asian tribal states, access Russian goals in the area, and sound out possible allies against a possible Russian move against India.  The expedition will last at least three years and possibly as long as five years.  A thorough survey of military potential outweighs any need for speed.

Since your expedition is going to travel through wild and lawless areas, it is to be expected that it will be heavily armed, any problems with Chinese, Russian, and Turkish authorities have been smoothed away diplomatically.

Your expedition staff will consist of some fifty trained archeologist, artists, botanists, zoologists, geographers, cartographers, geologists, and clerical staff.  In addition to the academic members, there will be some 200 European and Americans (some of whom will actually be members of the British and American Armies on detached service) who will act as a military force to protect the expedition against warlords, bandits, and treachery from Russian, Chinese and Turkish agents.  There will also be a few hundred coolies laborers, muleskinners, grooms, camel drivers, cooks, servants, guides, porters, translators, and guards.

Your task in this question is to explain how you plan to arm your expedition.  Be specific, if you mean a Webley Irish Constabulary Revolver, say so, don’t just call it some ugly old British revolver.  There are only three limitations.  1- the firearms and other weapons must be available in 1908, so no Magnum handguns or rifles, no modern assault rifles, and no M-1911 Colt Pistols.  2 - Military issue small arms should be avoided in order to provide deniability if there are spy charges made.  3 - The weapons must be light enough to be transported through some of the most rugged country in the world using only animal transport.

So fellow gun cranks, how will you equip your expedition?

Doc

habanero · Accepted Answer

General issue sidearm – Smith and Wesson Model of 1899, .38 special
This would make a great piece for untrained personnel.

Special issue sidearm – The “brand new” Smith and Wesson Model of 1908, .44 special
A revolver with some extra stopping power for those personnel who are familiar with firearms.

General issue long gun – Winchester 1895, .303 British 
I’m going to want plenty of extra magazines for these babies. Can I have them modified to take an Enfield stripper clip? Have them made to look like sporting guns. (no full stock) 

Special issue long gun – Winchester 1895, .405 Winchester 
“Big Medicine” That says it all. 

Machine guns – Maxim Machine Gun, .303 British
Probably the best machine gun available at the time. I’ll wan’t more than one!

Maybe a field gun from Krupp or Creusot? Something left over from the Boer war...

Great question. Good use of time period to weed out obvious answers.

Anonymous · Answer

I think I'd keep it simple. Very little heavy stuff: perhaps a single two-pounder, and three (plus a couple of spares) potato diggers. I'd let the detached military people go openly as such with their service sidearms, encouraging them to be of 45 caliber whichever wheelgun they have. Officers would be open about their rank, hiding in plain sight.
I'd want a personal hunting battery, and a few others might have a hunting battery for the ruse as well. Mine would probably include a 450/400 side-by-side, a medium-bore probably British (but IRL I have one of those Czech rifles in 9.3x62 and German rifles in that chambering were becoming common in Africa at the time), and my small-bore might be a Savage 99 (I keep meaning to buy one anyway, so thanks for the imaginary opportunity! with the exact caliber not particularly important).
The bulk of the force I'd want more or less uniformly armed, at the risk of looking too military, simply on logistical grounds. Perhaps with the British backing the job, we could have Rigby supply us with Mauser 98 actions. Since 7x57 is one of my favorites anyway, make them 275's a la Bell. 303's might be too suspicious-looking, but sporterized SMLE's would be an option for some, as long as it didn't complicate the ammunition logistics too badly. This might be a better option if we were spending a lot of that time in India and Afghanistan.
It's pretty vanilla, less dramatic than I'd expected when I began to answer, but that's the way I'd go.
Great thought experiment!

cpttango30 · Answer

The biggest problem I see here is ammo. What kind of ammo are you going to run into? I bet your going to see a lot of british stuff over there. Still I would want something that can put down some firepower So some Winchester Model 1895 lever action rifle in 303 Brit. Colt SAA for side arms. and at least three guys packing lee enfield No4 rifles that have been worked over for good accuracy topped with optical sights. I would also have atleast one or two automatic weapons for setting up camp at night. I think because of the area you ae going to want to use mainly british ammo because that is what I believe your going to run into. I would also have all my Scientist guys packing as well as at that time most everyone knew how to handle a firearm. Might give some of them lever gun but for the most part they would just be packing sidearms.

archerdude · Answer

Winchester Model 1894, lever-action. Light enough to carry through extremely rugged terrain; tough enough to carry through extremely rugged terrain; easy to load/operate; and by 1908, the ammunition was powerful enough to kill large-game animals at decent ranges...defending against bandits and/or marauders will not be a problem -- and lever-actions are easier to use than bolt-actions.

Plus, the Win. Model 1894 was NOT a military-issue weapon.

Anonymous · Answer

If any problems have been smoothed away diplomatically in otyher words permission granted to defend ourselves in their protectorates, military rifles are not going to be a problem.

For myself I would choose a matched pair of 500nitro Express double barrel elephant guns.

A 280 ross, one of the first rifle magnums,bullets over 3000fps velocity.

A 303 by westley richards with softpoint ammuntion.
A woodward 12ga. 

This is just for my game hunting en route by the way :)

Advise all white civilains to bring their own arms if they wish. No servants or other races to be armed, other than with tools or traditional weapons.

...and hire a british army quartermaster to outfit the 200 militaries.

Sorry I'm just too lazy to care:)

I'd also get him to procure me a good pistol.

Good question though. Let me know if you go to africa next. would prefer that hands down.

Luc H · Answer

The Winchester Model 1866 Carbine for a rifle. For a sidearm a S&W No.3 Russian model so if the russians catch you, you'll be able to say you were testing the reliability of their gun! For the really big mobs of rabble i would take a few Gatling guns. take 1-2 small cannons. To top it all off! DRUM ROLL PLEASE! da-da-da-da-da-da For the civilians, the Browning Model 1900

Anonymous · Answer

Springfield 06's.   Say it's a hunting rifle, not a military one.

alan_has_bean · Answer

You say to avoid military arms and to keep things light, then you want us to specify artillery and machine guns?

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Here is a hypothetical question for the gun cranks and history buffs.?

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