Tyranny of Steel

With the invention of Smokeless powder, Berengar now had the opportunity to create new weapons, and though these weapons could not be mass produced for many months, the earlier he designed them, and tested them, the better it was.

These were no mere single shot firearms. There were many components that went into a repeating firearm, and each part had to be thoroughly tested in order for the weapon to be deemed serviceable. It wasn't a simple matter of drawing up blueprints and putting them into action like he had done in the past. Weapons like these took time to reach perfection. 

The first thing Berengar needed to do was design new cartridges for use in service, and immediately, two designs came to mind. The 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge would be used for future rifles and machine guns. This cartridge was more commonly referred to as the 8mm Mauser in his past life. Since the Mauser brothers weren't around in this time to develop the cartridge, Berengar had simply referred to it as the 7.92x57mm Gewehr Cartridge. 

The 7.92x57mm cartridge used a 7.92mm Spitzer shaped bullet, with a 57mm rimless bottleneck brass case that used a double base smokeless powder. For his newest caliber, Berengar intended to use simple copper jacketed lead projectiles. 

Among the myriad of new chemical advancements coming out of the Kufstein Chemistry Department every year, was the invention of lead styphnate which is used to make superior, non-corrosive primers. Because of this, Berengar designed these new cartridges to use new and improved primers. 

As for the second ammunition, it was designed with pistols in mind, and later, when he finally got around to it, sub-machine guns. For now, such weapons would simply be overkill, and he wanted to ensure his soldiers were first equipped with the new rifles. This cartridge continued to see us well into the time of Julian's death, and because of this, he was extremely familiar with reloading it.

The 9x19mm Parabellum was the most common pistol cartridge of Berengar's past life and had seen service since before the great war. It was a simple 9mm copper jacketed, lead projectile with a 19mm rimless tapered case. Such a round was powerful enough to put down humans, and with +p hollow-point ammunition could easily stop someone who was hopped up on drugs. It was also lightweight and had minimal recoil. 

The first weapon Berengar designed was the replacement for the current issue Single Shot, black powder, bolt-action rifle referred to as the g22 in this timeline. It was once known as the Mauser 1871 in Berengar's past life, and was the primary weapon of the Imperial German Army until it was replaced by the Gewehr 1888. This rifle would continue to serve in Berengar's army for another year, at least. Though, eventually, it would be replaced by the rifle, Berengar had in mind.

The Basis for the new Gewehr 25, or G25 for short, was the Gewehr 1898 from Berengar's past life. More specifically, the G98m, which was a variant that was retrofitted during the Spanish Civil War by German factories and provided to the nationalists as a form of military aid. It also saw limited service in the ranks of the Waffen-SS and the Volkssturm during WWII. 

The biggest difference between the G98 and the G98m was the improved iron sights, which resemble those used on the k98k. There were also some other minor changes, but they were hardly noticeable at first glance. 

The G98m was fed by five round stripper clips into an internal magazine. It used a robust three lug bolt design that could easily handle the pressures of the 8mm cartridge and was considered by many in Berengar's past life as the pinnacle of bolt action design. 

The major difference between Berengar's G25 and the G98m was the inclusion of an Arisaka style dust cover, which prevented dirt, mud, and debris from entering the action. This would be especially useful in trench warfare, which Berengar planned to widely use until a time where he could mechanize his army. 

The bayonet designed for the rifle was based on the seitengewehr 98/05 which was used by German Troops in the Great War of Berengar's past life. It was a long, hefty blade style bayonet which was commonly referred to as the "butcher blade" because of its size and appearance. 

Aside from the G25 Infantry Rifle, Berengar decided to replace the old 1422 Service Revolver with a new semi-automatic pistol. Semi-automatic fire could only be reliably used with smokeless powder, which was the reason he had not implemented such weapons until this point.

The pistol Berengar had in mind was none other than the Luger P08. Why the Luger when there were other, better, later designs he could pick from? The reason for this was the simple fact that there was no pistol more iconically German than the Luger. 

It was true that the Luger used an outdated and absurdly expensive to manufacture toggle-lock design to function. However, it was reliable, and in Berengar's honest opinion, it looked cool. The Luger was one of his favorite guns, and though he knew how they functioned, he had never been able to obtain one in his past life. The Luger fed from an 8 round detachable magazine, and was iconic as the primary german sidearm in WWII movies, despite the Walther P38 being more prominent in actual history. 

Aside from these weapons, Berengar designed another weapon to be used by his infantry. The MG25, as it would become known in this life, was based upon the Vickers Machine Gun used by British Forces in both World Wars. 

The Vickers was nothing more than an improved Maxim Machine gun, which was used by practically every major army in the Great War, including that of the German Empire. It was a watercooled, belt fed machine gun of substantial reliability and durability. The only problem this weapon had was its weight. It could not be easily moved and had to be operated by a crew of men. This was not a concern to Berengar, as he intended for these machine guns to be used in static positions. 

The reason the Vickers were an improvement over the Maxim was because the action of the gun was flipped upside down, allowing it to be smaller and lighter weight. Aside from this, it functioned almost exactly the same as a standard Maxim that the Germans and Russians used.

In history, this weapon was serviced with a cloth belt that held the ammunition. This was the biggest weakness of the Vickers as when it got wed, or coated with filth, it caused reliability issues. The Russians would later develop a metallic belt for their Maxim M1910s, and Berengar intended to use a similar feeding system. 

The last major weapon system that Berengar designed to replace his current weaponry was a set of new artillery pieces modelled after the 7.5cm FK 16 nA which was used by the Germans in WWII. This Artillery piece was essentially an improvement on the WWI era 7.7 cm FK 16. It utilized a 75mm High Explosive shell which Berengar's forces currently used, and was equipped with a superior Hydro-Pneumatic recoil system. 

Berengar's current field guns had no recoil mechanism. Because of this, every time they were fired, the artillery crew would have to reset the guns. With the Hydro-pneumatic recoil system, the gun would maintain its position much better after being fired, allowing for quicker follow up shots. Aside from this, it still operated with a horizontal sliding block mechanism. 

Berengar also designed a scaled-up version of this gun in 10cm, which utilized a 105 x 504 mmR separate-loading, cased charge. He would refer to both of these artillery pieces as the 7.5cm FK 25, and the 10cm K 25 field guns. 

Aside from these weapons, Berengar also designed new uniforms for his soldiers based on those used by the Germans during the latter portion of the Great War of his past life. With all of these innovations, his Army would be on a technological level of Germany during WWI, and he would not need to innovate with new weapons for the foreseeable future.

Or so he thought. After all, Berengar had no idea that a new rival was appearing in the far east, and if he did not stay ahead of the game, he might soon fall behind. Because of this, Berengar sat back with a nice cold beer, and finalized his blueprints before sending them to the Kufstein Royal Armory to begin testing. It would be a long time before these weapons would enter service. 

After finishing his work for the day, a knock resounded on his door and before he could even respond, it opened to reveal Honoria. She had recently given birth to a second child, a younger sister to the boy Alexandros. Berengar had named the girl Helena, and Honoria was unusually spry despite being in recovery. 

She had a smile on her face as she shoved a map onto Berengar's desk, which revealed a new discovery her crew had made during her absence. Having received full funding from the German Empire, the crew of explorers and privateers went around the world looking for the fatherland to colonize.

They had been the first westerners to sail to the bottom of Africa, where they discovered a land rich in resources that was ripe for the taking. With an emphatic smile on her face, Honoria posed a question to her husband.

"What do you think about colonizing Southern Africa?"