Look up The Great Loop. I have family who have done it and it sounds awesome.

north end of lake nipigon is further from gulf than benton. i think we need to compare apples to apples. thats what i was trying to say.

You would?

Not to sound too obtuse, but how would you know that at all?

Did the Romans notice linguistic similarities between Latin and the Celtic and Germanic languages in the same way the Portuguese did when they reached India?

It's not about how far north it is its about how far inland it is. How far is it from the great Lakes to an ocean? Now how far is Montana? The Missouri River is the longest in North America on its own before reaching the Mississippi. We are talking about going from the Gulf nearly to Canada.

Cool video that discusses how amazing the Mississippi watershed is: https://youtu.be/BubAF7KSs64

Keep in mind the US immediately slashed defense budgets and demobilized. Obviously, weapons development didnt just stop- especially with h-bombs, rockets and jets- but the ground forces were in pretty abysmal shape by Korea.

5 years passed between the abolishment of the office of civil defense and the FCDA. Factoring in this slow start to the cold war and the M14 initiative, the development of the AR15 lagging so many years behind the AK and STG makes more sense.

The AKM didnt enter production until 59. Heck, Berlin wasnt sealed until 61. The Chinese and North Koreans were still using burp guns and conventional rifles, not assault rifles.

in 1848 which predates op and fort benton in 1880. i'd still say that the south branch chicago river could have been navigable by smaller craft. but maybe not large steam boats.

"A late-war U.S. assessment derided the StG-44 as "mediocre", "bulky" and "unhandy", declaring it incapable of sustained automatic fire and prone to jamming." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StG_44

Not without a canal to connect the Illinois to the Chicago. There used to be a portage used by natives for centuries followed by early European explorers, but the waterways weren’t connected until mid 19th century by the Illinois & Michigan Canal.

Screw a US road trip, I’m going on a US boat trip

When it comes to ballistic projectiles nothing is better or worse than any other. It’s just a matter of application. The .280 would have had a slight flatter curve and slower speed down range as opposed to a .30. At the end of the day it’s a matter of what the military seems as necessary energy at muzzle, 100 ft, 500ft etc with consideration to bullet drop trade off for larger rounds

Garands were designed to use the .276 Pedersen, not the .280 round.

There was a lot of that from the establishment to Oppenheimer after the war was over.

Stalin himself was constantly asking for that front to be opened. It's silly to say it wasn't significant.

The Russians also didn't beat Napoleon alone; to go on the offensive against Napoleon it took a giant confederation that fought at Leipzig

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it did. the chicago river used to flow into lake michigan. over time, sewage built up in the lake and chicagos' drinking water was poisoned with bad disease outbreaks happening. so engineers reversed the flow around 1900ish in order to move sewage away from city and clean up the lake.

here

i been down the chicago river south branch almost to midway airport in a 40 ft. sailboat as it was being motored into winter storage at a marina along the river. thats almost to the joining at des plaines river and i saw barge traffic the entire way. entirely possible to get to the mississippi river from there.

But I don't think there originally used to be a connection, like before the large scale projects, at least I can't find anything online.

I think maybe you misunderstood what I was saying.

I’m saying that the left over 30.06 was not the reason they didn’t adopt a smaller cartridge like the .280

They change from the 30.06 to another full power .30 caliber cartridge. that’s what they wanted to use.

illinois river most definitely reaches lake michigan. especially before chicago played engineer with the chicago river. even now there is barge traffic there. btw chicago river had its flow reversed and now drains away from lake michigan. but its all still navigable.

edited to fix flow mistake.

7.62… not .308. Remember, ballistics are different. Ammo has a shelf life, once that shelf life is reached, the ammunition becomes unviable. Also, 1960’s America was the boon for military industrial complex. Much like the tobacco and oil industries, it campaigned for the newest and shiniest toys while debunking all criticism against it.

from what i can tell its possible to get to lake nipigon via the illinois river and great lakes. almost the entire lake is more northerly than fort benton. only question i see is that there is a dam and Cameron falls on the way up to nipigon but it looks from satellite like the falls are man made.

otherwise, seems pretty navigable all the way from illinois river. currently accessible through navy pier to des plaines river to illinois river, or further south at little calumet to illinois river.

But relatively speaking it was, yes it's not cardboard cheap but it wasn't that outlandishly expensive either, labour was cheap, materials were cheap and the actual process of assembly although time consuming isn't high skill especially in an era when everything is hand-made. When coupled with elements like second hand, chainmail wasn't that luxury of an item. Maybe in the early middle ages when blacksmithing was a bit rarer but still.

Note that throughout the middle ages, majority of fighters were at minimum middleclass, not peasants, furthermore the act of building equipment was done over time and not just spontaneously, so while maybe it would be very expensive to a peasant farmer, to those of higher status, like the servant of a low ranking noble, or a yeoman it would have been relatively affordable.

There is no definitive proof to suggest the .280 was a sub-standard round. It provided much higher muzzle velocity and penetration capability compared to the 7.62 round plus much lighter weight. (Moving to 5.56 on the 60’s is proof of this concept.) The only thing correct about this is ‘the US didn’t want a foreign design.’ Remember, military industrial complex was at its strongest right after WW2

If the left over 30.06 ammo was a factor, why do they switch to .308 and not switch to 5.56 or .280 or any other cartridge.