Who had the best weapons in WW1?

Answer 1

Really, every nation was about equal in WWI weaponry. All had a standard rifle that was a high velocity, bolt action weapon of around .30 caliber, most with a five shot internal box magazine. The Italian version was probably the worst, but it was one of these that Lee Harvey Oswald used to shoot John Kennedy in 1963. The machine guns were practically the same design, but called the Vickers by the British and the Maxim by the Germans. Maxim was the designer, an American, who sold the design to all buyers. Everybody had plenty of artillery of about the same capabilities. No one had an edge in weaponry.

The French rifle was a Lebel, with only a three shot magazine. The French were still counting on bayonet charges to bring back the glory of Napoleonic times. The French also had an execrable light machine gun, the Chauchat, which they inflicted on the Americans by the tens of thousands. This had a detachable box magazine, which had large areas cut out in the sides. I suppose this was so the gunner could visually keep track of how many rounds he had left. It would be hard to come up with a more senseless design for the muddy trenches, where the soil continually got in the magazine and fouled the gun, causing jams, stoppages, and death to the gunner for lack of shooting back.

Answer 2

WW1 weapons were evenly matched until the advent of the tank by the allies.