# When is the earliest date military technology transfer by time travel should work?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-earliest-date-military-technology-transfer-by-time-travel-should-work/1014080>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 9, 2025, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-earliest-date-military-technology-transfer-by-time-travel-should-work/1014080 "2025-02-09T05:14:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-earliest-date-military-technology-transfer-by-time-travel-should-work/1014080/2 "2025-02-09T05:32:38Z")

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I once asked a similar question ([back in 2014](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-technologically-advanced-are-todays-cartridges-bullets/685077/16) so don’t feel bad) and the answer seemed to be that your time-traveling Marines were boned once they got past the mid-late 1800s. Maybe further back for shotguns that could possibly be re-loaded with black powder based ammo provided you put the extra effort into cleaning and maintaining them.

I’m not a gun guy though so I’m sure others can pipe in here with more complete answers.

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