> And pre and pots ww1 arms production was not massive Russia was buying massive amounts of guns from the USA and look at the performance of Russia vs Japan.
Russia did produce a large amount of war material and every academic source agrees on this.
Military production certaintly wasn't the issue in that war. That war more then anything else shows the weakness of the political system that was again evident in WW1.
Russia had a gigantic army, rifles are a simple mass market commodity the the US was selling cheaply on mass. Simply sensible to buy some when there are so many other important things that you need to produce. Rifles are very small part of the overall military economy.
It starts with raw resources like steal, coal and everything you need to make explosives. Munitions production, heavy artillery and so on. Railroads, planes and so on.
Again, scholars pretty much agree on the success of Russia military economy. Compared to the state in the beginning of the war they did incredibly well.
Check out this serious of 24 lectures that goes a bit into technology and so on, the last couple are about the time we are talking about:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEETkM6vwQPHJHhXinsuQ...
Having to buy basic stuff like that on the open market is a sign that your in trouble.
Wikipedia says
"With the start of World War I, production was restricted to the M1891 dragoon and infantry models for the sake of simplicity. Due to the desperate shortage of arms and the shortcomings of a still-developing domestic industry, the Russian government ordered 1.5 million M1891 infantry rifles from Remington Arms "
This even said 'with the start of WW1' to it not even an argument about how they did during the war.
And pre and pots ww1 arms production was not massive Russia was buying massive amounts of guns from the USA and look at the performance of Russia vs Japan.