Chapter 67 Test Gun

As for the operation of this kind of front-loaded artillery, most people have seen it in various film and television works, but in terms of actual operation, there are not many experienced people. The entire military and police department has more than 80 people.

There are even veterans of the Navy and Air Force, but there is not a serious person who has served in the artillery force. Even the three people from the North American Gang who claim to have practical experience are only former members of the National Gun Club.

I only had two or three launch experiences during the event.

However, this is not a problem for those who are well prepared. Someone has already found the standard operating procedures for front-loaded artillery in the 17th century from a large database. Now they just follow the instructions and proceed step by step.

Even so, the large number of long and short wooden poles delivered by the carpentry workshop still made the people present feel a little dizzy. These wooden poles are all artillery loading tools that the wood workshop rushed to make overnight in accordance with the requirements of the Military and Police Department.

There are brushes for extinguishing sparks in the gun barrel with water, brushes for wiping the water out of the gun barrel, hooks for removing residual powder packets from the gun barrel, loading rods for stuffing gunpowder and shells, and long rods for ignition.

The functions vary.

The four gunners first divided their tasks, and then simulated the drill several times according to the operating procedures to ensure that everyone clearly remembered the work they were responsible for before starting to prepare for the official test firing. Other onlookers first went down to the bomb shelter trench.

Inside, only the part above the shoulders was exposed to watch them operate.

"Let's shoot at zero angle first. Only after determining the flat firing range can we adjust the angle." As the commander, Wang Tom was actually not sure, but fortunately he knew how to test the new smoothbore cannon.

"The shooting angle is zero degrees!" Yan Chujie announced loudly. The recorder standing in the trench immediately took note of it. Later, the shooting data will be used to count the hit rate and calculate the shooting table.

"Two packs of charges!" Yan Chujie continued to inform the shooting parameters loudly. This charge was jointly calculated by the Ministry of Metallurgy and the Ministry of Chemical Industry, and is the optimal charge on paper. However, the actual effect has yet to be proven by test firing.

.

"Load!"

The spherical cast-iron cannonball was stuffed into the muzzle, and then Morgan inserted the loading rod into the barrel and compacted the cannonball and gunpowder packet together.

"Ready to shoot!"

Wang Tom inserted an iron pick through the ignition port to pierce the powder bag, then filled the ignition port with gunpowder and installed the match rope.

"shooting!"

Qiao Zhiya, who was in charge of igniting the ignition, put the ignition rod head's fire to the match rope at the ignition port. He saw a stream of sparks quickly ejected upward from the ignition port, and then heard a loud bang, and thick white smoke and flames spewed out from the muzzle.

The gun body and the gun mount suddenly retreated, slowly stopped under the influence of the small slope behind the gun position, and then slid back a short distance.

The smoothbore cannon ejected very quickly. Everyone saw a black shadow falling to the ground hundreds of meters away. Then it bounced several times and flew forward for dozens of meters before hitting the target.

The mound stopped.

"What a loud noise!" Some of the travelers who were not mentally prepared complained with their buzzing ears.

Tao Donglai had jumped out of the trench and used a telescope to check the landing status of the artillery shell: "It hit a mound 400 meters away and stopped. It seems that the effective range from this angle is within 400 meters."

After firing one shot, the technicians conducted another flaw detection test on the gun to ensure that there were no hidden dangers such as internal cracks in the gun during the previous firing. Others were already running excitedly towards the place where the shell landed.

Went. Everyone wanted to see with their own eyes how powerful this less than three kilogram shell was.

The last bounce of the shell left a long mark on the ground. Yan Chujie excitedly pointed at the 30-meter-long bullet mark and said: "If this gun penetrates the dense formation, it will directly plow a bloody path."

ah!"

The depth of the shell that finally hit the mound was still more than ten centimeters, which shows the amazing lethality brought by its huge kinetic energy. This is only the power of the smallest 6-pound cannon, and the larger 12-pound, 24-pound, and 32-pound cannons.

It will be several times that. Every time I think about this event, the big bombardiers in the Military and Police Department get excited.

Next, the test gun team adjusted different firing angles and fired about ten more guns. Finally, it was determined that the effective range of this gun was about one thousand meters. In fact, after exceeding 800 meters, the flight trajectory and final landing of the artillery shells in the air were

There will be a big deviation in each point, which has nothing to do with the target position that was previously aimed at.

This effective range is naturally incomparable with the artillery of later generations, but for the Chuanchuan people, this range is completely sufficient. The narrowest point of the mouth of the Victory Harbor leading to the outer sea is only 400 meters, which is almost exactly the size of this small cannon.

From the distance with the highest hit rate, the Military and Police Department believes that as long as two or three of these small guns are set up on both sides of the gorge, it will be enough to blockade the port and prevent foreign enemies from intruding from the sea.

The same defense mechanism also applies to the defense across the Sanya Bay Gorge, which everyone is optimistic about. The width of the sea outlet there is less than half that of Victory Port. Ships that use this kind of cannon to hit the mouth of the Gorge are completely using it.

If the gun is put to the forehead and fired, the opponent will not even have a chance to dodge.

Because the firing frequency of this gun was too high, the barrel quickly overheated. After firing more than ten shots, it had to stop temporarily to dissipate heat. However, the gun crew could not stop at all, so they replaced another gun on the gun mount.

The test continued. It was not until more than thirty rounds of artillery shells in the rattan basket were fired out in one go that the gun crew fell to the ground panting.

"Too tired." Even Tom Wang, who is always known for his tenacity, couldn't help but complain.

"Still... we have to get on the breech and load the cannon as soon as possible." Yan Chujie panted and said, "This physical work is indeed intense. I underestimated this work before."

The more than ten operating procedures before each launch are fine. Although it is a bit cumbersome, it does not consume much physical strength. However, after each launch, several people have to push the heavy gun mount to reset the gun, regardless of aiming or adjusting the angle.

It all relied on manpower, and the two cannons were replaced from the gun mount several times. These more than thirty rounds were fired, which exhausted the four strong men.

As a result of the gun test, the observation group unanimously believed that the quality of the two guns was qualified, met the design requirements, and could be directly used in actual combat. However, the current problem is a serious lack of gunners, even manpower to operate the two guns for test firing at the same time.

None. Even for this reason alone, there is currently no way for the metallurgical workshop to start casting large quantities of cannons.

Therefore, the Military and Police Department had to temporarily put away its obsession with establishing an artillery unit immediately. For a period of time in the future, it will still be based on these two guns, rely on continuous test firings to determine the firing schedule, and at the same time train more qualified gunners.

The next task of the metallurgical workshop is to improve the gun casting process based on these two guns, and at the same time, start to study the production process of large-caliber front-loading guns and more advanced breech-loading rifled guns. The Executive Committee also put forward clear requirements

Relevant military industry departments must adhere to the weapon research and development principle of "equipment for one generation, production for one generation, and R&D for one generation" to maintain the sustainable development of weapons and equipment. Not only artillery, but also military projects such as firecracker weapons and warships will be developed next.

Also do it in the same way.

There are quite a lot of complaints from the metallurgical workshops about this arrangement. The hydropower station is still some time away from completion, and there is currently no power and electricity available. As a result, those efficient metal processing machine tools have not been put into use. Therefore, at this stage, almost all metal smelting and processing

The tasks have been temporarily assigned to the metallurgical workshop. Now they not only have to manufacture various iron farm tools and daily necessities, but also engage in weapons research and development. Next, they will also be responsible for assisting in the production of steam-powered prototypes jointly developed by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Energy.

, simply too busy. Liu Xingli has solemnly warned the executive committee that even if such a high-intensity production task arrangement does not exhaust people, it can easily cause excessive fatigue and produce production accidents. Once an accident occurs in the metallurgical workshop,

The consequences will definitely be death or disability, and I'm afraid no one will be able to take the blame.

The metallurgical workshop is not the only one that is being ruthlessly oppressed. The Ministry of Chemical Industry and the Woodworking Workshop are also facing the same situation. The Ministry of Chemical Industry must continue to produce pellets for the firearms testing site of the Military and Police Department even though the production sites and production facilities are not yet complete.

Gunpowder. The woodworking shop was notified to make a batch of wooden gun targets in the near future for test firing of future muskets.

While everyone was so busy that their feet were hitting the back of their heads, there was one department where the staff seemed particularly leisurely.

Ren Liang was sitting under a tree by the Tiandu River, holding a bamboo fishing rod in his hand. While fishing, he stared at the sweating hard laborers on the dam of the hydropower station nearby. Although the Military and Police Department believed that the current labor camp was because of too many guards.

There are already safety risks, but Ren Liang doesn't think so. The management skills he learned in his work before time travel are now being applied to the hard laborers in the labor camps, and the results are very good.

After the hundred or so pirate prisoners entered the camp last month, Ren Liang had already dispersed and reorganized them, with a small number of Ming army prisoners managing the majority of the pirate prisoners. After Luo Shengdong returned to Yacheng with a few of his confidants,

, a certain degree of power vacuum appeared in the hard labor in the labor camp. Whether it was out of the desire to survive or consciously working in the camp, some people who had been deliberately suppressed by Luo Shengdong began to gradually show their personal abilities. Not only Ming army prisoners, but also pirates

There are also such people in .

The origins of this group of pirates are very mixed. They include Chinese pirates from the coastal areas of the mainland, natives from Boni, Borneo and other places in the South China Sea, and a small group of Japanese rogues mixed in. The one that Ren Liang has been paying special attention to recently is

It was an inconspicuous little man among this group of Japanese ronin, named Minami Takahashi.
Chapter completed!