There is naturally no shortage of gardens in Duke Mikhail's house. In fact, his garden is so big that you can't even see the end of it. Under the nourishment of hot spring water, even if it is more than 20 degrees below zero, the flowers and trees are still full of vitality.
.
In just a few minutes, the butler had already set up several half-body targets. It seemed that Prince Mikhail sometimes tried his guns in his garden.
"I like to hear the sound of gunfire and the smell of gunpowder smoke!" Duke Mikhail explained with a smile, "This keeps me from forgetting how to fight. The comfortable St. Petersburg is not suitable for soldiers like us!"
Standing a hundred yards away from the target, Duke Mikhail fiddled with his rifle, skillfully installing the flint, loading the ammunition and tightening the gun, which was much faster and more efficient than many ordinary veterans.
"A good gun is the foundation of a good soldier!" Duke Mikhail said while taking aim with his gun: "The battlefield is not so comfortable, with the sound of gunfire, bullets and shells flying in front of you, blood...
There are screams and splashes everywhere, and if you can’t adapt, you won’t be able to do the most basic reloading!”
boom!
The impact of the flint ignited the gunpowder, and a cloud of dark smoke erupted from the barrel, followed by flames and a loud, ear-piercing sound.
But these did not disturb Duke Mikhail at all. He locked the gun body tightly like a rock, and the huge recoil did not make him move at all.
Prince Mikhail's marksmanship was very good, and he hit the upper edge of the target at a distance of a hundred yards. For a musket, this is quite amazing. Generally speaking, this kind of crap has no accuracy beyond fifty meters.
It can be said.
"Your marksmanship and spear are very good!" Li Xiao admired sincerely.
Duke Mikhail laughed and said: "Indeed, if we use our country's standard rifle, I am not sure that every shot can hit the target at such a distance. Those broken... rifles are not as carefully maintained as I am.
"
Even Leonid heard it. In fact, what Duke Mikhail originally wanted to say was junk. The problems with Russian standard rifles are not just maintenance problems. Basically, it can be said that Russian weapons are all crudely made antiques.
Some of them are still in stock from 1812, when they greeted Napoleon cordially.
Anyway, these rags are good for scaring the sick men of Turkey, but they are powerless against the British and French powers.
"Let me see the gift you brought!" Duke Mikhail changed this somewhat embarrassing topic, rubbing his hands eagerly.
Li Xiao gave up his position and motioned for Boris to come and demonstrate. Among the four of them, Boris and Leonid had the best marksmanship. Obviously, Leonid was a half-master on this occasion and was not suitable for personal demonstration.
The long box was opened, and the rifle inside made Grand Duke Mikhail a little stunned. It was not that this weapon caught his eye, but that this weapon was too common.
Grand Duke Mikhail asked with some confusion: "Isn't this our standard rifle?"
"Yes, but no!" Li Xiao explained confidently, "As you can see, this is an improvement on our army's standard rifle! Boria, please demonstrate it for the Duke!"
Boris responded, quickly picked up the rifle and pointed at the muzzle and said: "The biggest problem with smoothbore guns is that their accuracy is really limited. Salvo tactics must be used to ensure the hit rate. To be honest, the limitations are too great..."
Duke Mikhail stretched his neck and glanced at the muzzle of the gun, and said in surprise: "You have rifled the barrel?!"
Before Li Xiao and Boris could answer, Duke Mikhail curled his lips and said: "But the rifled gun is not easy to use! Loading this thing is too troublesome and too slow!"
Yes, don’t think that rifled guns appeared very late. In fact, rifled guns came out in the 16th century. The desire for accuracy is eternal, and private gunmakers discovered the wonderful use of rifling very early. In the 18th century, the British and French armies
There are standard rifled guns in all of them, which are used by hunters as long-range precision rifles.
However, loading rifled guns in this era was very troublesome. Just like smoothbore guns, gunpowder and projectiles had to be loaded from the muzzle in sequence. And because of the existence of rifling, projectile loading was particularly troublesome. You had to use a hammer and a rod to knock the projectiles in.
, the reloading speed is so slow that it’s impressive.
Moreover, this extremely complicated operation is not suitable for ordinary illiterate soldiers. These guys can't even handle the musket well. On extremely tense battlefields, they always make mistakes in the loading order, and will first stuff the bullets and then the gunpowder.
Bullets would definitely not be fired like this. It is said that the highest record of this kind is that more than twenty unfired projectiles were found in a gun barrel, which is called a miracle.
Mighty-loaded rifled guns are probably even more unfriendly. They are slow, difficult to load, and have a lower error tolerance rate. Anyway, based on his rich military experience, Duke Mikhail disdains rifled guns. To be honest, he is now
I have begun to feel disappointed and feel that I think too highly of these young people.
However, Li Xiao was not affected at all and remained confident: "Old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifled guns are naturally very troublesome, but the one I gave you is not that shabby!"
Li Xiao deliberately emphasized the tone of the rags, obviously he was also teasing Duke Mikhail. However, the Duke didn't care. On the contrary, he became interested in Li Xiao's next introduction again, because Li Xiao said:
"This is not a muzzle-loading weapon. I transformed it into a breech-loading rapid-fire weapon."
At Li Xiao's signal, Boris showed the rear half of the rifle in front of Duke Mikhail. This rifle was completely different from the rear half of the standard rifle. The last barrel was sawed off and replaced with
Brand new firing and loading and locking devices.
Push a button to release the lock, and the rear half of the barrel lifts upward to facilitate reloading. After loading, close the lock and you can shoot again.
This novel rifle immediately attracted the attention of Grand Duke Mikhail. He kept opening and closing the loading device, like a child who had just got a new toy.
"Let's try it!"
After Grand Duke Mikhail loaded a round of ammunition according to Boris's instructions, he couldn't wait to aim at the target and pull the trigger.
With the bang, the firelight and smoke filled the air, he vaguely saw that the shot was very accurate. Unlike his previous generals who missed the target, this shot hit the center of the target. The thin wooden board was blown away.
A hole.
"marvelous!"
Grand Duke Mikhail couldn't help but sigh in admiration. He took another bullet without any explanation, opened the lock, reloaded it, and then fired it quickly. As expected, he hit the target again!