Li Xiao really didn't expect that the Grand Council of Constantine would be so crazy and hysterical, turning him into a demonic version of Nicholas I. His original intention in writing that article was just to protect himself, but he was considered by the Grand Duke to
It was a provocation. Under the personal instruction of the Archduke, the Archduke's lackeys in the Admiralty were concocting all kinds of despicable means to deal with him and Leonid.
At this time, Li Xiao was sitting at his desk and continuing to perfect the design and improvement of the new rifle. Although this work was considered unnecessary by Vishnyak and Boris.
These two good friends were extremely satisfied with Li Xiao's previous improvements and felt that it was the best rifle in the world. However, Li Xiao's new design idea was obviously "a detour" and "completely unnecessary."
Li Xiao smiled bitterly at this. Sure enough, one step ahead of the times is a genius, and three steps ahead of the times is a devil. But Li Xiao still insisted on his devilish design, because the all-metal fixed-loading ammunition is too important, and that is history.
Where the trend lies.
The bullets in 1847 were still full of the style of the Napoleonic era. Even the British, who were a little ahead, used front-loading minie bullets, and the bullet cases wrapping the gunpowder were still paper. In a few years, breech-loading rifles became popular.
At that time, metal primers and needle-fire rifle bullets were gradually developed.
But no matter whether it is a rimfire bullet or a needle fire bullet, the performance is not very satisfactory. In the end, the all-metal bullet case that dominated the world was the center-fire bullet. And this is what Li Xiao is designing now.
Actually, it's not appropriate to insist on design. Because he doesn't have that ability. He just refers to the bullets that have appeared in history and is just a copycat.
Of course, being a copywriter is not that easy. There are too many choices. The mid-19th century was a time when science and technology were changing rapidly, and all kinds of inventions were blooming. There were all kinds of new and trendy designs, such as the Queen of the River, too numerous to count.
The same is true for firearms and bullets. This makes Li Xiao a little bit confused about where to start, because Russia's foundation is so poor, and he is not so confident in copying any one. It really makes people cry.
For example, all-metal center-fire bullets. With the current technical strength of Russia, the only thing that can be produced is black powder. This stuff is readily available and can be loaded into metal bullet cases. As for other things, such as the processing technology of metal bullet cases, such as
The formula and manufacturing technology of the primer. Russia may not even be able to figure out the warhead.
Don't think that these things are simple. For example, full metal cartridge cases cannot be made without sufficient technology. How to stamp a small copper bowl into a cartridge case is enough to write a technical paper of 18,000 words.
Then there is the primer, which not only involves metal processing technology, but also chemistry. Although the Scottish priest Alexander Forsyth discovered mercury fulminate as early as 1793, and in 1807 he invented the world's first mercury with James Watt.
A percussion rifle, and later the Forsyth Firearms Company was established to produce the famous perfume bottle percussion rifle.
This type of percussion gun, called a perfume bottle, uses a container filled with sensitive mercury fulminate. When used, the mercury fulminate contained in the perfume bottle is sprinkled on the primer plate of the firearm, and then the trigger hammer will hit the primer plate.
Under the influence of the detonation, the black powder is detonated and propelled the projectile.
In 1814, American Chishua Shaw invented a more advanced copper flash cap. In 1825, American Dellinger invented a new percussion gun using a flash cap. This new weapon was the murder weapon that later killed Lincoln.
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The invention of the flash cap can be said to be groundbreaking. It not only greatly improved the reliability of firearm shooting, but also increased the probability of blind fire from once every seven shots to once every two hundred shots. More importantly, the flash cap is not like
Suifaozhu is so afraid of water.
Historically, during the anti-British struggle in Sanyuanli, the British army sent a company using Baker-style percussion rifles to relieve the siege when it rained heavily. This was unimaginable a few decades ago. In the Napoleonic era, when encountering heavy rain, the flintlocks would
The fight is completely off-limits, so let's just use bayonets to fight hand-to-hand.
To be honest, Russia is not even a little bit behind in this regard. The old flintlock smoothbore rifles are still very popular. The percussion muzzle-loading guns that use percussion caps are negligible. The entire country's soldiers are living in 1812 and refuse to take a step forward.
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This directly led to the pitiful application of all new technologies in Russia. Li Xiao could not find a few factories in St. Petersburg, Moscow, or Tula that could supply sufficient flash caps. There were only a few gun enthusiasts around St. Petersburg who opened miniature
The workshop produced a pitiful amount of flash hats, and the supply, let alone the 748th Regiment, was only enough for a few nobles to occasionally hunt for fun.
This makes Li Xiao extremely troubled. Even if the gun factory jointly owned by him and Duke Mikhail can produce new rifles, what about the bullets? Are rimfire bullets and needle-fire bullets imported from the United Kingdom and France?
This is definitely unrealistic. After all, in the Crimean War a few years later, Britain and France were directly opposed to Russia. How could they export bullets to Russia while fighting a war?
Therefore, it is very necessary to get the bullet production line. The mechanical equipment and technicians can be hired from outside for the time being. The Gorchakov family has a lot of money. As long as they can convince Leonid, they can solve the problem.
The real question is still the one mentioned before, which bullet is more suitable for Russia's national conditions? This new bullet must have simple production technology and be suitable for production by backward Russian organizations, but it must also be advanced enough to not use those paper-cased metals.
Cheap primers are just fine, because they will be obsolete in a few years, and they are easily affected by moisture and affect their performance.
Of course, the most important thing is to be cheap enough. After all, copper is not cheap, it is considered a precious metal. With Russia's financial resources these days, if copper-cased bullets are fully popularized, they will go bankrupt in minutes.
Replace copper with steel?
This idea lingered in Li Xiao's mind for a long time, but he finally gave up. Although the cost of steel bullet cases is indeed lower than that of copper cases, the problem is that the steel-making technology in Russia, or in today's world, is really not that good.
In this era, most of what is smelted in steel plants is still pig iron and wrought iron. It is better to just make steel directly. The bottom-blown acid converter steelmaking method has not been invented yet! That thing was only born in 1856, although it is not very good.
It wouldn't be a few years, but Li Xiao knew that it was in the UK, which had a strong industrial foundation, and it would be no big deal in Russia.
Moreover, the bottom-blown acid converter steelmaking method invented by Besmer still had big problems. The phosphorus and sulfur in the ore could not be removed, and the steel produced had unsatisfactory properties and was not suitable for making guns.
Russia not only does not have enough steel-making technology and steel plants, but metal processing is also very difficult. The ductility of steel is not as good as copper, and the stamping process is very troublesome. This is not something that Russia, a technical dwarf, can handle.
Anyway, Li Xiao had a terrible headache. He now had a lot of excellent designs, but due to Russia's poor technical reserves, there were a lot of problems that could not be solved in every implementation process.
In short, Russia has no industrial base, and it is obviously a foolish dream to build high-rise buildings in a technological vacuum...