Chapter 24 Electro-fired breech guns and sugar grenades
Back in mid-May.
Xujiazhuang, after Xu Yuan purchased a batch of equipment and raw materials related to weapons research and development from modern society, they were put in place one after another.
The weapons workshop in the workshop area was officially established.
The weapons research and development project was also quickly established. Two weapons research and development and manufacturing teams were established, dozens of outstanding craftsmen were mobilized, and two craftsmen with the best skills and highest qualifications served as team leaders, each responsible for a weapon research and development project.
It is now the end of May, more than ten days have passed.
This morning, Xu Yuan came to the weapons workshop and inspected the research progress of new weapons.
Inside the R&D workshop of the first group.
"Old Qian, how is the progress of the 'electric breech-loading gun' project entrusted to you now? Has the first usable musket been produced?"
Xu Yuan found an old man in his fifties who was strong and energetic, with rough calluses on his hands. When he saw him, he asked.
This old man's surname is Qian and his given name is Shuangfu. He was born in a craftsman's family. He has decades of old craftsmanship and is proficient in carpentry, blacksmith, bamboo crafts, gold and silver engraving and other crafts. He also worked in the imperial firearms workshop for several years.
He also has a lot of research on firearms. He is a highly skilled and versatile talent who can impress other craftsmen, so the craftsmen call him 'Qianjiangtou'.
Xu Yuan, in order to show respect for this old craftsman, called him Lao Qian.
"Manufacturer, according to your request, the first 'electric ignition breech gun' was produced a few days ago, but it has some flaws and is not perfect enough. It is still being improved. It is currently improved to the No. 3 gun.
Most of the problems have been solved, but it has not yet reached the standard of finalized equipment.”
Qian Shuangfu stroked his short beard on his chin and introduced Xu Yuan.
"Show me gun No. 3. Can it be fired? Take me to the shooting range and give it a try." Xu Yuan said with bright eyes.
"Master, this is the No. 3 gun. We have tested it more than a hundred times, and the performance is basically up to standard. But you are worth a lot of money. We will test the gun later, and you can just watch from the side."
Another craftsman in charge of testing was holding a World War I-style bolt action that was about 1 meter long and made of seamless alloy barrel, wooden gun body, metal cover and wooden stock.
The breech-loading rifle was brought to Xu Yuan and handed into his hand, allowing him to observe it carefully.
It weighs about 3 kilograms and is slightly heavy.
The internal structure is similar to the famous Mauser 98k gun.
It is a one-piece bullet composed of an aluminum alloy cartridge case, a lead-tipped bullet, and a primer coated with Thundergon powder. Granulated black powder is used inside.
After firing, the cartridge case is manually ejected using the bolt.
Then clean the gunpowder burning residue in the gun chamber.
Push the bolt again to start firing the next bullet.
Because it uses traditional black powder with low explosive velocity and low chamber pressure, the muzzle velocity of the bullet is about 320m/s. The maximum effective range is about 1000 meters. It can break heavy armor within 500 meters. Within 300 meters, the person who is shot only needs to
Injury to the trunk area, with the medical level of this era, basically cannot escape the outcome of death.
The rate of fire is 5 to 10 rounds per minute. As long as you undergo formal and strict training, you can generally reach the level of 8 rounds per minute.
certainly!
The biggest difference of this breech bolt rifle is that it does not use the firing pin to collide with the primer, but uses the battery to generate electric sparks to fire. Compared with the flintlock firing pin, the firing rate is nearly 100% and the failure rate is extremely low.
.
Therefore, the wooden stock at the tail of this rifle not only has a small circuit, but also has three 1.5v AA dry batteries built in. It is a non-rechargeable type and can probably meet the power requirements for 1,000 firings. After the power is exhausted,
It is necessary to replace the battery with a new one, which also brings problems such as the butt of the gun must not be allowed to get wet, maintenance is complicated, and the weight is slightly increased. The design of the flint firing pin may not be easy to use.
But Xu Yuan did this on purpose.
The main purpose is to always keep this rifle firmly in your hands. Even if your opponents and enemies get one or two through various methods, they will not be able to use it for long, either because the bullets cannot be produced, or
Because the battery ran out, it slowly became a fire stick.
Xu Yuan used this to maintain his lead, making it impossible for his opponents to crack and catch up. He was helplessly at a disadvantage and passive. There was no good solution at all.
Because dry batteries are only available in modern society, it is almost impossible to completely bypass the traveler.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
In the shooting range in the backyard of the workshop, crisp gunshots rang out.
More than a hundred meters away, Xu Yuan with a telescope saw that the 3 mm thick steel plate had been penetrated, and the entire fan of pork placed behind the steel plate was riddled with holes; the silk cloth and cotton covering the wooden figure were
Armor and iron armor, three layers of protection, were also completely penetrated; multiple earthen jars the size of chamber pots were also shattered, proving that the accuracy was quite good.
"Cough cough cough~"
The biggest problem is that the white smoke produced by the burning of black powder is very choking and blocks the line of sight, seriously affecting the accuracy of continuous shooting. It is a relatively regrettable flaw.
In addition, the aluminum alloy cartridge case causes greater wear and tear on the barrel, resulting in a service life of the barrel of about 2,000 rounds.
But no matter what, even if there are imperfections of one kind or another, at least for this era, this 'electrically ignited breech gun' is an advanced thermal weapon that is at least two centuries ahead of its time, opening up several generations.
As long as it is used by a well-disciplined army, it can sweep away all opponents in this era!
"The No. 3 gun is already perfect. Let's make some improvements and conduct more shooting tests. Once all aspects of performance are up to standard, we will officially finalize the mass production and strive to equip the village guards for use within two months.
."
Xu Yuan gave instructions.
"Yes, owner."
"Now that there are sufficient raw materials and the processing machines are extremely easy to use, two months is enough."
"Isn't that right? Those industrial machine tools can do everything from stamping, cutting, planing and drilling. They cut iron like clay, save time and effort, and are extremely efficient. They are really magical tools. I will never go back to the past."
Qian Shuangfu and other craftsmen all said confidently.
Immediately afterwards.
Xu Yuan went to inspect the R&D workshop of the second group next door and met the person in charge, Sun Datie - a muscular middle-aged man in his early forties with a rough face, like a pig butcher, but he was actually a rough middle-aged man.
He is a meticulous person who is also very skilled in blacksmithing skills and has a high level of understanding. Only he can quickly master some modern forging techniques, and Xu Yuan also values him very much.
"Team Leader Sun, how is the progress of the 'Sugar Grenade' development task I assigned you? Recently, the village has heard explosions coming from the workshop area every day, and they are getting louder day by day. I must have figured out the final solution.
Good mixing ratio, let’s take out the most powerful sugar grenade soon, right?”
Xu Yuan asked with a smile.
Sugar grenade?
What kind of weapon is this?
In fact, on the basis of ordinary black gunpowder, an appropriate amount of white sugar is added to increase the explosive and lethality of black gunpowder.
As long as you find a way to create a high-temperature environment and let the saltpeter react with the sugar in large amounts, the power of the explosion will be quite astonishing, almost elevating the power of black gunpowder to a large level.
The only difficulty in developing sugar grenades is the specific ratio of ingredients, which requires a lot of explosion experiments to find the most powerful formula bit by bit.
Once this weapon is successfully developed.
In the early stage, you can form special grenadiers and use sugar grenades to explode wildly, killing a large area with one explosion. For enemies who have suffered heavy casualties and walked through the hail of bullets, they will only receive heavier blows and fall into a nightmare like hell.
.
It can also be used in close combat scenarios such as castle defense, urban street fighting, and night attacks.
In the later stage, a mortar with a longer range and greater power can be developed based on the sugar grenade. The shell contains more charges and has a range of up to one or two kilometers. It is light and easy to carry, has high accuracy, and is more precise than the mortar.
Red cannons and the like are so powerful and are very good artillery weapons. Even in modern society, mortars have not been eliminated.
"We are almost successful, Master, but I feel that the power is not powerful enough and the explosion is not satisfying. I will try to make the most powerful formula. In the future, I can better protect our village and blow up all those corrupt officials to pieces."
!”
Sun Datie said in a thick Shaanxi accent that he had great resentment and hostility towards corrupt officials after escaping from Shaanxi.
"Okay, it's almost done. I'll give you another month to confirm the optimal ratio of explosives, and then start mass production of sugar grenades. The newly recruited village guards are waiting for these weapons you made.
." Xu Yuandao.
"Don't worry, Master, I won't delay things!"
Sun Datie slapped his chest in assurance.
Xu Yuan nodded and left the weapons workshop without looking at the explosion test results of the grenade, ending today's inspection.