1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 245 New Rifle
After finishing the day's chores, Liang Yao couldn't help stretching and relaxing his body.

Not long after settling down in San Francisco, Walter came to see Liang Yao with his invention.

"How is it? Are you still used to it in the past few days in San Francisco?"

Liang Yao stood up and asked Walter with great concern.

Walter's heart warmed. Before that, no partner had ever cared about his life. They only cared about how many dollars he could earn from his patents.

"San Francisco is very good, and the development here is better than I imagined." Walter showed a very happy smile.

"Thanks to your care, everything is going well, but my wife thinks the manor is too spacious and hired a construction company to build some new buildings, but for me, as long as there is a research room for inventions and experiments That's enough, I'm happy with my life here."

"If you need anything, just come to me. Whether you need supplies or people, I will do my best to satisfy you. Even if what you want is in London and Paris, I will find a way to get it for you." Liang Yao Said.

"I have a dedicated assistant and a dedicated painter. These are things that I didn't even dare to think about before. What is missing? If I have to say what is missing, I only lack creativity now!" Walter said very honestly.

"Creativity is exactly what I can't provide you with." Liang Yao said with a smile, "How is Nobel doing?"

"Since you sent him a few barrels of liquid called petroleum, he has spent all day boring himself in the experiment to purify this kind of thing. He is very interested in this liquid." Walter recalled the last time he went to Nobel Said the scene of visiting.

"He said that as you said, the composition of this liquid is very complex, and many new things can be extracted from it. I think he will have new research results soon. This kid is very talented and young. He will definitely can make a difference."

"I am also very optimistic about him. He is both talented and dedicated. Such a person is very rare. He is a young man with a bright future."

Liang Yao agreed with this deeply. He pointed to the wooden box held in the hands of the assistant behind Walter, and asked curiously.

"What new invention did you come up with?"

"It's not a new invention. It's just a modification of the rifle that was invented last time at your request."

As he said that, Walter turned around and took the box and pried it open, only to see two brand new rifles lying in the box, and introduced them to Liang Yao.

"The caliber of both rifles has been reduced from 15mm to 10mm as you requested," said Walter.

"Aren't you used to using imperial units?" Liang Yao was a little surprised.

"I'm used to using imperial units, but you seem to be more accustomed to metric units, so it's up to you." Walter laughed, "Does the Qing Dynasty also use metric units?"

The UK and its colonies and former colonies are customary to use imperial units.

But before the middle of the 19th century, not many countries adopted the metric system, mainly France, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.

As for Walter’s question about whether the Qing Dynasty used metric units, the answer is naturally no. It was not until the Qing Dynasty was about to die in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908) that the Qing government decided to partially adopt metric units.

It is just Liang Yao's personal habit to use metric units.

The prototype gun that Walter gave him before actually used Springfield’s .85-inch caliber. It was just a matter of Liang Yao’s personal habits. He was used to metric units. Seeing the same caliber as Springfield, he subconsciously converted it into metric unit.

"It's also because of my personal habits. I'm more used to using metric units." Liang Yao picked up one of the guns and looked at it carefully.

"The one you are holding uses a paper shell, of course, you can also use a linen-wrapped bullet, and the cost is about 15 dollars." Walter introduced.

"If I remember correctly, the sample gun you showed me last time cost 20 dollars a piece, but now you can directly reduce the cost by 25%. How did you do it?" Liang Yao was very surprised.

If the cost is $15, it is very advantageous over the Springfield M1842.

"Starting from the material aspect, but there is also a price."

Walter said as he picked up another new gun, the metal cased version.

"The cost of a new gun that uses metal bullets is still 20 dollars, but the material is the same as before, and it is relatively solid. I have done experiments and comparisons. The new gun hammer and barrel that use paper bullets only have the lifespan of the metal bullet version. two-thirds of the

"That's enough, let's go and try the gun!"

Liang Yao didn't plan to use the paper shell version of the new gun for his troops, as long as it was better than the Springfield M1842.

This kind of gun is mostly used for transition, and the focus of infantry standard light weapons is still on the Dreiser firing pin gun.

Bolt-action firing pin firearms are the general trend of the future.

If the air leakage problem of the Dresser firing pin gun hadn't been solved well at this time, Liang Yao wouldn't be interested in this gun.

Liang Yao took the gun to the shooting range of the manor to test the gun. After the caliber was reduced, the charge of the bullet was also reduced, and the recoil force was correspondingly reduced a lot.

It is much easier to use than the previous .85 inch (14.7mm) prototype gun, and of course, the power is also reduced.

But after all, it is a 10mm caliber, and the power reduction is only relatively speaking. The power of rifles in this era is sufficient, and even some guns are seriously overpowered.

What guns of this era need to improve is not power, but reliability, rate of fire, and accuracy.

After several rounds of trials, Liang Yao was very satisfied with the performance of the two guns.

So some soldiers and officers were called to test fire the new gun.

Soldiers equipped with the Springfield m1842 rifle were full of praise for the performance of this new gun, especially the rate of fire of 6 to 9 rounds per minute, which was not a star and a half better than Springfield's front-loading gun.

Compared with the Dresser needle gun, it is only slightly slower than the Dresser needle gun.

Even those Prussian officers spoke very highly of this gun, especially the new gun that uses the metal shell needle-side bullet version, thinking that metal bullets are more reliable than paper shell bullets and linen-wrapped bullets. Use in bad weather.

Liang Yao was very satisfied with the performance of this gun, and decided to test it for a few more days, and wait until the production line at the Sacramento Armory was set up to start production.

The predecessor of the Sacramento Armory was the Sacramento Armory, which was mainly responsible for repairing damaged ordnance. This time Liang Yao did not return empty-handed from the east, but brought a large number of dug-up gunsmiths and workers, and bought a large number of machine tools and equipment.

The Sacramento Armory has changed from shot to shot and has become a large arsenal with more than [-] gunsmiths and workers.

The Sacramento Armory is currently the only arsenal capable of manufacturing standard firearms in the western United States. It can be said to be a scorpion shit-the only one.

"This gun hasn't been named yet, you can name it." Walter said to Liang Yao.

Walter is very happy and proud that the weapons he designed and manufactured can be affirmed by so many people and put into mass production.

Walter had also provided Colt with a firearm design before, that is, the lever-action rifle that he was proud of, but Colt believed that Walter's design was too complicated, and the cost of the lever-action rifle produced was too high. Too expensive.

For the military, where the $13 Springfield M1842 was too expensive, the lever-action rifle was unattractive.

In fact, Colt's judgment was not wrong. The American military later considered the cost and power issues and did not purchase lever-type rifles on a large scale.

This kind of gun with an extremely fast rate of fire later became the darling of the folk market by accident, especially by the police and western cowboys.

It has even become a symbol of western American culture.

It's just that Walter's design concept is too advanced, and his contemporaries can't keep up with his imaginative brain circuit.

Liang Yao thought for a while and said, "Let's call it the Walter M1852 rifle. The version that uses paper shells and linen bullets is called the Walter M1852E."

(The U.S. Army standard numbering system uses the letter M as the type indicator for various weapons and equipment. M is the abbreviation of Model, and it may be easier to understand when translated as Type.)
"Name it after me?"

It was an honor for Walter to be able to name a soon-to-be mass-produced rifle after himself.

"Yes, this is the rifle you invented, and it should be named after you." Liang Yao said with a smile, "Test it for a few more days to see if there are any minor flaws. If there are no defects, the production line at the Sacramento Arsenal will be officially put into production. , 3 pieces of each version will be manufactured first. If there are some minor problems, they will be improved and resolved before mass production.”

(End of this chapter)