Wild North America 1846

Chapter 257 King's Rifle

Chang'an City (San Francisco)
In the eight-story headquarters building of Colt Arms Company, employees in suits and leather shoes were busy coming in and out, and more than a dozen security guards with guns stood guard at the door, showing the extraordinary style of a top international large arms company.

Inside the chairman's office on the top floor of the building
Earl Colt was wearing an elegant tuxedo, holding a glass of French red wine in his hand, and was chatting happily with the general manager Doug, the deputy general manager in charge of sales Luo Zhengtang, the chief engineer in charge of research and development Mark Pierce, and others, with a smug look on his face. full look.

He really has the right to be proud. The unprecedentedly brutal Crimean War in Europe gave Colt Weapons the best publicity. Orders from Europe came in like snowflakes, making the company a lot of money.

Although the war is over, the Colt Arms Company still has orders worth more than 1700 million Tang Yuan, which is enough to produce until the second quarter of next year, generating a gross profit of no less than 460 million Tang Yuan.

It is said that the arms trade is huge profits, which can be seen from this.

Over the years, Earl Colt has earned tens of millions of dollars, and Colt Arms Company has become a top international artillery and firearms manufacturer, and its products sell well in various European countries.

"Dear Luo, how many orders has the Royal Household Office placed for us?"

"You will be delighted, honorable Lord Colt, this year's order includes about 270 field artillery pieces of various calibers, 1848 1.3-type extended rifles, plus a huge amount of ammunition storage , if we supply it at a preferential price, the value is about 160 million Tang yuan, about 12% of the gross profit."

"OK, arrange production ahead of other orders as soon as possible. This is our obligation to the kingdom." Earl Colt's face was rosy, and he seemed in a good mood. He smiled and revealed a secret; "Gentlemen, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Reliable news, starting next year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will further increase the scale of purchase and storage, and we will have a steady stream of orders, which will allow the factory to operate at full capacity."

"It's so good it's worth a toast to."

"cheers……"

After taking a sip of red wine, everyone put down their glasses in a happy mood. Earl Colt walked up to Mark Pierce and asked in a cordial tone;
"Oh... Dear Mark, how is the adaptation effect of our newly developed rifle range? This is the news that everyone wants to know. There is no need to keep it secret. I want to know where it is?"

"Your Excellency, the newly developed rifle is undergoing a durability test. Judging from the current test data, it can be said to be very good, basically meeting the stringent indicators required by the military." When it comes to the new rifle, Mark Pierce said There was a strange look on his face.

He is an engineering man who is obsessed with weapon design. He cherishes the new rifles like a baby, and rejoices in every defect improvement and technological progress.

The Colt 1848 lever-action repeating rifle is one of the company's flagship products. Almost every Texas cowboy has one. It is enthusiastically loved by the police, gangsters, farmers and post office employees. It is the long weapon of the cowboys. standard configuration.

This rifle also appeared in the hands of both the North and the South in the Kansas Civil War, and it was famous for its ferocious firepower in the brutal battle of the Ottoman Empire to defend the Kars Fortress.

Relying on the intensive firepower of 8300 Colt bursting rifles, the Ottoman army caused serious damage to the Russian army that was carrying out a dense formation of hand-to-hand charge, killing and wounding more than 2.6 Russian troops successively, shocking the world in one fell swoop.

Relying on the intensive firepower of the Colt burst rifles, the Expeditionary Army of the Datang Kingdom flying over the snow-capped mountains broke through several defense lines of the Russian Sevastopol Fortress one after another from behind, killing and wounding more than 4.4 Russian troops and capturing 2.31 people ( Not including the results of the British, French and Ottoman armies), in one fell swoop occupied the Sevastopol fortress, which had been fighting hard for more than ten months, and established the victory of the Crimean War.

Who wouldn't love such an advanced rifle?

The Colt 1848 lever-type repeating rifle has both advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is that the range is relatively short. The effective range of the extended version is 320-350 yards, and the shooting accuracy is not satisfactory.

The Minie rifle equipped by the British army has a much longer range, and the effective killing distance can reach about 650 to 700 yards. It still has considerable lethality beyond 700 yards.

Fortunately, the Russian army is not equipped with advanced Mini rifles. They use old-fashioned smoothbore rifles with a warhead weighing 51 grams. The sealing is poor and the shooting accuracy is not good. The effective killing range is only about 200 yards, and the maximum range is no more than 230 yards. The range disadvantage is obvious .

these years
Colt Arms has never stopped research and development. They have been developing a new bolt-action rifle for more than 4 years. After dozens of repeated improvements, the design has finally been finalized and entered the stage of rifle performance verification.

This bolt-action rifle is a real infantry weapon, and it is also the painstaking work of Colt Arms Company. His Majesty the King has inspected it several times and put forward valuable suggestions for improvement.

Therefore, Colt Arms unanimously decided to name the gun the 1856 King's Rifle.

The 1856 King's Rifle is a revolutionary standard rifle. Its technical level is about equal to the Mannlicher Rifle that appeared more than ten years after the original historical process and the Mauser [-] Committee Rifle a little later. Thanks to Richard Opened the golden finger, which is more advanced in some parts.

E.g;

The first development was the Patrone 88 8.08mm diameter rimless bottle neck bullet round with black propellant, which was also a very advanced rifle cartridge.

During the inspection, His Majesty the King had a whim, thinking that the pointed bullets fly faster, have a longer range, and are better for shooting accuracy?

Experimental proof
The effective killing range of the round bullet is about 650 meters to 700 meters, and the effective killing range of the pointed bullet is 760 meters to 800 meters. The flight is more stable after exiting the chamber, and the shooting accuracy is also higher.

A slight change in the shape of the bullet has brought about a huge improvement in ballistic performance. The 1856 King's rifle has benefited a lot from this, and the pointed rifle bullet scheme has been finalized. This is the originator of ammunition design. No change.

The 1856 King's bolt-action rifle is designed with a magazine and a five-round clip. Pull the bolt to eject the cartridge case, press the bullet, and pull the bolt to shoot a bullet.
This kind of leak clip is directly inserted into the magazine, and the magazine does not hold the bullet port, but fixes the bullet through the leak clip.

During the shooting process, scattered bullets cannot be added to the magazine at any time.After five rounds of bullets have been fired, the missing clip falls out from the opening at the bottom of the magazine, and a new clip can be pressed in at this time.

in the original design
The barrel of the 1856 King's bolt-action rifle is wrapped with a sleeve, which was originally designed to protect the barrel from external collisions and improve shooting accuracy.

In actual use, water vapor will accumulate in the gap between the sleeve and the barrel, causing the barrel to rust, and the sleeve is a burden instead.

Promptly increased the difficulty of manufacturing process, increased the soldier's burden again, also did not play the effect of improving design precision.

During an inspection, His Majesty the King questioned this design; "How much strength does the soldier need to bend the barrel?"

After comparing the two barrel designs, buried in soil, placed in muddy water, experienced extreme cold and hot weather for long-term durability shooting, shooting after being beaten, etc., it is proved that the design of the sleeve is purely unnecessary. .

Therefore, the sleeve is canceled in the final setting, which simplifies the production process and reduces the weight, and the actual use effect is better.

The main designer of the 1856 King's bolt-action rifle, Herman Elwater, claimed: "I designed the prototype of a new rifle, and His Majesty the King made it a work of art, which is amazing and 50 years ahead of this era. ..."

Of course, this statement is not lacking in praise.

"Hahaha...Mark Pierce, what is the best news you want to hear for us, preferably about a new rifle. This advanced King's rifle we can sell for 50 years or more, very good I hope to produce 100 million pieces, gentlemen, we have made a fortune." Earl Colt couldn't help laughing.

His excitement is hard to suppress now, but the number of 100 million is still estimated to be too small.

in the original history

The German-made Mauser 1888 Committee rifle, which is similar to the King's rifle, produced and sold more than 260 million pieces. It can be seen in turmoil all over the world and has been used until the First World War.

"It's a great honor to be a part of this great company and witness the history with my own eyes." Mark Pierce also said with a smile on his face; "At present, various rigorous tests have come to an end. After passing the military acceptance, We'll be getting a big order from the kingdom soon."

"Production scheduling and equipment debugging will also take a certain amount of time. We may not be able to export this advanced rifle until the Kingdom's military allows it. It has been in production for two years." Deputy manager Luo Zhengtang was equally excited.

These high-level executives are all small shareholders of Colt Arms, with less than 1% of their shares, and most of them are a few tenths of a percent.

Even if the shareholding ratio is small, the huge profits of Colt Weapons can allow them to pay more than [-] yuan in dividends every year.

It is not a problem to maintain a decent upper-class life, coupled with a high salary, a rich man with a decent income.

With the expansion of the company's production scale and growing reputation, the number of employees of Colt Arms Company has reached 1.1, and it also has large production plants in Europe, supplying weapons and equipment to European countries nearby.

According to the regulations of the Tang Kingdom, the new 1856 king-style bolt-action rifle cannot be exported temporarily, nor can it be produced in the European branch factory. The priority is to supply the army of the kingdom.

This situation also appeared in the production process of the Storm-type heavy machine gun, but now the restriction has been lifted, because the Maxim hand-cranked heavy machine gun has also appeared in the United States.

in today's world

As long as a field weapon appears and equips troops, other industrial countries in Europe will soon follow and imitate it, launching their own improved rifles.

If you don't sell or occupy this market, you will voluntarily give up the market. Some European countries are willing to sell to fill this gap.

Therefore, as long as the new 1856 King's bolt-action rifle has made an appearance on the battlefield, it will not be far from lifting the ban.

At the industrial level of the world today, there are no difficulties that cannot be replicated.

The 1856 King's rifle imitated by European and American countries may be inferior in quality and quantity, but it will never fail to be produced.

(End of this chapter)