my wonderful zoo

Chapter 118 Spring Steel

In fact, Chen Jiajun's early design and research and development of the flintlock gun had already been completed.

A usable experimental gun was built two years ago, but there was only one problem that hindered the large-scale manufacturing and fielding of this musket.

That's spring steel.

A flintlock gun needs a hammer to hit gravel to ignite the ignition powder, so there will be a minimum hammering force.

This force requires people to move the hammer to accumulate force before shooting, so that the trigger can be pulled when shooting to achieve immediate shooting.

The hammer's energy storage relies entirely on spring steel. Therefore, high-quality spring steel has become the last problem in the mass production of flintlock muskets.

The experimental gun can actually fire, but because of the poor quality of the spring steel, it will either deform after being used a few times, or the power storage effect is poor, and the success rate of firing is low.

According to the chemical knowledge taught by Chen Xun, the craftsmen tried again and again, and failed hundreds and thousands of times. Counting the early research and development, it took three years to finally find a suitable spring steel formula.

This kind of spring steel can be used normally for [-] times. Within [-] times, the success rate of firing reaches [-]%. After [-] times, the success rate will decrease, but it is still more than [-]%.By adjusting the hammer angle, the firing success rate can be increased to [-]% again, but after being used more than [-] times, the success rate will drop sharply, affecting combat operations.

After more than two years of improved design, the gunsmiths designed a hammer that is adjustable and can be easily disassembled. After the hammer spring ages, it can be replaced with a new hammer within twenty seconds.

This completely solved the problem of the success rate of firing the flintlock gun.

Chen Xun named the new flintlock gun the Guangzhou-made Type [-] because it was manufactured in Guangzhou.

In order to take advantage of the abundant water power around Guangzhou, Chen Xun moved all the "heavy" industries in Chenjiazhuang and built various hydraulic factories more than two miles long along the river, which caused the military government's industrial productivity to explode by more than ten times.

The factory near the river can not only provide water power for the factory, but also facilitate the import of raw materials and the export of products, and the production efficiency in all aspects has been greatly improved.

Up to now, the production capacity of Guangzhou Zaoyiyi has been increased to 200 pieces per month, and the output has also accumulated to more than [-] pieces.

The infantrymen on the school field are practicing shooting. At this stage, they are mainly familiar with the shooting process. It is not yet time to train the accuracy of shooting, so the amount of powder charged is only one-tenth of the normal amount. The sound of the gun is very small and the projectiles fly out. It will fall to the ground after twenty steps.

Because of the backward metal processing technology, although the breech-loading flintlock gun can be manufactured, the airtightness of the breech-loading gun cannot be guaranteed.For breech-loading guns manufactured with the current technology, the gas generated when the gunpowder explodes will erupt from the rear of the breech-loading gun and burn the user. It is useless to reduce the amount of propellant, and the air tightness is too poor.

Therefore, the Type I made in Guangzhou is a front-loaded smoothbore flintlock gun with a muzzle diameter of half an inch (15 mm) and a normal combat charge of one penny (148g).

The infantry first stood the flintlock gun upright, then poured gunpowder, gaskets (to prevent the friction between the projectile and the barrel from causing sparks to directly ignite the propellant) and projectiles into the barrel from the muzzle, and then pounded the gun with the ejector rod. tight.

Then pour a small amount of gunpowder for ignition into the gunpowder pool at the end of the flintlock barrel, and move the hammer backwards (charge).

Finally, he held the flintlock gun flat, put the tail on his shoulder, aimed at the target ten steps ahead, and pulled the trigger.

Driven by the spring, the hammer strikes the flint on the uneven fire sickle cover, emitting sparks to ignite the gunpowder (priming powder) in the gunpowder pool, which then ignites the gunpowder (propellant) in the barrel, and launches the projectile.

Next, erect the barrel again, clean the chamber with the brush at the end of the push rod, and extinguish the remaining fire that may exist in the chamber by the way, so that when the propellant is poured in again, the residual sparks will directly destroy the propellant. ignite.

Once the entire process is completed, one shot will be completed.

Because of the fixed gunpowder design (paper package of fixed propellant), once you become proficient, the time for a single shooting process can be reduced to four breaths (24 seconds), and the fastest can be close to three breaths (three shots per minute).

Chen Xun counted in his mind and found that most of the entire infantry shooting process on the school field took more than five breaths, and he still had to practice.

However, judging from their proficiency in operation, they are completely ready for the battlefield.This is the main reason why flintlock guns will eliminate crossbows.

The time to train a fusilier is too short. These recruits have only been trained for less than half a month and are already ready to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy.A qualified archer usually takes years to train, and even a crossbowman does not train as quickly as a fusilier.

With the power of the Guangzhou-made Type 150 combat charge, it can kill unarmored targets within one hundred steps ([-] meters), light armored targets within seventy steps, and heavy armored targets cannot be taken within thirty steps.

If a projectile with a diameter of half an inch enters the abdomen of a human body and rolls around inside, the chance of survival is very slim.

From then on, Chen Jiajun will officially enter the era of lining up to be shot.

It will be at least one generation more advanced than the weapons of all forces in this era.

Weapons with a generation gap will inevitably lead to crushing, and the effectiveness of the enemy's human sea tactics will be minimized.
"Captain, you are here." Chen Yu, who accidentally turned around, saw Chen Xun and Lu Hui standing at the gate of the school ground, and immediately came over to greet them: "Good command!".

After the mass production of flintlock muskets, Chen Xun transferred Chen Yu from the navy and became the commander of the Chen family's first flintlock musket army.

There are three reasons for choosing Chen Yu.

First, he is young and has graduated from school. He belongs to the new youth and new soldiers of the new era, and his training potential is very high.

Second, he is courageous. Chen Xun remembered him last time after Chen Jiajun took the lead in driving away Zheng Jian.

Third, he was originally a member of the sea guard, but now he is an infantryman. He can study the tactics of flintlock warfare from both water and land warfare. In the future, he can teach them to the infantry and navy at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

For this reason, Chen Xun promoted him to deputy capital head.

"How was the training?" Chen Xun asked.

"The progress is a bit slow, mainly because most of these soldiers are newly recruited. Not only are they illiterate, but their discipline is also very poor, which greatly affects the training speed." Chen Yu replied.

In the past few months, the Chen family's army has expanded greatly. Basically all the guards they trained previously have been promoted to officers, and all the lower-level soldiers have been flooded with new recruits.

"You see, those ten generals and officers trained at the same time as them, and now the time for a design process has been shortened to nearly three breaths, which is more than one breath faster than the new recruits."

One breath is the time it takes to exhale and inhale. On the battlefield, at a distance of a hundred steps from the enemy, the enemy is charging towards your own army. Three breaths and one shot can fire two more bullets than five breaths and one shot.

There is indeed a big gap.

"Practice hard, don't worry." Chen Xun comforted. These recruits were all illiterate farmers digging in the soil before. It is very reasonable for them to suddenly enter the life of the military camp, and the gap between them and the guards they have been used to for five or six years is very reasonable.

"I'm just worried that Song Ting will send people to encircle and suppress us." Chen Yu suggested worriedly: "With such a good weapon, you should gather some old guards and train at least one battalion of elite fusiliers. We have the strength to fight against tens of thousands of officers and soldiers."

It made sense, but Chen Xun knew that Song Ting really didn't care about this little corner of Guangzhou now.

"Relax, Song Ting thought we were waiting for reinforcements, and they won't send people to encircle and suppress us. We need to train well. If they don't come, we will." Chen Xun patted Chen Yu's shoulder with great strength. Chen Yu immediately started rubbing his shoulders.

"Then I'll just wait. When the time comes, let me be the pioneer and ensure that everything goes smoothly." Young people are full of vigor, and the new youth who have entered school since childhood are even different.

Chen Xun believes that even if he is gone now, these new young people can still complete a revolution and establish a new and more advanced political power.

(End of this chapter)