Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Xu Sen's words naturally had a sense of showing off.

Since the invention of primers and metal fixed bullets, the revolver, a previously impractical weapon, has developed rapidly.

The firearms workshop headed by Xu Sen has cooperated with the Neifujian Weaponry Group to manufacture a variety of revolver muskets.

The small one is only the size of a fist and serves as the secret equipment of the Jinyiwei.

The larger one is used as a combat pistol and is very popular in the military. It has become one of the most popular pistols.

Many cavalrymen replaced their hand cannons with revolver muskets. With just one musket, they could fire several bullets in a row.

Because of this, many cavalrymen proposed to make the revolver larger so that it could be used as a main weapon capable of continuous firing, replacing firearms such as the three-barreled gun.

Xu Sen has been busy with this recently. His goal is also to make the revolver musket useful for military purposes. This was also the reason why he had a falling out with Lu Xiang and left the Equipment Academy.

Now, seeing that his cavalry gun was about to produce results, he couldn't help showing it off. He hoped to get support from the gunpowder institute and have special ammunition suitable for them.

Zhang Tao of the Gunpowder Research Institute was not too impressed by this and said:

"Metal fixed ammunition is difficult to manufacture. The specifications are set by the Equipment Department, and only weapons that use these ammunition can be produced."

“现在确定的弹种有6X20边缘发火弹、9X30手铳弹，以及12X60普通弹、12X90强装弹。”

"The development of other ammunition is not in the plan of the Gunpowder Research Institute."

"The musket you developed can only use these bullets."

The types of ammunition formulated by the Equipment Academy were determined in accordance with Zhu Youjian's wishes.

He had a deep understanding of the power of the new musket and knew that it had a strong assassination ability. Of course, he had to control the spread of weapons, so he chose to control the bullets.

Fortunately, fulminate of mercury was first developed by the gunpowder research institute, and the outside world was completely unaware of it and it was kept strictly confidential.

Zhu Youjian established the Zhuolu Arsenal to produce primers and bullets, keeping secrets as much as possible.

At the same time, because there were still many problems in the production of bullets, he strictly controlled the types of bullets so that the types of bullets currently produced could mature as quickly as possible and be equipped on a large scale as soon as possible.

Among them, the 6X20 bullet was specially developed at his request. Its status is similar to the .22LR with the largest production in later generations. It is used for hunting and training, uses a rimfire primer, and has a very low cost.

The 9X30 is used for hand cannons, similar to the .38Special. It was originally a black powder bullet and is still one of the most common revolver bullets in later generations.

12X60 is used for valve guns, because the locking structure of the valve gun is not strong enough, it can only be loaded with ammunition of this power.

The Type 12 electric-breathing rifle, which has a more secure locking mechanism, is also compatible with 90X bullets and can be used for long-range sniping.

Even some snipers and hunters proposed to manufacture 12X120 bullets for longer-range sniping and hunting of wild beasts such as tigers, dogs and bears, but this was not adopted as its manufacturing difficulty is now slightly higher.

The Gunpowder Research Institute is now focusing its main efforts on four types of finalized ammunition. The Zhuolu Arsenal is also constantly optimizing the production process to produce bullets as quickly as possible and reduce production costs.

Xu Sen was unaware of these details. He only knew that these bullets were not suitable for the cavalry gun he designed. He said to Zhang Tao and others:

"The 6X20 ammunition is too weak and can only be used to hunt rabbits or pheasants, replacing the Zhuge Crossbow for self-defense."

"The 9X30 is more powerful, but it is only enough for a hand cannon and may not kill someone on the battlefield."

"The 12mm bullet is too powerful and difficult to control when firing continuously. It is also too large, which limits the amount of ammunition that can be loaded into the revolver."

"Our researchers assembled this bullet with a universal primer. Engineer Zhang, please help us produce it."

As he spoke, he took out a bullet and explained it to Zhang Tao in detail.

Seeing this, Lu Xiang stopped him and said:
"Is your bullet classified as confidential?"

"And that cavalry gun, can it be sold to the public?"

Obviously, he was well aware of the confidentiality regulations and knew that he should not discuss these things in front of non-confidential personnel.

However, Xu Sen had a prejudice against him, thinking that he was going to stop him again, and sneered:
"I'm not like some people who hide everything."

"This cavalry gun has a civilian model, which is not confidential."

"If Engineer Lu is worried, should we ask all non-confidential personnel to leave?"

When these words were spoken, some people who were not highly qualified in confidential matters seemed a little unhappy.

They came to attend the technical exchange meeting as a courtesy, so why are they being kicked out now?

Seeing someone getting up to leave, Lu Xiang hurriedly said:

"As long as it's not confidential, let's discuss it together."

"But this firearm may be used by the military, so we still need to take the necessary precautions."

"Sir Bo, you will be the clerk. Write down what is said later, as well as the list of participants."

These are the rules for important meetings, formulated by the Jinyiwei Confidentiality Department and the daily record officials. After the implementation of the collective discussion system, they have been promoted in various government offices.

Most of the engineers present knew this rule and were not unhappy about it.

Even Xu Sen continued speaking only after Bo Jue was ready:

"The specification of my bullet is 10X40. If it has an official number, it should be DCS10X40T."

"D stands for cartridge, CS stands for cannonball, and T stands for rimmed."

"10mm is the bullet diameter, and 40mm is the cartridge case length."

"We have found through testing that to ensure that a person is killed, the bullet diameter must be at least 10 mm."

"With the energy of current black powder, a 40mm long cartridge case is needed to fire a 10mm bullet from a revolver musket a hundred meters away."

"So I asked the Gunpowder Institute for help to manufacture 10X40 rimmed bullets."

After talking and showing like this, many people who didn't know much about muskets also understood what Xu Sen wanted.

For those who often make tools of different sizes, they didn't think there was anything wrong with Xu Sen's request.

But Zhang Tao was very hesitant. After a long while, he looked at the bullet in Xu Sen's hand and said:

"The three bullet diameters of 6mm, 9mm, and 12mm were determined by the Equipment Department based on the Emperor's instructions."

"Each type of ammunition has a diameter difference of three millimeters, corresponding to different powers."

"You suddenly want to make 10mm bullets, but the Equipment Department has no such plan."

"If you want something more powerful, 9X40 or even 9X50 will do, but won't that kill people?"

Obviously, he did not want to change the specifications. The gunpowder research institute was currently only researching bullets of three diameters: 6mm, 9mm, and 12mm. He would rather add a 9mm bullet than switch to a 10mm one.

However, Xu Sen was unwilling and said:
"We have also made 9mm bullets, but they are not powerful enough and may not be able to kill people."

"Ten millimeters is the most appropriate, I think it is the best caliber."

"Can't you change the nine millimeters to ten millimeters and expand it a little bit?"

Zhang Tao shook his head and said to him, "The 9mm caliber is very suitable for hand cannons. The 30X hand cannon bullet was praised by the emperor, saying that it is very comfortable to use on hand cannons."

"If you change it to 10mm, the recoil will be too strong, and some people will not be able to control it and have difficulty shooting accurately."

"Besides, 10mm is only one millimeter larger than 9mm. We can't produce two bullets of similar calibers. Do we need to prepare separate production lines for bullets and barrels?"

Obviously, there is more accumulation of gunpowder in terms of ammunition, and it is believed that 9mm is the best caliber for hand cannons.

However, the cavalry gun designed by Xu Sen was required to be more powerful than the hand gun. He thought that ten millimeters would be more suitable. The two men were deadlocked here for a while.
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After listening for a while, Lu Xiang understood the differences between the two sides.

He looked at the two men arguing fiercely, and thought about the multi-fire musket he was designing, and said to Zhang Tao:

"Lü thinks a 10mm bullet should be made."

"Captain Zhang, have you ever thought about shrinking the diameter of the 12mm bullet used by the infantry to 10mm?"

Xu Sen didn't expect Lu Xiang to speak up for him and was a little surprised for a moment.

Zhang Tao frowned and said:
"I haven't really thought about this. Is a 10mm caliber enough?"

"Twelve millimeters used to be a light musket caliber, but now that it has rifling and uses metal bullets, it has the power comparable to a heavy musket."

"If the caliber continues to decrease, will its power be strong enough?"

"Don't forget that most of today's muskets are actually smoothbore guns."

"It's hard to kill someone with a 10mm bullet fired from a smoothbore gun barrel."

As he spoke, he also asked Xu Sen:
"You said before that 10 millimeters can kill people. Was that measured using a rifled barrel?"

"If we switch to a smoothbore barrel, twelve millimeters is the minimum."

"The three calibers of 6mm, 9mm, and 12mm set by the Armament Department were not set randomly. There are reasons for them."

"The shooting competition at next year's martial arts tournament will use these calibers of muskets."

Xu Sen was stumped for a moment because he had always used rifled gun barrels ever since he started making revolver muskets.

Now I realize that many muskets in the army are still smoothbore. No wonder the caliber of the main musket is determined to be 12 mm.

He said to Zhang Tao:

"The barrel of a hand cannon is short, so it's easier to rifle."

"The barrel of a cavalry musket is slightly longer than a hand musket, but still not as long as a rifle musket."

"Besides, cavalry is precious. Even if the cost is higher, we can afford it."

"The hand cannons and cavalry cannons we designed all use rifled barrels."

Zhang Tao confirmed his thoughts and looked at Lu Xiang and said:

"Why does Lord Lu think that the bullets used in rifles will have to be reduced to 10mm in diameter in the future?"

"Does your lordship think that the army will only use rifled guns in the future?"

Lu Xiang nodded and said to him:

"As long as the cost of rifled gun barrels is acceptable, the military will obviously be equipped with rifled muskets."

"The power and accuracy of smoothbore guns are too poor, far from being comparable to rifled guns."

"It has no advantages other than being able to penetrate armor with its arrow-shaped bullets."

"Although its manufacturing cost is low, the cost of arrow-shaped bullets is very high, unlike the lead bullets used in rifled guns, which are very cheap."

"In the future, rifled guns will definitely dominate the world. Smoothbore guns can only be used as special weapons."

Zhang Tao shook his head and smiled, revealing a piece of news to him:
"Not always."

"We are already using plastic to make the sabot, and if we can succeed, the cost of the flechette will come down."

"Smoothbore guns have the advantage of low cost, and they may not necessarily be replaced by rifled guns."

"As long as smoothbore guns are the main equipment, rifled guns will also use a 12mm caliber for ease of production."

Apparently, he was somewhat proud of this, and thought that making an arrow-shaped bullet with a plastic butt would be a great achievement of his.

Due to the easy processing properties of plastic, the shape of the bullet trays produced can be very uniform, which will solve a problem with the low-cost arrow-shaped bullets currently used - some ammunition will fly around after leaving the barrel.

If he can solve this difficulty and reduce the production cost of collodion plastic, he may be able to receive seniority awards or even be promoted to a higher rank.

Lu Xiang also smiled and said to Zhang Tao:
"I'll also tell you something. The main reason why the development of the breech-loading rapid-fire musket and the rotary-barreled thunderbolt musket was not going smoothly was due to the problem of ammunition."

"I thought of many ways, and finally decided to use rimless bullets, which are convenient for continuous feeding and can hold more bullets."

"Mr. Xu just said that ten millimeters is enough to ensure that someone is killed. So I plan to use ten millimeter rimless bullets for the rapid-fire muskets. This way, the bullets can be thinner and can hold more bullets."

"The design of this musket was personally determined by the Emperor. It is the most important task of the Equipment Research Institute. You can't be too bothered by not equipping it with special ammunition."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang Tao, Xu Sen and others changed their expressions and understood why Lu Xiang had emphasized confidentiality just now.

This is news about the development of the most advanced firearms. Few people in the court know about it, and it should not be revealed until it succeeds.

Some of the engineers nearby regretted hearing this. If this news leaked out, they would not be able to escape responsibility.

Of course, there are also people who don’t care about this, but are curious about the automatic musket mentioned by Lu Xiang.

They vaguely heard that Lu Xiang was developing a new firearm, and if successful he would be awarded the title of earl.

Xu Sen had also heard of this rumor. He left the Equipment Academy just because he wanted to compete with Lu Xiang in the field of rapid-fire muskets.

Now that it was confirmed that Lu Xiang's automatic musket was stuck on ammunition, which was the same problem as his own revolver cavalry musket, he felt a greater sense of urgency and felt that the revolver cavalry musket should be finalized as soon as possible and made into military equipment.

Only in this way could he manufacture revolver muskets with longer barrels in the future, get ahead of Lu Xiang, become the first person to manufacture a repeating musket, and obtain the title of earl.

Having made up his mind secretly, Xu Sen did not care why Lu Xiang chose to speak here to help him win the opportunity to manufacture new types of ammunition. He said to Zhang Tao:
"Captain Zhang, you've heard it too. Now we have two types of muskets that require 10mm ammunition."

"Can't you apply for an additional 10mm bullet?"

Zhang Tao looked at him, then at Lü Xiang. He didn't think much of Xu Sen, knowing that this person who had already left the Equipment Institute would have little influence on him. But as the head of the Equipment Institute, Lü Xiang must be respected.

Finally, he could only sigh and say:

"Okay, I'll apply to the higher-ups."

"But don't get your hopes up. Adding a 10mm caliber requires a lot of additional equipment."

"I think nine millimeters is good enough. As long as it's loaded with enough gunpowder, it can still kill people."

Lu Xiang and Xu Sen both smiled and said nothing when they heard this. In their opinion, 9mm was too small and it was not as good as 10mm to ensure the killing.

In order to kill the enemy on the battlefield and make their contribution unquestionable, they naturally wanted bullets designed specifically for muskets and designed the repeating muskets to perfection. (End of this chapter)