From Robinson Crusoe

Design ideas, technology and materials, the three most basic conditions are in place, and the rest is just practice.

The sound of clanging and hammering could be heard from the forge all day long.

In the hot dry season, prolonged contact with flames and red-hot metal is not a good thing.

Every day when Chen Zhou left the forging room, his shirt was soaked with sweat as if it had been washed with water.

But his efforts and sweat were not in vain.

……

On June 1662, 6, a brand new assembled gun was placed on the long table in the forge room, reflecting the flames of the fire.

If we say that Chen Zhou initially designed this firearm based on the Hall-type breech-loading rifle as a sample,

After the production was completed, the gun was modified too much and had too many structures, so it could no longer be called a Hall-type breech-loader.

It can be said that it is an enhanced version of the Hall-type breech-loading rifle, or it can be called a beggar's version of the Mauser rifle.

Due to technical limitations, although this gun has spiral rifling, it does not use metal-cased fixed bullets, does not use smokeless gunpowder, the bullet is not jacketed, and there is no magazine that can hold more fixed bullets, so it cannot be called a complete Mauser rifle.

Of course, in many aspects of performance, this gun can still be compared with the Mauser rifle.

For example, the caliber is greatly reduced compared to the Hall-type breech-loading rifle.

As far as Chen Zhou knows, the caliber of the Hall-type breech-loading rifle is about 14mm. This huge caliber is also one of the reasons why it has low accuracy and short range.

However, due to the limitations of gun barrels produced by modern military industry, the bullet caliber of Chen Zhou's gun can only be around 7.62mm.

However, because there are ridges and valleys inside the rifling, that is, the positive and negative lines, the diameter of the bullet head is generally slightly larger than the caliber of the barrel.

Therefore, the warheads of modern standard bullets are usually made of copper or copper-clad.

Copper is relatively soft and is not likely to damage the rifling when it passes through the barrel after being fired.

The lead bullets that Chen Zhou was going to use had a hardness of only 1 to 1.5, which was much softer than copper, and would cause minimal damage to the rifling.

Especially in gun barrels manufactured using modern high-strength smelting technology, even if fired tens of thousands of times, it is likely that no obvious damage will be caused to the rifling.

Although lead bullets are soft, they have several serious defects compared to copper bullets.

Such as poor ballistic stability, easy deformation, low long-range accuracy, weak penetration ability, and almost inability to cause high damage to bulletproof vests or obstacles.

Moreover, lead bullets are toxic, difficult to degrade, and not environmentally friendly. This is one of the many reasons why lead bullets have been almost completely replaced by copper-jacketed bullets in modern times.

……

This inferior version of the Mauser, which was far superior to the improved flintlock rifle, was named Chen's 1662 rifle by Chen Zhou.

It not only has high accuracy, long range and fast rate of fire, but also has almost none of the shortcomings of the original Hall-type breech-loading rifle.

In addition, its transformation potential is also great.

If there is enough copper and if one reads through the simple method of manufacturing blasting equipment and can make a breakthrough in the technology of manufacturing bullet primers, then this gun can be converted into a Mauser rifle, eliminating the backward flintlock firing method and using the more advanced pin-fire method.

Coupled with a magazine that can hold multiple rounds of fixed ammunition, this gun can completely reach or even surpass the earliest bolt-action rifle invented by the German Mauser in 1866.

……

After many days of dedicated research, Chen Zhou put a lot of effort into making the entire gun, which was forged entirely by hand from start to finish.

He optimized almost every detail of the gun that could be improved.

For example, mechanical sights.

The mechanical sight of this gun is a detachable component on the barrel. The rear sight is the common groove shape, while the front sight is columnar.

They can be fine-tuned by tightening the bolts to make corrections for windage and trajectory.

The wooden buttstock of the gun is ergonomically designed.

Chen Zhou carved and polished the buttstock himself, and made almost perfect adjustments according to his body shape and gun-holding posture. It can be said that this gun was completely custom-made for him.

Finally, Chen Zhou also forged a detachable bayonet specifically for this gun, for close combat.

This is probably the most useless thing on the entire gun.

……

At this point, the gun is ready.

Chen Zhou is very satisfied with the results of his work, but there is still an important problem at the moment -

He had a gun but no bullets.

Every day when he went in and out of the forging room and saw the gun polished to a shine hanging on the wall, Chen Zhou felt uncomfortable when he thought that it could only be used as a firewood stick in the house.

Therefore, after completing the production of the gun, he only rested for one day before starting his new job of casting lead Minié bullets.

……

The Minié bullet, whose full name is the conical bottom expansion bullet, was inspired by a blowpipe arrow used by the indigenous people of southern India.

It is different from the copper-headed jacketed bullet. The diameter of the conical bullet is slightly smaller than the diameter of the barrel. The front part is made of lead and there is a wooden plug at the tail.

When fired, the explosive in the small hole at the bottom of the bullet is ignited, causing the bullet to expand and stick close to the barrel, then rotate out at high speed under the pressure of the rifling, greatly improving the accuracy and lethality of the hit.

Therefore, firearms using Minié bullets had the ability of long-range sniping in the 19th century.

The soul of the Minié bullet design lies in the conical wooden plug at its bottom.

After firing the bullet, this wooden plug can block the bottom of the bolt hole, allowing the gas generated during firing to compress the bullet, thereby squeezing the bullet into the rifling and playing the role of the rifling.

In the 19th century, the rifle using the Minié projectile surpassed the artillery in tactical status in military conflicts due to its high rate of fire and effective range of nearly 500 yards.

Some military researchers even commented that the emergence of Minié bullets and rifles was a revolutionary breakthrough in the history of weapons technology development.

Of course, if we look back from the perspective of the 21st century, the Minié bomb still had many flaws.

For example, it can only be made of lead, otherwise the bullet will not expand easily and will not be able to completely block the barrel. If the bullet is too soft, it will deform immediately after hitting the target, resulting in a good stopping power but too weak penetration.

At the same time, since the Minié bullet needs to expand the bullet quickly to close the barrel, the propellant cannot use slow-burning gunpowder, which means that the bullet cannot be accelerated evenly for a long time in the barrel, causing the initial velocity of the bullet to drop seriously.

Chen Zhou is currently unable to solve these two problems.

Moreover, the enemies he faced were all unarmored units, especially the natives, who were all naked. Using armored bullets with stronger penetrating power to hit them might not be as lethal as Minié bullets.

Besides, compared with copper bullets, lead bullets are easier to manufacture and there is no need for gunpowder. From any perspective, Minié bullets are the best choice at the moment.

……

Chen Zhou plans to use the lost wax method to mass produce Minié bullets.

He had a large supply of lead, and with just a little patience and enough gunpowder, he could make hundreds or even thousands of Minié bullets.

……

The lost wax method, an ancient precision casting process, has a wide range of applications even in modern precision manufacturing, and time has long proven its excellence.

Chen Zhou does not need to cast any very sophisticated or complex bronze ware or handicrafts, which lowers the threshold for this craft a lot.

He first cut off several candles, then hand-carved the candles into the size of a Minié bullet and dug out a charging port at the bottom.

After the wax model is made, just wrap it with a few layers of high-temperature resistant white mud or ceramic slurry and wait for it to solidify.

After solidification, the white mud will form a refractory hard shell.

At this time, heat this hard shell again to allow the wax liquid inside the shell to melt and flow out through the holes reserved in advance, thus forming a hollow cavity.

At this point, the entire lost wax process is more than halfway done. The next step is to put the lead plates cut into small pieces into a crucible, heat it in a forge until the lead melts into liquid lead, then pour the liquid lead into the hollow cavity through the pouring port, and after cooling, break the hard shell to obtain a rough Minié bullet.

……

Wax models were mass-produced, brushed with white clay, cooled and filled in batches. In just a few days, Chen Zhou, who had consumed several large pieces of lead plates, obtained rough molds of nearly a thousand Minié bullets.

After eliminating more than 200 lead rough molds that were completely unqualified due to major defects, there were still more than 700 rounds left.

These more than 700 "reserve" rounds cannot be completed by any shortcuts in the final process. One can only be patient and slowly refine and polish them with files and grindstones.

Moreover, these rough models of lead Minié bullets are only "half" Minié bullets. If you want to get the complete version, you have to fill them with gunpowder and install the wooden plug at the bottom.

……

For Chen Zhou, it is very boring to repeatedly use the lost wax method to cast Minié bullets in batches and then fine-tune and polish them one by one.

The key is that this boredom is unlikely to end in a short time——

Carving wooden corks will also be a hassle in the future.

But considering that every extra bullet may play a key role in future conflicts, Chen Zhou dared not slack off at all. He had to work patiently even if he didn't want to do it.

He did think about handing over the production of bullets to the two natives.

However, knowledge about firearms and gunpowder is different from knowledge about farming and animal husbandry after all.

Things that are incomprehensible can inspire awe. Once the mystery is uncovered, the two natives may realize that -

It turns out that the weapons of the gods are just like this, and they can also make and use them.

This was so disheartening that Chen Zhou didn't dare to guarantee that he could continue to control the natives with his personal charm alone, so he gave up the idea.

……

Days passed as he repeated his life of fine-tuning bullets like tightening screws, but the lookout tower in the northeast corner still could not find any signs of a large tribe landing on the island.

Just when Chen Zhou thought that the "tribal leader" who was said to be very resourceful had backed down.

On July 7, the accident happened.

……

At noon that day, Chen Zhou had been sharpening Minié bullets for the entire morning and his eyes were swollen from exhaustion. After a simple meal, he was about to return to his bedroom for a nap.

I had just laid down on the bed and hadn't closed my eyes when I heard a hurried knock on the door.

For safety reasons, Chen Zhou had already set rules for the two natives:

You can enter the cave if you want, but you are not allowed to break in without his consent, and you must knock on the door every time you enter the cave, and you must knock on the door no more than five times.

If there is no response after knocking on the door five times, the person must leave the door no matter what happened. Otherwise, it will be regarded as having the intention to harm and will be punished with a minimum of flogging and a maximum of death.

Of course, if the matter is really too urgent, you can also shout and report loudly outside the door.

……

This “knock on the door” rule is in the top five of all the knowledge that the natives learn.

Chen Zhou required that he must memorize it thoroughly and understand it completely by Saturday and Sunday, otherwise he would have to copy it a hundred times.

Having experienced the horror of the assignment and with respect for the "God", the two natives naturally tried their best. Not only did they memorize the rules, but they also always abided by them in their daily lives and did not dare to violate them.

Normally, when they came to knock on the door, they would always knock slowly and rhythmically. It was the first time Chen Zhou heard it knock so quickly.

"Could it be that some natives have landed on the island?"

Chen Zhou, who was lying sleepy on the bed, immediately perked up when he heard the life-threatening knock on the door.

He quickly jumped out of bed and walked out of the house in his slippers. After opening the door, he saw Sunday's childish face.

……

The two natives have their own schedule every day, and today happens to be Saturday, so they have to herd sheep and stand guard.

Logically speaking, if the natives landed on the island, they should come to report the situation on Saturday instead of Sunday.

"Why are you knocking on the door so urgently?"

Confused, Chen Zhou asked.

……

Sunday looked like he had just finished an intense workout. He was sweating and panting. He bent over and supported his knees with his hands. He took several deep breaths before he could speak incoherently.

“Someone…someone has landed on the island.

But they weren’t there on Saturday… they were by the river.”

As he spoke, he pointed in the direction of the camp at the foot of the mountain and added.

“I saw a very large canoe and a dozen people.

They destroyed the wall that Zhou Liu and I had built and set fire to the beach..."

After saying this, Zhou Ri carefully looked at Chen Zhou's face again, and seeing that his expression didn't change much, he continued in a low voice.

"I also saw someone walk into the camp at the foot of the mountain and go into the largest room.

They took away your fishing box and the fishing rods, and now they are celebrating at the foot of the mountain..."

……

"what?"

After hearing the previous words, Chen Zhou was still wondering why the natives would land on the island from the southwest, and was preparing to listen carefully to their specific information.

He never expected that this group of barbaric guys not only destroyed the fruits of his labor, but even began to take away his private collection.

The scene of the natives using their fishing rods as if they were golden hoop sticks, and then knocking the rods against each other and breaking them, seemed to appear before my eyes.

Chen Zhou felt his blood pressure soaring, and he wished he could immediately grab his new gun and load up on bullets to kill these daring barbarians.

But now that it has happened, it is too late to stop it.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Chen Zhou patiently inquired about the information about the indigenous people he observed on Sunday.

In fact, he didn't hold out much hope.

This is because people born on Sundays are more lively, usually careless, and often make small mistakes, which is completely different from the careful and cautious Saturday.

The situation is urgent now. Judging from his usual behavior, he would probably rush back to report the news without any observation after seeing the natives land on the island. The information he could obtain might not be much.

Unexpectedly, facing the major accident this time, Sunday behaved much more mature and careful than before.

He took out the telescope that he always carried with him, adjusted his breathing, straightened up, and told Chen Zhou in detail what he had observed and what had happened before and after.

There are several key information:

"This group of natives does not seem to be from the large tribe that landed on the island last time. Their canoes are obviously different from those made by the large tribe."

“It seems that these natives did not come to the island to hold a cannibalism ceremony, but they seemed to know that there was something on the shore.

After landing, only a few of the natives stayed to light a bonfire, while the rest of them scattered and walked into the woods near the shore, as if they were looking for something.

"In addition to the naked natives, there was another person who was wearing clothes like them. He didn't look like a native." (End of this chapter)