The unparalleled talent of the country started from Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 60: A gun that is too perfect is not a good thing
Inside the shooting range of the state-owned Qinghua Tool Factory, a group of people were discussing over twenty test firearms. Some were full of praise, some were finding fault with them, and some had gloomy faces and remained silent.

After Wang Duoyu and Lin Dehong arrived here, they were confused by the situation in front of them. Are they here to inspect the work or to cause trouble?

Ge Jianshe stood behind Hao Guoliang, looking at the beaming Wang Duoyu with complicated eyes. He used to dare to pick on the latter, but now he no longer had the qualifications.

Even when Hao Guoliang saw Wang Duoyu, he greeted him respectfully instead of being arrogant, and he didn't dare to act bossy like he did last time.

After the pleasantries, Wang Duoyu followed Lin Dehong and came to the front of the group of people. One of the leaders, who was wearing a military uniform but without any identification, shook hands with Wang Duoyu with a gentle smile and praised the latter for his youth and promising potential.

At the same time, the leader also introduced several other experts to Wang Duoyu. Those experts were from Shancheng Construction Plant, State-owned Factory No. 338, State-owned Factory No. 296, Beijing Precision Machinery Engineering Research Institute, the Metrology and Calibration Institute of the Third Ministry of Machine Building, and other units. Let's put it this way, the firearm designed and developed by Wang Duoyu has produced several national treasure-level experts.

As soon as the leader finished his introduction, Wang Jianguo, an eighth-level technical worker at Shancheng Construction Plant, said to Wang Duoyu without any hesitation:
"Comrade, although we are from the same family and may have the same ancestors, let's not discuss that now. Regarding the firearm you developed, I've seen the technical specifications for the chromium-molybdenum high-alloy steel used in the barrel, but I don't think you've considered the production costs and the lifespan of the firearm, have you?"

Although he was clearly an eighth-level technical worker, Wang Jianguo had worked at the Shancheng Construction Factory for 32 years. As early as June 1956, when the authorities passed the "Decision on Wage Reform" and classified the workers, he was classified as an eighth-level worker that year.

Although twenty-two years have passed, Wang Jianguo is still an eighth-level worker, but that is because he refused the proposal to become a technical management talent. Due to his academic qualifications and other reasons, he is unable to become a professional talent such as an engineer or professor, so he has always been an eighth-level worker.

"Haha, Comrade Wang, you may not have read it all. This firearm I designed is absolutely worth the cost as long as the manufacturer doesn't cut corners. The designed service life is 12000 rounds, but if the soldier takes good care of the firearm, then the service life of more than rounds will be no problem at all."

Wang Duoyu smiled cheerfully and said:

"You also know that the Type 63 automatic rifle was forced to withdraw from production, but I don't know if you've ever reviewed this experience. If you have, then you should know that spending a small amount of money to produce a firearm riddled with flaws is more cost-effective than spending a relatively large amount of money to produce a firearm with a lifespan of over 20,000 rounds. What do you think?"

"Another point is that this assault rifle is also very accurate. Whether it's a single shot or continuous high-speed firing, it far exceeds the Type 63 automatic rifle. Furthermore, the recoil is very small, which can completely reduce the burden on soldiers. This is a very critical magic weapon for victory on the battlefield."

After being criticized by Wang Duoyu, Wang Jianguo was speechless, because he could not find any loopholes in the former, and he himself actually recognized the technology of this firearm, but the cost was indeed a bit expensive compared to the Type 63 automatic rifle.

Wang Jianguo, who was used to saving, especially since he had experienced the three years before liberation and the natural disasters, had the word "saving" engraved in his bones.

But at this moment, Ye Zhongmin, an optical expert from the state-owned 338 Factory, suddenly spoke up:

"Comrade Wang, although what you said are all advantages, isn't the scope you applied to develop a bit too extravagant? The tritium tube is fine, but you also require multi-layer optical coating and the use of aluminum alloy. And you proposed quartz glass lenses. Do you know how high the cost of such lens materials will be?" The state-owned 338 Factory had previously designed a special scope for the Type 63 automatic rifle, but only a few of this scope were produced, and then this scope was stored as reserve technology.

Ye Zhongmin is one of the main persons in charge of this scope, so he came here today to discuss technology with Wang Duoyu. Because the higher-ups cannot allocate too much funding to the army, the research and development of a firearm cannot just rely on new technology, but also has to consider the actual production costs.

The riflescope designed by Wang Duoyu uses the best technology and materials in all aspects, such as the multi-layer coating technology of the lens, which is divided into single-layer coating and multi-layer coating.

Multi-layer coating can better reduce the emissivity of optical fibers of different wavelengths on the lens, improve color reproduction, and present soft reflections of multiple colors at different positions and angles, while single-layer coating reflects a single color under sunlight.

In addition, quartz glass has extremely high impact resistance and low thermal expansion coefficient, which can effectively prevent interference from ultraviolet rays and refracted light, providing clear visual effects.

There is no doubt that lenses made of quartz glass and coated with anti-reflection films with different properties can achieve the best transmittance and color balance, which is a perfect scope for firearms users.

But because it is too perfect, Ye Zhongmin thinks it is too expensive and not worth it.

"Um, hello, Director Ye. If I remember correctly, Staff Officer Lin told me at the beginning that this scope would most likely not be approved, so I didn't think too much about it and directly took out this high-power scope used by snipers. The materials and technology used are of course the best."

After a pause, Wang Duoyu continued:

"Besides, the Type 63 automatic rifle's special scope isn't in production, and neither are the scopes for the Type 56 rifle family. So, my high-power scope likely won't be produced either. I asked Staff Officer Lin at the time if he could request 20 micrograms of tritium so I could make tritium tubes. But I didn't expect Staff Officer Lin to not keep his promise."

"Um, boss, you won't blame me for speaking my mind, right? I'm sorry, I spoke too hastily and caused you trouble."

Lin Dehong's face was filled with embarrassment when he heard this. He had known Wang Duoyu for a long time. He had made Ge Jianshe speechless several times at this shooting range before, so he could only smile bitterly and shake his head.

But Ye Zhongmin spoke again, "But Comrade Wang, are all the technologies you mentioned feasible? For example, do you have a way to solve the technical problems related to quartz glass lenses?"

(End of this chapter)