Chapter 673 Smoothbore Cannon
In the end, Joseph agreed with the US military on a unit price of $160.
Joseph gave the U.S. military a discount, and the original unit price, which was twice the price, should have been $170.
But Johnson said that the U.S. military's long-term large-scale purchases can share the research and development costs of the Garand rifle, and military factories should make appropriate concessions.
Joseph thought this seemed to make sense, so he reluctantly signed the contract for the first batch of 100,000 rifles.
"This is at least tens of millions of dollars in profit," Deyoka said excitedly. "One rifle can make more than a hundred dollars, and this does not include the cost of bullets and subsequent maintenance and replacement parts."
Tens of millions of dollars is not a small sum in this era. This money is enough to build 10 new destroyers with a displacement of 2,000 tons.
But Charles felt that this was not enough, far from enough.
He closed the file, turned to Deyoka and said, "Now, we can sell the submachine guns at half price."
"What?" Djoka looked at Charles in astonishment: "Submachine gun?"
After a moment's hesitation, Deyoka added: "This will plunge the United States into another storm, Charles. This is probably a piece of equipment more suitable for gangsters than a rifle."
Gangs usually hide in cities and the fights that occur are almost always street fights.
In street fighting, the submachine gun is undoubtedly the king, and the Garand rifle in the hands of the US military is more suitable for long-range combat in open terrain.
Ciel replied calmly: "That's not something we need to consider, father. We are businessmen."
Dejoka nodded, with a hint of helplessness in his eyes: “Okay, I’ll inform Joseph right away.”
Charles watched Djokovic leave.
He could see the hesitation in Djokovic's heart.
When it comes to the gang, the soft-hearted Djokovic thinks Charles should stop at the right time and just sell the rifles to ensure that the military factory can gain a foothold in New York.
Now they are selling submachine guns to the public at low prices...
Although it is for business, as a "conscientious capitalist", one should consider the harm that gangsters will cause to civilians and society after they own submachine guns, even though that is the United States.
Charles didn't think about that.
He wants to control the US arms market before the US military industry develops.
This is not just a matter of money, but also a struggle for power and voice.
Faced with an industrial country like the United States, Charles believed that he had no room for "softness" and he could only use the gangs to compete for the military industry market as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, American capitalists may be able to overtake others by relying on their strong industrial capabilities.
…
The tank gun laboratory is bustling with activity.
Deyoka built it next to the artillery factory to facilitate communication between researchers and technicians in the artillery factory.
The initial planned land area is more than 3,000 square meters, which is enough to build a tank gun production line.
This proved to be necessary, as the researchers in the laboratory built almost a complete set of equipment for producing artillery here, except for the gun barrel.
However, Stokes recently discovered that they would probably have to produce the barrels themselves.
The reason is that shortening the breech block reduced the weight and moved the center of gravity forward, which made the original barrel length no longer meet the requirements of the tank gun.
Stokes discussed the issue intensely with several researchers.
They are roughly divided into two factions, one is to use the original gun barrel, and the other is to produce the gun barrel by themselves and shorten it.
"Reusing the original barrel will save time and money. All we have to do is add a counterweight to the breech block."
"Are you crazy? Every bit of space and weight in the tank is valuable, and they're trying to reduce weight, and you're adding ballast, which is pointless weight."
"But producing gun barrels is difficult and takes a long time, and we are at war now!"
…
Stokes remained silent.
Both sides seem to have their reasons, the former is more in line with immediate interests, while the latter considers the long-term.
It would be great if Charles was here, he is the one who can make the decision.
Just then, Stokes was surprised to see Charles, dressed in general's uniforms, coming in through the gate with Djokovic.
He hurriedly went forward with a group of researchers to greet them.
"Mr. Dejoka, General." Stokes shook hands with the two men enthusiastically: "Welcome!"
The researchers also stepped forward to shake hands with the two men. Their eyes were full of admiration as they shook hands with Ciel:
"It's nice to meet you, General."
"We've all heard of you, General, and it's an honor to serve you!"
"Compared to your command, we hardly dare to discuss the war!"
The researchers laughed and looked slightly embarrassed.
They were referring to the poor performance of the British Expeditionary Force. As British people, every time they discussed and compared the performance of the British and French armies, they "hated their lack of competition and lamented their misfortune."
Charles answered with a friendly smile on his face:
"That's because they didn't make good use of you."
"I heard they were planning to draft you into the army?"
"It's unbelievable! You are top talents. The role you can play is at least worth several infantry divisions, but they just want to give you a rifle and rush you to the battlefield!"
Charles praised them implicitly, because he knew that talented people often value self-worth more than salary.
As expected, the researchers looked at Ciel with a strange look in their eyes:
God, this is how Charles sees us?
Our decision was right, he values us very much and we can work for him with confidence.
This is a recognition, an affirmation, and a trust. Nothing is more important than these!
"Are you having any trouble?" asked Charles, who had just seen the men arguing.
"It's like this." Stokes took Charles to his desk and said to the blueprint, "We are considering whether it is necessary to produce the gun barrels ourselves. The original gun barrels no longer meet the requirements of the new tank guns..."
"Of course it is necessary." Charles said firmly: "I will provide all the funds, and you can get all the technology you need from the artillery factory."
The artillery factory is the production line for British 6-inch (152MM) caliber artillery, and the barrel technology is similar to that of 75mm artillery.
Stokes was a little surprised. He didn't expect Charles to make a decision so quickly without any hesitation.
"You may not know this, General, but this could double the R&D dollars," Stokes said. "There's still time, because it's difficult to produce a barrel, especially one with 28 right-hand grooves in the bore."
(Note: The French 75 gun is a rifled gun with a 2.69-meter-long 36-caliber barrel and 28 right-hand rifling grooves in the barrel)
"I know." Charles replied, "But we can simplify the production appropriately, such as removing the rifling and turning it into a smoothbore gun."
Stokes and a group of researchers looked at each other, and then expressed their opposition:
"I would not advise that, General. Rifled guns are more accurate than smoothbore guns."
“Not only that, but a rifled gun has a longer range because it makes the shell spin, which makes it more stable.”
"We would rather add counterweight than change it to a smoothbore gun, which would have a great impact on combat effectiveness."
…
(End of this chapter)
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