Chapter 295 Smokeless Gunpowder is the Future (3rd update, please subscribe)
When the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Regiment began to take leave in batches, at the regimental headquarters of the Sixth Regiment, the soldiers were carrying boxes of weapons from several horse-drawn carriages.
"This is the Type 70 rifle, it's really good."
In front of the regiment's tent, the regiment leader Yang Deguang praised the newly opened wooden box and said,
"The Type 62 rifle we used before has strong firepower and a fast firing rate, but the lever-action rifle has a long-standing problem of insufficient power. It's okay to bully muzzle-loaders, but many European countries have already started using bolt-action rifles. I didn't expect us to change to new rifles so quickly."
In fact, the Type 62 Spencer rifle has always had the problem of insufficient power. Even though the .56.45 caliber had blinded everyone with its excellent performance in 1862, 2 grams of propellant was still too little for a rifle. The range was short and the power was small. Especially with the development of the times, its problem of insufficient power became more and more obvious.
Therefore, as early as 1866, the Ministry of Security asked the arsenal to develop a new rifle. The original bolt-action rifle was copied and improved based on the French Chapers rifle, replacing the paper shell with an 11mm metal shell. However, after a long period of improvement and trial, it was not recognized by the troops.
Although it is powerful and has a long range, its speed is slow. For the security forces who are used to the high-speed firing of lever rifles, they certainly dislike the single-shot bolt-action rifle. But in the end, the military still purchased a batch of 9mm caliber Type 67 rifles to equip snipers to make up for the lack of long-range weapons.
After waiting for several years, when 1870 was finally approaching, the army welcomed the weapon they had been waiting for for a long time - the Type 70 rifle.
“Wow…”
The moment his index finger came onto the stage, the curved bolt handle was lifted up and then easily pulled to the rear. The movement was so smooth that it was beyond Yang Deguang's expectation. Then he ejected the magazine and said.
"This is the ten-round magazine."
"Yes, Commander. The instructions say that you can use a 5-round clip and press it twice to fully load it. When the troops tested it, the rate of fire exceeded 20 rounds. Someone even used it to fire ten rounds in 10 seconds. The rate of fire is definitely not worse than that of the Type 62 rifle."
Ding Guohua, the chief of the ordnance department, picked up a Type 70 rifle and said.
"The secret of its excellent shooting speed lies in its unique bolt design. The 70 rifle uses a rotating rear-pull bolt, which is locked at the rear end. There are two locking protrusions at the rear that cooperate with the locking surface inside the receiver wall. The bolt head and shell hook are independent of the bolt body and do not rotate with the bolt body. The rear-end locking can shorten the bolt travel..."
Ding Guohua picked up a rifle, asked someone to open the ammunition box, took out a bag of bullets and said.
"Its bullets are packed in paper bags like this, three rows of 15 rounds in a bag, and the clip is inserted into the slot when loading."
After easily pulling the bolt, Ding Guohua loaded one clip of bullets, and then another.
"What kind of bullet does it use?"
"Like the Type 67 sniper rifle, it uses a 9*60mm bullet with an initial velocity of 520 meters, an effective range of 1,000 meters, and a sight range of 2,000 meters. It is very powerful."
No one has ever doubted the power of the 9mm rifle bullet since it was put into service. In the rain forests of Africa, it has always been the favorite of hunters, and one shot is enough to knock down an elephant. Of course, because of its high accuracy and long range, it is also loved by snipers.
"Wow, this thing has both the firing rate and the range. It's almost perfect!"
Picking up the rifle, he aimed at the distance and shot several people in succession. Yang Deguang couldn't help but exclaimed in admiration.
"Perfect, absolutely the most perfect weapon! With this thing, no one can be our opponent..."
Is the Type 70 rifle really perfect?
Perhaps for many soldiers who have come into contact with it, the Type 70 rifle is absolutely perfect, achieving a balance between rate of fire and power, as well as sturdiness and performance.
But for Zhu Xianhai, the Type 70 rifle is not perfect.
After the long simulation seven years ago, some new weapons appeared in the system mall. The Type 80 rifle is the most advanced military rifle among them. In fact, it is a weapon designed based on the Lee M1879. It is a new rifle that South China replaced during the war in the simulator. It is used to replace the Mauser 71 rifle previously equipped by the army.
Although the Type 80 rifle seemed quite advanced, Zhu Xianhai believed it still had many flaws. Despite this, he still bought it and handed it over to the arsenal for research. In fact, the Type 67 sniper rifle also borrowed some of its technologies.
From 1866 to now, the arsenal has launched six improved models, but the military is not satisfied with any of them. The improvements in reality also affect the products of the system mall. At the beginning of the year, a Type 79 rifle appeared in the system mall. Its bolt structure is similar to the Lee Enfield NO.4 rifle and has a 10-round magazine.
After the arsenal successfully copied the sample gun provided by Zhu Xianhai, this new rifle was immediately praised by the military and the order was naturally placed.
While the military began to purchase this type of rifle on a large scale, Zhu Xianhai, the initiator, was still somewhat dissatisfied with it. After learning that the military had placed an order for 100,000 rifles at once, he immediately called Sun Mingyue. As the director of the Ordnance Department, he directly presided over the replacement of the troops.
"bullet!"
Taking out a Type 67 9mm rifle bullet, Zhu Xianhai said directly.
"This rifle will probably be in service in the military for at least thirty years, but what about this bullet? It's extremely outdated, with black powder, a rim, and a relatively large caliber..."
When Zhu Xianhai listed its shortcomings, Sun Mingyue was dumbfounded. He even felt that the Marshal's requirements were too high.
"Marshal, our Type 67 bullet has the smallest caliber in the world, and it is also the best."
In fact, the army is extremely satisfied with this 9mm bullet with a copper jacket. It is powerful enough, has a long range and high accuracy. In security operations in Shanxi Province, a sniper once hit a target at 1,200 meters away. It is precisely because of its outstanding performance that it was selected by the army as the standard ammunition for the new rifle.
The 9mm caliber rifle bullet is definitely the smallest in this era, but in Zhu Xianhai's opinion this is not enough.
"That's for now. Reducing the caliber is beneficial to increasing initial velocity, accuracy, and the amount of ammunition that a bullet can carry. This has been proven through experiments. 9mm is the current standard. As for the future..."
After thinking about it, Zhu Xianhai said.
"The rifle should have a caliber between 6 and 8 mm and it should use new gunpowder, such as ..."
It seems that smokeless gunpowder has not been invented yet, but is smokeless gunpowder complicated?
(End of this chapter)
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