Chapter 296 The Night Before Peace (First Update, Please Subscribe)
Smokeless powder is an extremely simple technology!
What is the simplest smokeless powder?
It's "celluloid"!
That is collodion. This material, which should have been invented in 1869, was "invented" by the Shin Kong Film Company as early as 1864. In fact, this material is not complicated. It is made into a very flexible, hard and non-brittle material by adding camphor to nitrocellulose.
In the past five years, "celluloid" has been used not only in the film industry, but also in other industries. Huafu Chemical uses celluloid to produce plastic products such as fake ivory and billiard balls. Later, celluloid was used to make boxes, buttons, rulers, table tennis balls and glasses frames.
As for propellant... in another world, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the base areas behind enemy lines used a large amount of movie film to make propellant, and the movie film at that time was made of celluloid!
Since the base behind enemy lines can use celluloid film as gun propellant, Nanhua can also use "celluloid" to make propellant! This plan is at least very feasible!
After this idea came to his mind, Zhu Xianhai took out a pencil and drew the shape of a bullet on paper.
"Let the arsenal try out a new type of bullet. It should have a pointed tip and no rim. The caliber should be around 7mm for now. As for the cartridge case length, 50mm will be enough. For the propellant, use celluloid particles..."
Standing on the shoulders of giants, Zhu Xianhai did not mind giving direct reminders. He even skipped the round-head bullets and used pointed bullets instead. In fact, the reason why the 9mm rifle bullet has excellent performance is because it uses a semi-pointed bullet.
"Celluloid particles? Can it replace gunpowder? And with such a small caliber, will it be powerful enough?"
In response to Sun Mingyue’s questioning, Zhu Xianhai said.
"We'll know whether it's possible or not after testing. Okay, let's contact the arsenal and temporarily stop the purchase of Type 70 rifles while we wait for the new ammunition. Hmm..."
After thinking for a while, Zhu Xianhai said.
"If there are temporary problems with the propellant, we can first produce a batch of black powder bullets, but the caliber of the bullets must be reduced."
As the director of the Ordnance Department, Sun Mingyue was not only a Chinese worker from a gold mine, but also one of the first batch of firearms engineers trained by Nanhua. This was also the reason why he became the director of the Ordnance Department. Although he could not understand the Marshal's request, he immediately summoned engineers as soon as he returned to the Ordnance Department.
"That's what the Marshal told me."
Sun Mingyue said directly.
"The Marshal's request must be met no matter what, so I don't want to hear your opinions, I just want to ask if you can do it!"
"There is no problem in doing it..."
Holding the frame of his glasses, Wang Shiwei looked at the sketch drawn by the Marshal. He had just returned from the United States last year. During his study in the United States, he had interned in many weapons factories including Winchester Company and was an expert in light weapons.
"It is not clear whether celluloid can be used as propellant. Even if it can be used as propellant, whether it can be stored for a long time is also a problem. These all require sufficient testing, but before that we can make a backup plan."
"Backup plan?"
Under the gaze of others, Wang Shiwei grinned awkwardly, his black-framed glasses reflecting the light above his head, his eyes shining brightly behind the lenses. He pushed his glasses up to his nose.
"It seems that the Marshal is concerned about the new type of ammunition. The issue of propellant can be put aside for the time being. Let's produce the new type of bullet first. Well, in fact, the rimless bullet designed by the Marshal is more suitable for the magazine of the Type 70 rifle. Rim bullets will have some feeding problems due to the rim. Removing the rim can overcome this problem. This design is definitely a stroke of genius."
This is not a compliment, but a statement of fact, Wang Shiwei then said.
"We can first design a bullet that meets the Marshal's basic requirements, with a caliber of about 7 mm and a pointed bullet. What if we use black powder as the propellant?"
"Use black powder? Is this your plan?"
Sun Mingyue asked,
“Will this plan work?”
"We'll know after we give it a try. A smaller caliber is no problem. As long as the initial velocity is high, the power will always be guaranteed. Besides, we can do something about the warhead."
At this point, Wang Shi couldn't help laughing, as if he was talking about something funny.
The so-called modification of the bullet head is actually something that has always been done in the military. For example, the bullet head of a 9mm rifle bullet is worn through the armor, so that when the bullet hits the target, it will deform and expand, and the power will definitely be doubled. We can definitely learn from this.
"I think that in this way, the new bullets can be manufactured in the shortest possible time, so that it will not affect the troops' replacement of equipment. After all, if the bullets are replaced, it only requires a simple adjustment of the factory's production tools."
"Um……"
After a moment of hesitation, Sun Mingyue said.
"The troops have a great need to change their uniforms now. I think we should follow your method first!"
No one knows what this simple decision means, but what is certain is that the security forces' equipment replacement was delayed for almost two months. Two months later, the 7.7mm Type 70 rifle was issued to the army. Out of caution and safety reasons, the new bullet used seemingly outdated black powder. In order to meet the initial velocity requirements, the arsenal stuffed a full 5.4 grams of black powder into the 50.8mm long cartridge case, which made its initial velocity reach an astonishing 760 meters per second.
The newly designed warhead takes into account the insufficient stopping power of smaller caliber bullets, so the chief designer Wang Shiwei ingeniously designed a structure with paper in front and lead in the back, which moves the center of gravity of the warhead to the back, and causes it to flip violently after hitting the target, thereby increasing its lethality.
Of course, this new black powder bullet would eventually be replaced by a new smokeless powder bullet, but thanks to Wang Shiwei's suggestion, the security team's equipment change was not delayed for long.
Almost at the same time when the security team began to change their uniforms, the Paraguayan War in the north also reached its most critical moment. Although the war hundreds of kilometers away seemed to have no impact on Nanhua, even the students in Nanhua School knew very well that the expansion of immigrants in Shandong area, that is, the Pampas, was entirely because Argentina's military power was involved in the Paraguayan War and unable to look east. Therefore, Nanhua seized this favorable opportunity and has been building railways and setting up immigrant farms in the past two years.
The expansion of South China on the prairie on the north bank of the North River also directly led to the extreme tension between South China and Argentina...
(End of this chapter)
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