Chapter 696 Test Gun (Please vote and subscribe)
This should be Chapter 696. I made a mistake a few days ago -_-||, and you didn't remind me.
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After getting the aiming equipment, the last thing is the firing tool.
A muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon has to go through at least ten steps from aiming to firing, and the process is quite complicated. This is still using a relatively advanced firing method, such as fixed charge technology. If it is still the method of using a small shovel to fill gunpowder into the barrel, it would probably be good to fire one shot in three minutes.
Luo Chong certainly does not allow his artillery to be so inefficient, so not only must the hardware of the artillery be fixed, but the software must also keep up.
The carpenters were summoned to build a new field wheeled gun carriage, plus a set of tools for loading and cleaning. There are also two buckets hanging on each gun carriage, one with a lid for storing water, and the other open bucket for easy use.
Luo Chong was also using this thing for the first time, so he was also very excited, even more excited than those tribesmen who didn't know what this thing was used for. This is a killer weapon.
On the eighth day of the eleventh month of the first year of the Han tribe's founding, it was early winter. It was a little cloudy, but fortunately the wind was not strong. However, the weather was still damp and cold, and it felt like a heavy snow would soon fall.
At noon that day, Luo Chong personally led several thousand people out of the city to watch the gun test. In addition to the hundreds of people who were casting guns, processing gunpowder, and making gun carriages, most of the others were people from Xingang County. It was winter now, and basically everyone who had nothing to do at home came out to watch the fun.
There were also some officials and drivers from Liuyang County and Weishan County. In order to test the guns this time, the Han tribe also mobilized a lot of supplies, such as broken wood boards from the shipyard. When these drivers who transported supplies heard about this new thing, they naturally stayed to watch.
The Han tribe did not have many official holidays, and there were no grand entertainment activities on weekdays. In addition, this was a rare gun test, and those cannons were just made by the omnipotent leader. According to the leader, this new weapon would be very powerful. How could the people still sit still after hearing this news?
Luo Chong had people use ropes to draw a warning range on the hilly grassland outside the city to prevent people from being accidentally injured.
In the long test site, the eight cannons that were first polished were lined up, with a distance of ten meters between each cannon. The three kilometers in front had been cleared. Five hundred meters in front of the muzzle was a thin wooden board to simulate a human target. In addition, in order to measure the maximum range, there was no earth pile bunker at the farthest point. This would indeed allow the shells to fly farther, but it would be difficult to find shells later.
The cordon had been drawn on both sides of the site, and thousands of people stood on both sides of the site. The three-kilometer test site was enough for everyone to stand in the first row to watch, and the remaining hundreds of craftsmen followed Luo Chong and stood around the cannon.
Interestingly, in order to measure the limit level of the cannon this time, Luo Chong had already prepared to blow up two cannons, so he specially had people build a temporary huge bunker behind the cannon position, which was actually a large earth pile to cover himself.
The eight cast steel cannons shone with a cold silver-grey light. There was no surface treatment on them. The barrels could not be oiled or painted because after firing several times, the barrels would become hot and the paint on the surface would spontaneously combust, causing serious accidents. Moreover, adding coatings would also hinder the heat dissipation of the barrels. Therefore, the eight cannons were all cast steel in their original metallic color.
However, Luo Chong had already planned to develop a chemical plating process. If a layer of copper could be plated on the outer layer of the barrels, the anti-corrosion effect would definitely be better. After all, the carbon steel used now was too easy to rust.
"Chief, can we still hit this target if it is placed so far away?"
Dali, the governor of Xingang County, followed Luo Chong and looked at the targets at 500 meters, 1,000 meters, 1,500 meters, 2,000 meters, and 2,500 meters in the distance. The targets were invisible to the naked eye. Dali asked with great doubt. At the same time, he hoped that the chief had not lied to him. If the Han tribe really had such a powerful weapon, the Han tribe would be invincible in the future.
"You'll know if it works after you try it. You come and I'll teach you how to fire the cannon." Luo Chong was unsure, but he knew it would definitely work. He didn't know how good the cannon would be, because this type of cannon was his original creation, and it was different from the famous cannons in history, so there was no reference to compare it to.
"Ah? Let me fire it once? Oh, okay." Dali was very excited after hearing this. This was a major event that would go down in history. When anyone talked about the cannons of the Han tribe in the future, they would have to say that it was Dali who fired the first cannon of the Han tribe. "Well
, chief, what should I do?" Dali rubbed his hands excitedly, looking at the cannon in front of him but not knowing how to use it.
"What should I do? First look at the front sight and rear sight, then adjust the gun carriage to align these two points with the target. This is called adjusting the firing range." Luo Chong also immediately got into the role and began to teach seriously.
Dali and another craftsman adjusted the firing range of the cannon themselves, and after they were done, they stood at attention and asked about the next step.
"Use the angle measuring instrument to adjust the pitch angle to positive five degrees." Luo Chong gave orders again.
However, Dali didn't know how to use this tool, so the carpenter who made the tool himself completed this step.
After adjusting the firing range and firing angle, the trajectory of the artillery was basically determined. The next step was to clean the barrel. Although it was a cold cannon, there was no residue in the barrel, but Luo Chong still asked them to strictly follow the requirements.
Dali took a stick with a towel tied to the head and soaked it in a bucket. Then he poked it into the barrel and scrubbed it thoroughly. Then he used a brush with a wire wrapped around the head to reach in and dig it out. Then he used a wet towel stick to clean it again, and finally used a dry towel stick to wipe the barrel dry and suck out the water inside.
The work of cleaning the barrel was completed, and the next step was loading. Luo Chong immediately began to give them orders.
"Load one time of gunpowder."
"Leader, what is one time?" Dali still didn't quite understand the special terms for these artillery operations.
"One-time gunpowder is gunpowder that is equal to the weight of the shell. We use paper-wrapped fixed-charge gunpowder, and one-time is one pack, which is marked with Chinese characters." Luo Chong pointed to the gunpowder box next to him and explained.
"Oh, I see."
Dali picked up a paper-wrapped gunpowder marked with one-time charge and stuffed it into the muzzle. Then, under Luo Chong's guidance, he used a thick-headed mallet to push the gunpowder to the bottom of the barrel.
Then he took an iron ball and stuffed it into the muzzle, and used the mallet to pound it in again and compact it.
Then the loading process was over, and the last step was the preparation stage before firing.
The cannon designed by Luo Chong is a flintlock ignition device. The flintlock on it can be disassembled through the clip. The flintlock is directly used from the carbide lamp. After a few modifications, it was moved here.
Dali first used a steel cone to pierce the paper package inside the fire door, and then took a bamboo tube of bulk gunpowder to fill the fire door and the powder pool to ignite the fire, and then it can be fired directly.
A three-meter-long thin hemp rope is tied to the flintlock. As long as the hemp rope is pulled to trigger the flintlock, the cannon will fire. Because there is no open flame, accidents caused by mistakes on the scene can be minimized.
There are also skills to pulling the rope. Don't use too much force, otherwise the flintlock will be broken directly. Especially Dali is still a rough man. Luo Chong is afraid that he will use brute force, and he specially taught him the skills of pulling the rope.
First, wrap the rope around your hands and tighten it, so that the rope is in a taut state. Then put your hands on your stomach, and then use the movement of turning to pull the rope. You don't need to use your arms. This force and the way of pulling the string are much gentler.
Dali prepared himself according to Luo Chong's instructions, and then stood there nervously.
"Those who are close should cover their ears. It will be very loud in a while, you know, like thunder. Everyone should withdraw 20 steps behind the cannon. After the cannon goes off, you will rush back due to the recoil. Don't stand too close, Dali, you too, don't get scared in a while." Luo Chong immediately began to give the people around him a shot of prevention. As for the people in the distance, they didn't need to cover their ears, because they were still far away anyway.
"I understand, leader, you give the order." Dali was also ready, ready to turn around and pull the rope at any time.
Luo Chong nodded. When he saw that everyone was ready, he raised the red triangular flag in his hand and waved it down fiercely.
"Fire!"
Seeing the leader's flag waved down, Dali turned around suddenly, and the flintlock was immediately triggered. The flint hit the flint and created bright sparks, instantly igniting the gunpowder in the medicine pool.
Then there was a hissing sound, and a bunch of white smoke and flames were gathered at the fire gate, and then there was a loud bang, like an explosion of thunder from the ground.
The 121mm caliber cast steel cannon suddenly spurted out a puff of white smoke and flames, and the black iron ball instantly broke through the smoke and flew into the distance. The cannon also retreated several meters due to the recoil, and the hoe specially used for retreat on the gun carriage plowed a shallow groove on the ground.
On the shooting range in front of the cannon, the group of wooden boards 500 meters away were instantly blown away in a straight line, and countless wooden board fragments were thrown high into the sky like snow. The iron ball was still flying, and at a thousand meters, it smashed a row of wooden boards again.
Then, at 1,500 meters, the shell began to fall to the ground, and slammed into the wooden planks. Because it was cold and the soil was hard, the shell bounced back after landing, and a ricochet occurred. Then it landed and bounced again. This was repeated three times before the shell lost its kinetic energy and stopped completely.
However, at this time, the shell had already bounced several times and flew to a position of 1,800 meters, and the target group of 1,500 meters had been completely penetrated.
Such an amazing power still shocked the thousands of people present. Everyone exclaimed in surprise, only Luo Chong was calm, because the result was more in line with his estimated value.
"Hurry up and check the target and measure the distance. Remember to find the landing points several times before and after." Luo Chong immediately ordered the people beside him.
Someone immediately turned over and rode to the shooting range to check. All he heard along the way were the cheers and exclamations of the people.
"Oh my god, this thing called a cannon is so powerful, it can throw iron balls so far!"
"Of course, it was invented by our leader, how can it not be powerful."
"I saw a large piece of wooden boards over there were blown away from a long distance away. What if there were a group of people standing there? I dare not even think about it. How many people would be killed by one shot of this thing!"
"Hey? Do you know what the cannon is hitting? I seemed to see a black shadow flying over, and then a large piece of wooden boards were blown away. The thing flew too fast and I couldn't see it clearly."
"I don't know, maybe it's a big rock."
"Bullshit, you don't understand, that's called a cannon, it hits iron balls, an iron ball weighs ten pounds, and the iron ball is stuffed into the cannon and blown out with gunpowder." "
An iron ball weighs ten pounds! Oh my god, no wonder it's so powerful, but how much does it cost to hit it like this? Can it be found after it is fired?"
"It should be possible. Look, isn't there someone riding a horse to look for it?"
The target inspector quickly found the landing point of the shell. After all, it is impossible for a shell to turn in the middle of the journey. As long as you follow the trajectory, you will definitely find it.
The first landing point was found at a distance of 1,650 meters, which was right in the center of the No. 3 target area. Among the broken wooden boards, there was a very obvious long shallow pit on the ground, which was plowed out by the shell.
The final landing point of the shell was measured and found to be 1,820 meters. It bounced three times in the middle, which was seen by the people nearby. The crater of the ricochet was also found on the ground. As for the target in the middle, there was no need to look at it at all, because as long as the target was on this line, none of them was intact.
The target inspector quickly ran back with the shell and reported the actual shooting data to Luo Chong. The recorder who had been prepared beside him also recorded this important information. When the test gun was over, this would be the best material and proof for compiling the range table.
During the time when the target inspectors were inspecting the targets, Luo Chong also directed everyone to reset the artillery, and then directed them to start cleaning the barrel.
The first time you clean the barrel, you must use a wet towel stick. This must be remembered, because the purpose of using a wet towel is not only to quickly cool the barrel, but also to effectively extinguish all the sparks left over from the previous shot.
If this step is omitted, the gunpowder wrapped in paper may be ignited on the spot during the second charge, causing a serious accident. Fortunately, Luo Chong gave them the most correct operation method before their first shooting. In the future, as long as they keep it, they can avoid more unnecessary injuries.
After recording the information of the first shot, and completing the reset and cleaning of the artillery, Luo Chong gave orders to everyone again.
"Shoot the target area directly in front of the range, the elevation angle is five degrees, 1.5 times the charge, load the bullet, and prepare to fire."
The test gun continued. Because there was no reference, all the data had to be recalculated. They had to shoot for a long time that day to test the power and range of the artillery under various different environments, providing important information for the formulation of standard shooting procedures in the future.
I
revised the new book several times and rewrote the beginning of five or six versions. Today, the editor sent me back to revise it again. It’s so hard for me.
( End of this chapter)
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