Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1625 Northern Expedition ([-])
Technical tips for Colt revolvers?
Gao Wushi felt a bit of a headache. If he wanted to talk about the basic structure of the revolver, he could indeed give pointers, because the technical principle of this thing is really not difficult, and the structure itself is almost understandable to a modern person.However, this does not mean that his technical guidance will definitely be translated into production, especially mass production.

How should I put it, it's like a famous stalk in later generations, the mortar.The principle of the mortar is very simple, but such a simple and easy-to-use weapon does not mean that everything will be fine if you understand the principle. As long as you can't make seamless steel pipes, you will always just watch The drawings stared blankly.

Compared with mortars, the manufacture of revolvers is indeed less difficult, but it is hard to say whether Jinghua can do it right now. Not only revolvers, but the entire "pistol" family is actually not that difficult to manufacture, especially It’s mass production — but high pragmatism attaches the most importance to mass production. If a weapon cannot be mass-produced, according to his habit, he will generally not consider putting it into production. What’s more, considering that the revolver is based on the needs of the cavalry, it’s not Only assigned to the guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In fact, the original European pistol appeared quite early. It appeared in the 14th century.However, the progress since then has been very slow. It was not until the early 15th century that there was a percussion-type rear-loading multi-barrel rotary pistol, that is, a revolver or a revolver.

Later generations generally believe that the revolver was invented by American Samuel Colt in 1835, because on October 1835, 10, Colt obtained the British patent No. 22, and its patented product is the rotary pistol. round pistol.

Of course, Colt was not actually the earliest inventor of the revolver, because in the museum of the Royal United Forces in Whitehall, England, there is a collection of a sparking revolver made before 1650, with a caliber of 12.7mm. The barrel and reel are made of copper.

However, Colt's revolver is generally considered to be the world's first truly successful and widely used revolver.

In fact, in the era of matchlock guns and flintlock guns, there were a variety of primitive revolver pistols, but they needed to be turned by hand, which was very inconvenient to use.Of course, this early revolver also has the advantages of simple structure, reliable operation, and safe use. It stands to reason that Gao Wuzhen is not impossible to consider now.But he still feels that the revolver itself is not a weapon with a complicated structure. If it is really going to be made, why bother to make an "original version" first. Wouldn't it be good to have the basic structure in place in one step?

In 1818, before Colt obtained the patent, American Collier and other three people actually invented a flintlock revolver, which combined the action of the firing mechanism with the runner for the first time, becoming an earlier application of the revolver. round pistol.However, due to the poor technology level at that time, the price was high, and the fire cap was not used, so it was not widely used.

The revolver invented by Colt in 1835 was a cap-fired type, which used a 10.16 mm diameter paper shell conical warhead, which was almost the same as a modern revolver. Father of the revolver".

Gao Yushi recalled it carefully, and remembered that before Colt invented the revolver, all revolvers were manual revolvers, and Colt's revolver was turned by the hammer to be fired. The birth of the revolver naturally dwarfs all manual revolvers of the past.

Besides that, there are some unique features of the Colt revolver compared to the original revolver.For example, the magazine, as a runner with bullet nests, can rotate around the axis. When shooting, each bullet nest coincides with the barrel in turn; 5 rounds of bullets can be loaded on the runner, and the barrel diameter is 9 mm; it was adopted at the time State-of-the-art percussion action, percussion cap and rifled barrel, small size, light weight, compact and functional.

Only this?Gao Yushi always felt that something was missing, so he thought about it again, and finally remembered some details after a while.It occurred to him that the revolver, unlike all other firearms, had a separate barrel and chamber.

A revolver usually consists of three parts: the frame of the gun, the runner and its rotation, the braking device and the lock, the firing, and the firing mechanism.

The bottom of the gun is similar to the receiver on a general gun, and there are many slots on it to combine all the mechanisms and parts, such as the barrel, frame, grip, etc.;

The runner, slewing and braking device are fixed on the frame through the rotary shaft. The runner is both the chamber and the magazine. There are 5 to 7 bullet nests on it, but the most common one seems to be 6, so people put this This kind of revolver is called "Six Xiangzi";
Locking, firing, and launching mechanisms are the most complicated parts of the revolver, which can be divided into single-action and double-action according to the action principle.When firing a single-action type, you must first overwhelm the hammer with your hand, put it in a cocked state, and then pull the trigger to shoot.The double-action type can not only overwhelm the hammer by hand to make it cocked, but also directly pull the trigger for automatic cocked shooting.

If I remember correctly, the early revolvers were mostly single-action, while the later ones were mostly double-action.

The revolver is manually loaded and has to be ejected or reloaded after the bullet is empty.There are three ways to push the runner out of the frame, the most commonly used is the swing out of the runner, that is, swinging the runner to the left or right, the one that is thrown to the left is called a revolver, and the one that is thrown to the right is called a right revolver.

Of course, from ancient times to the present, there seems to be no right revolver, so revolver has become synonymous with revolver, even more than the word revolver.

According to the needs of mass production, Gao Pragmatism pondered the current level of Jinghua in metal finishing.He reckoned that the problem with the barrel was not that big. After all, he had so many years of experience in making firearms. Although the barrel of the pistol was much thinner, it should still be within the technical range that could be broken through.

However, the manufacture of the runner may be a bit troublesome. This thing must not produce an iron lump first and then drill the holes by hand, because even if it can be done, the production efficiency is completely unimaginable, so a mold must be needed.

Jinghua Artillery is well-known all over the world, and it is definitely at the top level of technology in East Asia. Even compared with Europeans, it is highly pragmatic and confident.But the problem is that the artillery is a large mold after all, which is obviously not the same thing as the small revolver of the revolver.

Jinghua Iron and Steel has Jinghua Jinggong, but it is funny to say that Jinghua Jinghua has not taken over military orders. Its main business is to make accessories for carriages. For example, Jinghua’s monopoly technology-springs are Jinghua Jinghua’s products.

In addition to springs, Jinghua Seiko has another key product in recent years, which is bearings.Bearings actually have a long history. Before Gao Yushi named Jinghua Seiko's products "bearings", it was actually called "axis receiving", also known as "jurisdiction". [Note: Until now, Japan still refers to bearings as "shaft bearings". ]
Jurisdiction is also interpreted as "axle end key", as evidenced by "Book of Songs": "Carry fat and jurisdiction, and return the car to speak. Trent is perfect for health, is it not harmful?" This "axle end key" is used on ancient cars, It is equivalent to the pin in the later generations, passing through the axle end, it can "govern" the wheel and fix the wheel axially; while "grease" refers to lubricant, "return" means to go home, and "step" means to go fast.

In other words, by the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period at the latest, China will have bearings.From the excavated cultural relics, it can be seen that the "axle receptor" in the Qin and Han Dynasties had an inner cavity structure, which could place rollers.This "shaft bearing" is considered to be the first generation of rolling bearings made by humans.

However, since Gao Wushi dared to change the name of Jinghua's shaft receiver, it is of course because Jinghua's product has made epoch-making progress.A big problem with early rolling bearings was that the rollers would collide, causing unnecessary friction.Jinghua’s modification is actually not difficult to put it bluntly. It is to add a cage to the balls-but with this mere cage, the performance of the bearing will take off directly.

The reason is that the bearing is mentioned because Gao Pragmatic knows very well that the output of this thing is very low, especially the key part of the bearing, the roller - the ball itself comes from a mold, but the precision of the mold is not enough, and it needs experienced craftsmen to make one by one. polished by hand.

The bearing is like this, what about the runner of about the same size?It is conceivable that manual finishing must be performed once after the mold is produced.Manual finishing of bearings is not a big problem, because Jinghua’s carriage is not only extremely expensive, but also the maintenance in the later period is like killing pigs. It is not a product for ordinary people at all. The profit margin is large enough, and it is not afraid of high manual costs.

But it’s hard to say whether you can play like this with a firearm that needs to be mass-produced. Maybe the cost of a revolver can buy a few Wanli Type [-] rifles, then...it’s not economical, right?
What's more, even if Gao Pragmatic insists on doing it regardless of the cost, there is still a problem in front of him: bullets.

The revolvers of later generations are of course metal shells, but the early Colts actually used paper shells, but Jinghua currently only has paper shells and no paper shells - these are two different concepts , the former is actually just using paper shells to divide the gunpowder that needs to be filled each time in advance, while the latter is the integration of bullets, gunpowder, and caps, and the bullets should be pointed bullets (conical) at this time. Manufacturing The difficulty is not in the same order of magnitude at all, in other words, the cost is not in the same order of magnitude.

Gao Wushi told Liu Xin his worries with a sad face. After hearing this, Liu Xin looked at him in bewilderment, frowned and said: "It seems that the financial pressure that Jinghua City has put on you in the past few years is really too great. As for what you do now, the first thing you think of is the cost. But this is no good, your thinking has already had a serious misunderstanding!"

Gao Wushi was taken aback for a moment, and subconsciously asked, "How can you see that?"

Liu Xin sighed, and said, "How can scientific research and innovation be considered cost from the very beginning? Especially military scientific research. Let me just give you an example. Midi's GPS was only needed by the military, so they invested in it. A huge amount of funds can’t even produce a penny of benefits for a long time after it’s done, but so what? After it was transferred to civilian use, how much profit did GPS bring to Midi? As for other wealth and profits What about 'profit'? It's even more difficult to measure."

Gao Wushi was stunned, and after a while, he suddenly slapped his thigh: "It's really a word that awakened the dreamer, I'm short-sighted! Metal finishing has been a key technology for at least hundreds of years. I can't bear this matter." It's really stupid to spend money... I really want to thank you for your blow." As he said that, he straightened his face and bowed his hands seriously.

Liu Xin avoided it with a smile, and said, "It's been a long time since I've seen you so polite, I don't dare to accept it." Then she didn't wait for Gao Yushi to answer, and soon became serious again: "But what you said, this revolver If the pistol is to come out, I am afraid there is still a long way to go, but the distant water cannot save the near fire. I am afraid that the problem of the cavalry's lack of close combat strength must be found another way, at least there must be a backup option for a while. "

Gao Wushi shook his head and said: "I can't think of any good way to temporarily stand up to the technology. I always feel that it is because I don't understand cavalry tactics that the current cavalry equipment and tactical system are not perfect. match."

Liu Xin thought about it and said: "Our family is mainly infantry, so I can't provide much reference on this matter; Erdemutu is a Mongol, and he knows enough about cavalry, but it's a pity that the Mongols nowadays are not familiar with firearms." He is very unfamiliar, and he hasn't put forward any unique opinions on your musket cavalry in the past few years... I think that both the Ma family and the Ma family have elite cavalry, why don't you ask them for a moment and see if you can Can't you have a good idea?"

Gao Wushi nodded slightly: "I will send a letter to inquire about one or two, and what you said reminds me of one thing: the configuration of muskets and sabers like my Jinghua Qiding is actually not uncommon in Europe in history. For example, Napoleon’s army also had this kind of cavalry, which they called the Chasseur Guards—in many portraits of Napoleon, the military uniform he wore was the uniform of the Chasseur, which shows that the Chasseur should have a high status in the French army. Of course, the combat power should also be strong."

Liu Xin was surprised and said: "I didn't know much about military affairs before, but I saw a movie whose name I forgot. It seemed to mention that the most famous French cavalry at that time should be cuirassiers, right? What happened to the Chasseurs?"

Gao Yushi waved his hand and said, "The cuirassiers will also be equipped with muskets, but they are different from the chasseurs. To put it simply, the cuirassiers belong to the heavy cavalry, while the chasseurs belong to the light cavalry - most of our Jinghua cavalry now They all use Mongolian horses, obviously I won’t make them heavy cavalry, so judging from their current equipment configuration, they can only be chasseurs.”

"Okay, so do you remember what kind of tactics Napoleon's Chasseurs followed?" Liu Xin asked.

Gao Wushi shook his head resolutely: "It's not a question of whether I can remember, but none of the materials I've read have described the tactics used by the Chasseurs in detail. They just said a few general words."

Liu Xin frowned: "What did you say?"

"Describe the equipment configuration, and then say that their equipment is cheap, their army expanded quickly, and later became the main force of the French light cavalry...that's all." Gao Wushi sighed.Judging from his expression, he should regret that he didn't read some related monographs back then.

However, Liu Xin seemed to have gained something, and she thought about it: "It's cheap, it's quick to form an army, and later became the main force of the French light cavalry—in fact, the information revealed here is enough."

Gao Wushi's heart moved: "You mean..."

"That's right." Liu Xin shrugged slightly: "Our requirements for cavalry are too high. This kind of equipment configuration is actually used to fight against cavalry, and we play the 'kill one thousand and lose eight hundred'" The record is not enough, it is entirely because I am too used to the record of the navy and the infantry."

Gao Yushi put his hand on his forehead: "But my Jinghua cavalry is much more 'expensive' than Mongolian cavalry!"

Liu Xin smiled wryly and said: "Then what can we do? We can only assign the task of the revolver as soon as possible, and try to let the cavalry have continuous firepower earlier, and then fight less. Use tactics such as harassment and oblique cutting as much as possible. "

Gao Wushi sighed, nodded and said: "You can arrange the development of the revolver. The Ma family and the Ma family are two. I will discuss tactics with them."

Liu Xin nodded, and just as she answered, Gao Mo's voice came from outside the door: "Master, an angel is here, and the emperor is calling."
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(End of this chapter)