1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 349 Artillery Test
The three artillery squads completed the loading successively, and successively pulled the fire and fired successfully.

In the first round of test firing, although none of the three artillery pieces hit, the shells landed very close to the target.

You know, the target for this test is 2 miles away from the artillery.

This distance has exceeded the effective range of the Qing army's artillery of the same level, and it can still maintain such a high shooting accuracy at such a long distance.

Hong Mingxiang couldn't help admiring the excellence of Western artillery and the superb artillery technology.

After the three gunners corrected the parameters, they continued to shell.

By the second round of shelling, both rifled guns hit the wooden target, while the smoothbore guns of the same level did not hit the target until the third round of shelling.

Such precise shelling opened the eyes of Hong Mingxiang and others.

The basic requirement of the Qing army for artillery is to shoot the shells out of the barrel, and the highest requirement is at most that they can hit a general area.

Hong Mingxiang didn't expect the artillery to be able to point where to hit and hit with such precision, which overturned Hong Mingxiang's perception of artillery.

After the 1000-meter target test is completed, the next step is the 1300-meter, 1500-meter, and limit effective range tests.

In the 1300-meter shooting test, the hit rate of the smoothbore gun was further reduced, and it became very difficult to hit the target, while the two rifled guns could still maintain a relatively high hit rate.

Such an ending was within Liang Yao's expectations. The 6-pound smoothbore gun produced by the Sacramento Arsenal had a maximum effective range of 1300 meters.

Since the next test had exceeded the maximum effective range of the 6-pound smoothbore gun, the 6-pound smoothbore gun withdrew from the next test, and the 6-pound front-loading rifle and breech-loading rifle continued to the next test.

After the test, the three gunners and the staff of the Sacramento Arsenal conducted a test summary of the three 6-pound smoothbore guns.

There is no doubt that the two rifled guns are significantly superior to the smoothbore guns in terms of range and accuracy.

If you continue to compare the two rifled guns, the accuracy of the front-loaded rifled gun is slightly higher than that of the rear-loaded rifled gun.

Of course, smoothbore guns are not without merit. Smoothbore guns cause more damage to the target, which means they are more powerful.

In terms of power, front-loaded rifled guns are also better than rear-loaded rifled guns.

The reason for this is that the airtightness of the early breech guns was not good, and the airtightness problem also affected the range.

在最大有效射程方面，6磅滑膛炮的最大有效射程是1300米，6磅后装线膛炮的最大有效射程是1600米，6磅前装线膛炮的最大有效射程是1700米。

Based on the above data and actual performance, the front-loading rifled gun seems to be the best choice.

However, the breech-loading rifle has one more impressive statistic, that is, the rate of fire is faster than that of the front-loading gun.

The next tests were all kinds of 8-pound guns, 10-pound guns, and 12-pound guns. The huge power and recoil produced by these large-caliber cannons shocked Hong Mingxiang and his entourage.

But the testing of these artillery pieces was not what Liang Yao was most concerned about. The test he was most concerned about was the testing of the last four Armstrong cannons.

The artillery team participating in the test was full of curiosity about this new artillery that had never been seen before.

Since there are no ready-made instructions on how to use this artillery, no personnel from the Amster Company involved in the testing of the new artillery were recruited this time.

Liang Yao and the French engineers who had been in contact with the Amstel cannon could only tell these artillery teams how to use these new artillery based on their own experience.

After figuring out how to use the guns, the two squads began testing the two new breech-loading guns separately.

As for the other two rear-loading guns, they will not participate in the test for the time being.

Liang Yao currently only has these four 4-pound Armstrong gun samples, and he must always prevent accidents during the test that would cause damage to all the foreign guns.

Although these guns are still experimental guns, the performance of these guns is already quite impressive. The brand-new tail bolt shooting makes the airtightness of Armstrong guns better than the breech-mounted rifled guns tested before.

The rate of fire has reached an astonishing 6 rounds per minute, that is, one round every 10 seconds.

The two artillery squads participating in the test even said that as long as they were allowed to train for a period of time, they could increase the rate of fire to seven rounds per minute or even higher.

It is also a rear-loaded rifled gun, and it is also a 6-pound gun. The range of the Armstrong gun is a full 6 meters higher than the 500-pound rear-loaded rifled gun produced by the Sacramento Arsenal, reaching an astonishing 2100 meters.

The artillerymen were amazed by the performance of this new type of artillery, and they all said that this is the most superior artillery they have ever seen, without this.

What's more, it is asserted that this is a sharp weapon that can change the balance of war.

Liang Yao listened carefully to the opinions of these artillerymen, and they all hoped that this artillery could be installed in the troops as soon as possible.

Liang Yao was also very satisfied with the performance of this new rear-loading gun. He handed over the relevant technical drawings and materials, as well as four sample guns, to the artillery department of the Sacramento Armory.

The artillery department is required to digest Armstrong's technology in the shortest possible time and to produce imitations that are not inferior in performance to these sample guns.

In the future, not only the artillery will need to be equipped with this kind of breech-loading gun with excellent performance, but he will also move this breech-loading rifled gun to the warship.

After feasting his eyes, Hong Mingxiang asked Liang Yao: "Brother Liang, I think you have a lot of people for an artillery squad. You use 6 people to serve a cannon. In my opinion, with the quality of Brother Liang's artillery, 3 people can do well in the future." One cannon, why didn't Brother Liang free up the rich manpower and set up a few more artillery squads?"

Hong Mingxiang felt that it was too wasteful to equip a cannon with 6 people, and the number of people in each artillery squad could be reduced.

"There are too many uncertainties on the battlefield. If I only assign three people to an artillery squad, if the soldiers are reduced due to illness or injury, wouldn't the squad be abolished?" Liang Yao answered Hong Mingxiang's doubts, "But if There are 3 people in a squad, even if the squad is reduced by more than half, theoretically this artillery squad can still exert its combat effectiveness."

"I've been taught, brother Liang is still considerate." Hong Mingxiang suddenly realized that he was taught.

"Hong Junmen has seen cannons now, how many cannons does Hong Junmen want to buy?" Liang Yao asked.

"What is the price of the 6-pound smoothbore gun? Are smoothbore guns cheaper than rifled guns?" Hong Mingxiang began to inquire.

Liang Yao told Hong Mingxiang the prices of the 6-pound rifled gun and the 12-pound rifled gun, which were around $700 and $1500 respectively, but did not tell Hong Mingxiang the price of the smoothbore gun.

In Hong Mingxiang's view, the performance of the smoothbore gun is already impressive enough, better than all the artillery currently equipped by the Qing army.

If smoothbore guns are cheaper, Hong Mingxiang is more willing to buy more smoothbore guns under the condition of limited budget.

"6-pound smoothbore guns cost $500 each, and 12-pound smoothbore guns cost $1200 each." Liang Yao thought for a while and gave the price.

(End of this chapter)