African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 285 Berlin - Mauser Arsenal
Inside the Hechingen Arsenal in Berlin.

The director of the factory, Mayne, was showing Ernst the performance of the two rifles. On the table were the Dreiser rifles of the Prussian army and the Chasaipo rifles captured on the battlefield.

Maine picked up the Chasaipo rifle and explained to Ernst: "The Chasaipo rifle used by the French borrowed many successful practices from the Dreiser rifle. Loading bullets, but compared to the former, it is slightly better. For example, the locking system, the Dreiser rifle has a problem, not airtight, air leakage, which greatly affects the effectiveness of the gunpowder, and then affects the initial velocity of the bullet .”

"The Chasepo rifle has been improved to address this problem. It changed Dreiser's hollow bolt to a solid one, and added a rubber seal to the top of the bolt. When the bullet is fired, the high temperature generated by the gunpowder gas will expand the rubber. The entire chamber of the gun is well sealed. The higher the sealing, the higher the muzzle velocity, and the higher the shooting range. Another example is the primer of the bullet. The primer of the Dreiser bullet is located in the middle of the bullet, and the firing pin should be very thin and long. If it’s too short, it’s out of reach, and the primer of the Chasepo bullet is changed to the tail of the bullet, so the firing pin doesn’t need to be very long, and the failure rate is greatly reduced.”

"Through the various performances of the Dreiser rifle in the war, it has been shown that he has completely fallen behind, so we originally planned to retire a set of production lines after the war, but all of this will not be released until the new rifle confirmed by Prussia comes out. They were completely replaced." Maine, the director of the Hechingen Arsenal in Berlin, said to Ernst who came to inspect.

"Well, let's retire this set of Dreiser production line! Now you have a new task, which is to focus on the research and development of new firearms. This time I contacted your collaborators." Ernst After listening, speak directly.

Ernst intends to directly move this outdated Dreiser rifle production line to East Africa. It is backward, and there is still a great market in Africa.

Mayne asked curiously: "I don't know which of our colleagues is the collaborator you are looking for, Your Highness?"

"I wonder if you have heard of the Mauser brothers of the Kingdom of Württemberg?" Ernst asked curiously.

"It turned out to be them! I really know them, mainly because I had previously communicated with their father, Anders Mauser, the Royal Arsenal of Württemberg in Oberndorf. Anders Mauser was a famous gunsmith. But he has quite a lot of children." Mayne said, "I heard that his two young sons have indeed followed the father's old path, but Your Highness, I don't think the two young men can achieve much. It seems that I was kicked out by my partner just now, so I didn't fool you again!"

This matter has to start with the family of the Mauser brothers. As a family of guns, the Mauser brothers should have had a good life since they were young, but their family is a bit special. The old Mauser has a total of thirteen Son, so life is very tight.

The Mauser brothers had to work as handymen in the Württemberg arsenal in Ordorf in their teenage years to barely make ends meet.However, the Mauser brothers really dared to think and do it. Long before the Franco-Prussian War, they tried to make some improvements to the Dreiser rifle, but the Württemberg Arsenal closed down a few years ago.

The unemployed Mauser brothers were forced to work at the Norris Arsenal.In the Norris Armory, there is a "big man" Samuel Norris, who is the representative of the famous American firearms company - Remington in Europe.At the Norris Armory, Samuel and the Mauser brothers "met each other late". Based on the Chasepo rifle, they combined some improvements made by the Mauser brothers to the Dreiser rifle to jointly design the "Mauser-North Rees" rifle, and applied for a U.S. patent. Just when the Mauser brothers finally felt that the bright moment was coming, Samuel tore up the cooperation contract and kicked the Mauser brothers away. The Mauser brothers had to go back to their hometown to build a handicraft workshop .

The Americans did all kinds of bad things, but it was also cheap for Ernst, and when the two Mauser brothers were in decline, Ernst found the location of their small workshop in Aldorf of Württemberg through many inquiries, and The idea of ​​cooperation was proposed.

For the invitation of a crown prince, the Mauser brothers certainly had no reason to refuse. They agreed to cooperate with the Hechingen Arsenal, but the name of their small workshop "Mauser Arsenal" should also be retained. This was their last insistence.

Ernst doesn't care about this. Anyway, Berlin's Hechingen Arsenal will become a firearms research and development center in Germany in the future, so it can be renamed "Berlin-Mauser Arsenal".

As for East Africa, well, there is no research and development capability. To be honest, if the Hechingen Arsenal is really moved to East Africa, it will be abolished. The production line is okay, and it only needs workers to operate. There is no good scientific research environment and talent pool in Europe. Firearms research and development Can't play at all.

Therefore, at best, East Africa will continue to be a processing factory. As for R&D, it should be placed in Germany. Only when education in East Africa develops in the future, can the R&D function be moved back to East Africa.

At the same time, it is impossible for Ernst to give up the Prussian arms market, so the new "Berlin-Mauser Arsenal" will continue to produce equipment for the German army.

"Mayne, don't say that, in fact young people always have their own ideas, and the Mauser Brothers' Mauser-Norris' I feel good, let them improve on this basis, I think the new rifle will Very good, now we just need to give two young people a chance." Ernst said, "And we don't have the ability to develop firearms. After all, their previous achievements were almost adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

Before the development of the "Mauser-Norris Rifle", the Dreiser rifle improved by the Mauser brothers was once noticed by the Ministry of War of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but in the end it was not adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Mayne said: "Okay! Your Highness, if you really think so, I have no objection, but the research and development of firearms is a matter that needs to be cautious. If we take the wrong path, the market will not wait for us."

"Hehehe, don't worry! It doesn't matter if the market doesn't approve it. The Kingdom of East Africa can support the new rifle. Even if no other country orders it, we will place an order ourselves," Ernst said.

In fact, the reason for Ernst's confidence is that the Mauser brothers' firearm design has matured. They completed the preliminary design of the Mauser M1869 rifle in the previous life in 1871. Now as long as there is a more advanced and perfect working environment, it can be used. The Mauser M1871 rifle undergoes final improvements.

How about the performance of this gun, it is basically certain that it will not be too bad, so East Africa will not overturn the order after it is developed.

"Since that's the case, then I won't say anything more, but Your Highness! Do you understand guns?" Mayne asked curiously.

"Of course I don't understand." Ernst said, "I just rely on my intuition."

(End of this chapter)