The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 21 Expansion
Panshan Machinery Factory seemed to have turned into a large construction site overnight.

People from all departments were mobilized.

Even the workers' families were mobilized. Those who could move bricks did so, and those who could mix cement did so. If none of them could do so, they could help take care of other children or help cook.

Workers in the production workshop work in three shifts, each shift lasting eight hours. The workers who know how to do it teach the workers who don't know how to do it.

Others built factories.

Truckloads of soil, sand, cement and steel bars were transported to Panshan Machinery Factory.

Liu Tao was so busy that he wished he could split himself in half.

His job is not only to test guns and ammunition, but also to produce machines.

Sometimes when a machine breaks down, he has to go and repair it because there are still many problems that the technical workers in the technical department cannot solve.

Liu Tao has a golden finger, but these technical workers don’t.

Late at night, Liu Tao was in a workshop and he stretched.

He let out a breath and it took him a lot of effort to finally get the stamping machine done.

Liu Tao never thought about developing CNC machine tools, as that was too far-fetched for the current Panshan Machinery Factory. Even if he developed CNC machine tools, he would not be able to find the talent to operate them.

At present, Panshan Machinery Factory still uses manual assembly as its production method.

The only thing that can be slightly automated is the production of some spare parts.

This stamping machine is an important machine for producing automatic rifles. With this stamping machine, the guns produced can meet the design requirements. If it is installed with a milling machine, it will cause a large recoil force, strong vibration during shooting, and poor shooting accuracy.

Looking at the other machines in the production workshop, these machines are all brand new and were developed by Liu Tao during this period.

To be honest, making a gun is not as difficult as you think. As long as you have the blueprint, an ordinary lathe will do. It is not necessary to use a CNC lathe to produce it. Just like many submachine guns in World War II, they were all rivet stamping.

It is only because Liu Tao has strict control over the quality of the guns he produces that he needs to do this so seriously.

With these machines, this production workshop can be put into operation.

As long as there are enough materials, Panshan Machinery Factory can produce 78 "Type 78" automatic rifles a month and "Type " automatic rifles a year, based on an eight-hour workday.

If we work in three shifts, the output can be increased three times.

Don't think this output is low, in fact, this output is very impressive. One month's output can equip three infantry regiments.

按照1975年颁发的《陆军军和甲乙步兵师编制表》，甲种师下辖步兵团员额约2477人，下辖团部，三个步兵营（各三个步兵连、一个炮兵连、一个机枪连），团属炮兵（直属团部，一个迫击炮连，一个无后坐力炮连和一个高射机枪连）和其他支援、保障分队。全团下辖6门100毫米迫击炮、18门82毫米迫击炮、9门60毫米迫击炮、21门82毫米无后坐力炮、9挺14.5毫米双联装高射机枪，18挺12.7毫米高射机枪，36挺7.62毫米重机枪等火力支援。

The Type B Infantry Division has an infantry regiment with 1129 personnel, including a regimental headquarters, three infantry battalions (each with 2 infantry companies and 1 machine gun artillery company), a regimental artillery company and other support and guarantee units. The regiment is equipped with 3 100mm mortars, 9 82mm mortars, 6 60mm mortars, 12 82mm recoilless guns, 3 14.5mm twin-barreled anti-aircraft machine guns, 9 7.62mm heavy machine guns and other fire support equipment.

With the future output of Panshan Machinery Factory, the automatic rifles produced in one month can equip one Type A infantry division! If the production is carried out overtime, three Type A infantry divisions can be equipped in one month.

"Next, we need to solve the problem of bullet production." Liu Tao pondered for a moment.

He remembered watching a documentary in which the annual production of bullets was about 20 billion, and the production line operation rate was about 5%. If all the production lines were started, 400 billion bullets could be produced in a year. At this time, even if they had been preparing for war in the past, the production lines were there, and hundreds of millions of bullets were produced in a year.

Panshan Machinery Factory produces about three million rounds of bullets annually.

There is no doubt that this production capacity cannot meet the needs.

"The cost of a bullet is about 0.06 yuan now. If I can develop a bullet production line with a high degree of automation and reduce the cost of bullet production, the profit will be huge." Liu Tao's heart was pounding when he thought of this.

Although it was already very late, Liu Tao still decided to start building the bullet production line.

The raw materials of a bullet mainly include the bullet, the nozzle and the shell. The bullet is used to hit the target, the nozzle is used to control the speed and flight direction of the bullet, and the shell is used to load the bullet and the nozzle.

The rifle bullets currently used in China are steel core bullets, while internationally, copper bullets are more commonly used.

The reason why China does not use copper bullets is very simple. That is, copper is relatively expensive and China does not have many copper reserves.

The uniform specification of rifle bullets is 7.62×39mm steel core bullet.

On this day, Liu Tao had just woken up and was washing his face with cold water to wake himself up.

He slept for four hours.

After washing his face and putting on his clothes, Liu Tao left the dormitory.

"Minister Liu, the factory director asked you to go to the conference room." The assistant said to Liu Tao.

Liu Tao was curious about what happened and why he was asked to go to the meeting room.

You know, he has been very busy during this period, so Wang Tiezhu would not disturb him if he could.

Besides, the four new production workshops are now put into use and are undergoing trial operation. As the factory director, Wang Tiezhu is also very busy. After all, for each new production workshop, he has to appoint a new production workshop director and production workers to conduct trial production, which involves a lot of things.

Although he was a little confused, Liu Tao still went to the meeting room.

When Liu Tao walked into the conference room, there were already dozens of people sitting there.

"What's going on? Why are so many people attending a meeting together?" Liu Tao was even more confused.

Wang Tiezhu saw Liu Tao coming and said, "Since all the comrades are here, I will make my long story short."

"According to the order from our superiors, Panshan Machinery Factory must focus on producing Type 78 pistols and Type 78 automatic rifles, and deliver at least 2000 Type 78 pistols and 10000 Type 78 automatic rifles within one month, and equip them with a basic number of bullets. We will produce as many as we can!" Wang Tiezhu said in a deep voice.

Everyone was shocked when they heard this!
2000 Type 78 pistols and 10000 Type 78 automatic rifles, and a base number of bullets?
The basic number of bullets for a pistol is 20 rounds, which means 2 rounds of bullets need to be produced.

The basic number of bullets for an automatic rifle is 200 rounds, which means 200 million rounds of bullets need to be produced!

How many bullets can Panshan Machinery Factory produce in a year!

(End of this chapter)