In the Apocalypse, Hoarding Supplies with the System's Hundredfold Critical Hits

Unlike cannons and 107mm rockets, gun-tube artillery boasts higher accuracy and longer range, along with a wider variety of ammunition.

Mortars, with their high-trajectory parabolic arcs, are simple to manufacture, offer a high rate of fire, and are convenient for infantry use.

However, gun-tube artillery can not only fire in curved trajectories but also directly, launching high-explosive fragmentation, shrapnel, and buckshot rounds, thanks to the rifling inside the bore, which enhances accuracy.

After careful consideration, Li Ming decided to develop an infantry gun suitable for disassembly and transport by infantry.

Ultimately, Li Ming settled on the 75mm caliber, opting to develop a 75mm infantry gun directly.

Frankly speaking, this 75mm infantry gun certainly couldn't match the D30 122mm howitzer in terms of power, but its advantage lay in its portability!

The 122mm howitzer weighs over two tons and is typically used by division or brigade-level artillery support units.

Li Ming felt a deficiency in the area of regimental and battalion-level artillery, as the 120mm mortars were too cumbersome. There should also be artillery suitable for light infantry to use, carry, and relocate in emergencies.

After further communication with experts in charge of military industry, Li Ming decided to develop a 75mm infantry gun with a barrel length of 20 to 25 calibers, weighing no more than 200 kilograms. Ideally, a squad of 10 soldiers could disassemble and carry it on mountain roads in emergencies, with other soldiers helping to carry the ammunition.

The range should be approximately 100 meters to 10 kilometers, capable of firing shrapnel, high-explosive fragmentation, buckshot, thermobaric, and incendiary rounds, among others.

Finally, after argumentation by artillery experts, it was decided to use X alloy steel for the entire production of this artillery piece.

According to theoretical data simulations conducted by experts using computers, if the main body of the artillery is entirely produced using X alloy steel, the total weight of the entire artillery piece, including the gun carriage and wheels, will not exceed 200 kilograms and may even be reduced to around 150 kilograms.

The X alloy steel material is simply too good to use, which shows just how important materials science is as a foundational discipline.

Even the military industry experts recruited from the outside didn't expect that there would be such a special alloy material here, with low cost, good toughness, high strength, and lighter weight. It is simply the perfect material to replace existing gun steel.

It can reduce weight by about one-third under the same structure, which is of great significance for a gun-tube artillery piece with a design target of no more than 200 kilograms.

The design and manufacture of this artillery piece itself is not difficult, it's just traditional gun-tube artillery.

Soon, two artillery prototypes were manufactured. One weighed about 120 kilograms, with a 25-caliber barrel, meaning the barrel length was approximately close to 1.9 meters.

The other prototype weighed about 130 kilograms, with a 30-caliber barrel and a barrel length of 2.25 meters.

Different calibers represent differences in the muzzle velocity of the projectile, as well as the maximum range and accuracy of the artillery.

The horizontal firing range of these two guns can reach 35 degrees, and the vertical firing range is between -3 and 63.5 degrees.

Soon, the artillery was taken outside the base for test firing, with both guns being tested.

Li Ming's soldiers carried the various components of the artillery, which could be disassembled into 6 large parts, each weighing approximately 20 to 25 kilograms.

It can be said that this is exactly the weight that an infantryman can carry during marching. Of course, the artillerymen carrying the infantry gun currently only have self-defense pistols as self-defense weapons, and their self-defense firepower is slightly weak.

However, in this way, three soldiers out of a squad of 10 artillerymen can carry rifles and ammunition, which is another way to strengthen defense firepower.

It can be said that in marching formation, a squad of artillerymen can carry one artillery piece plus 10 rounds of ammunition. If all-terrain vehicles are used for towing, then an artillery squad can carry one artillery piece plus 40 to 50 rounds of 75mm ammunition.

In wartime, the regimental headquarters will also have dedicated ammunition vehicles to guarantee the ammunition supply for the 75mm infantry gun.

Li Ming took the binoculars and began to observe his soldiers conducting the test firing. After an artillery officer measured the distance, he began to report the firing parameters.

"Set the firing data, gun number 1, target number 10, sight 210, direction left 0-03, load one round, ready—fire!"

Following the officer's command, six artillerymen began to adjust the direction of the gun body, then cranked the elevation and azimuth gears, quickly loaded a 75mm round, and then pulled the firing cord.

With a "thump!" sound, a shell was struck by the firing pin in the breech, the primer ignited the propellant in the cartridge through the ignition hole, the propellant burned to generate enormous energy to push the projectile into the gun barrel, and under the action of the rifling, the projectile flew at high speed directly toward the target.

This first live-fire artillery shot was fired at a target 10 kilometers away, and there was also a drone monitoring. The shell accurately hit the target.

Li Ming was very happy, "Good, very accurate!"

Some military industry experts next to him directly contacted the target area with walkie-talkies to ask about the point of impact.

"Report, the first round of gun number one accurately hit the target area," a voice came from the walkie-talkie.

The target of this 75mm infantry gun's first test shot was a 10-meter diameter circle made of lime 10 kilometers away, and the shell accurately landed inside the circle.

From this point of view, the accuracy of this gun is quite good. Subsequently, the accuracy of gun number two was tested. After testing, the accuracy of the two guns was similar at a distance of 10 kilometers, but gun number 2 was slightly worse, mainly because the barrel was a little shorter.

Then the maximum range was tested. The maximum range of gun number one with ordinary shells can reach about 12 kilometers, and the maximum range of gun number two is 10.6 kilometers, a difference of nearly two kilometers.

At this time, a trade-off needs to be made.

The combat weight differs by 10 kilograms, but in terms of overall performance, it is clear that gun number one has the best overall performance.

When necessary, gun number one can even fire specially made armor-piercing shells in a direct fire mode to attack light armor for some anti-armor operations, so Li Ming finally decided to choose the 30-caliber infantry gun.

It's just 10 kilograms of weight. In the most urgent moment, it is even possible to fire the gun by simply setting up the main body of the gun carriage.

The weight of the wheels of the gun carriage is not light, accounting for about one-sixth of the weight.

This infantry gun can be said to perfectly solve Li Ming's regimental and battalion-level fire support problems. Next, a series of other tests need to be carried out on the artillery, and finally, some problems need to be improved before mass production.

Li Ming is very satisfied with the prototype gun. Regardless of the overall structure or other aspects, the performance of this infantry gun is already very good. You should know that the range of the 152 howitzer in those years was only about 12.4 kilometers.

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