Chapter 382 - 166: Chen Family 1662 Rifle
With design ideas, technology, and materials, the three most basic conditions are in place, the rest is just practice.
The clinking sounds of hammering echoed all day in the forging room.
In the hot dry season, spending long periods in contact with flames and heated metal was no easy task.
Every day leaving the forging room, Chen Zhou’s shirt was soaked with sweat, as if washed by water.
But his hard work and sweat did not go to waste.
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On June 23, 1662, a newly assembled firearm reflecting the glow of the furnace was placed on the long table inside the forging room.
If at the initial design stage Chen Zhou took the Hall breech-loading gun as the sample for this firearm.
Once completely manufactured, due to the extensive modifications and complex structure, it could no longer be called the Hall breech-loading gun –
It could be considered an enhanced version of the Hall breech-loading gun, or a knockoff Mauser Rifle.
Technical limitations meant that even though this gun had spiral rifling, it did not use metal-cased fixed ammunition, nor did it use smokeless gunpowder, the bullet was not jacketed, and it did not have a magazine for more fixed rounds, so it could not be called a complete Mauser Rifle.
However, in many aspects, this gun could still align with the Mauser Rifle.
For instance, the caliber significantly reduced compared to the Hall breech-loading gun.
According to Chen Zhou’s knowledge, the Hall breech-loading gun had a caliber of about 14mm, which was one reason for its poor accuracy and short range.
Due to the restrictions of modern military industry production barrels, Chen Zhou’s gun’s bullet caliber could only be around 7.62mm.
However, because the rifling inside has protrusions and indentations, namely lands and grooves, the general diameter of the bullet’s projectile would be slightly larger than the barrel caliber.
Thus, modern standard ammunition bullets are usually copper or copper-jacketed—
Copper is relatively soft, passing through the barrel after firing without easily damaging the rifling.
The lead bullet Chen Zhou plans to use has a hardness of only 1~1.5, much softer than copper, causing barely any wear on the rifling.
Especially when applied in modern high-strength smelting technology manufactured barrels, even with tens of thousands of firings, it’s unlikely to cause significant damage to the rifling.
However, although lead bullets are softer than copper bullets, they have several serious drawbacks.
Such as poor ballistic stability, easy deformation, low accuracy at long distances, weak penetration capability, and causing hardly any significant damage to bulletproof vests or obstacles.
Moreover, lead bullets are toxic, difficult to degrade, and not environmentally friendly, which is one of the many reasons they have almost been completely replaced by copper-jacketed bullets in modern times.
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This knockoff Mauser, which excelled comprehensively and improved flintlock gun, was named by Chen Zhou as the Chen’s 1662 rifle.
It not only had high accuracy, long range, and fast firing rate, but also lacked some of the drawbacks of the prototype Hall breech-loading gun.
Moreover, its modification potential was not low.
If there was enough copper, and thoroughly understanding the easy manufacturing methods for explosive materials, breakthroughs in bullet primer technology could transform the gun into a Mauser Rifle, eliminating the outdated flint firing method, and using more advanced needle fire.
Coupled with a magazine that can load multiple fixed bullets, this gun could fully achieve or even surpass the earliest bolt-action rifles invented by Germans in 1866.
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After many days of dedicated research, the gun was built entirely using manual forging, infused with much of Chen Zhou’s effort.
He optimized almost every detail that could be enhanced in the gun.
For example, the mechanical sight.
This gun’s mechanical sight served as a detachable component on the barrel, with the rear sight being a common groove shape and the front sight being columnar.
They could be fine-tuned through tension bolts, for windage and ballistic corrections.
The wooden stock of the firearm used ergonomic design.
Chen Zhou personally carved and polished the stock, adjusted it almost perfectly in accordance with his physique and gun-holding posture, in a way, making this gun completely his personal customization.
Lastly, Chen Zhou also specially forged a detachable bayonet for the gun for close-quarter combat –
This might be the most useless design on the entire gun.
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With this, the gun was considered complete.
Chen Zhou was very satisfied with his labor outcomes, but there was an important issue at hand –
He had the gun but no bullets.
Frequently entering and leaving the forging room, seeing the polished and bright gun hanging on the wall, the thought of it only pretending to be a fire stick at home made Chen Zhou uncomfortable.
So, after finishing the firearm, he rested for only one day before immersing himself in the new task of casting lead Minié bullets.
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The Minié ball, full name conical base expanding bullet, design inspiration came from a blowgun arrow used by native Indians in southern India.
Unlike copper-jacketed bullets, the conical bullet’s diameter is slightly smaller than the barrel diameter, with a lead front section and a wooden plug at the rear.
When fired, the gunpowder inside a small hole at the bullet’s base ignites, causing bullet expansion, tightly adhering to the barrel, and under the pressure of the rifling, spinning out at high speed, thereby greatly improving accuracy and lethality.
Thus, firearms using Minié bullets in the 19th century possessed long-range sniping capabilities.
The soul of Minié ball design lies in its conical wooden plug at the base.
When the bullet is fired, this plug can block the breech hole bottom, allowing the gas generated during firing to press against the bullet, thereby squeezing the bullet into the rifling, exploiting the rifling’s effect.
In the 19th century, rifles using Minié-style bullets, with high firing speed and nearly 500 yards of effective range, held tactical superiority in military conflicts, even surpassing cannons at times.