Chapter 55 grenade

Like other machines/manufacturing factories and bureaus today, Fuyuan Machine Factory also has a large number of foreign staff, and more than those officially run machines/manufacturing factories and bureaus, Fuyuan Machine Factory not only has a large number of foreigners in the technical link, but also a large number of administrative and financial management. Foreigners.

Below the board of directors, including general managers, financial directors, chief engineers and other important positions, most of them are foreigners hired with high salaries. Among the whole senior management and technical personnel, the proportion of Chinese is less than one-third.

This does not mean that Zhao Dongyun deliberately admires foreign countries, but that he really can't find a suitable Chinese to hold a senior management position for a while. To put it rudely, China in this era does not have a normal enterprise management talent at a glance, let alone a professional manager who understands modern enterprise management.

In this case, Zhao Dongyun can only hire foreigners with high salaries, which leads to more foreigners in Fuyuan Machine Factory, especially high-level managers.

In the eyes of later generations, it is estimated that words such as nationality and country have emerged, but in fact, this has nothing to do with the country and the nation.

Capitians are borderless, and money is borderless. When Zhao Dongyun paid a high salary to Dagger and others, Dagger and others had to be dedicated. After spending countless money and several months in Fuyuan Machine Factory, those engineers finally tried out the 88-step gun.

"Mr. Zhao, you see, the worm line of this gun is deeper than the old 88 rifle, which can greatly relieve the wear of the barrel and effectively relieve the possible problems caused by excessive worm pressure!" Standing in front of Zhao Dongyun is Kurt Schneider, the chief engineer of Fuyuan Machinery Factory. It is said that he used to be an engineer of the Mauser Factory. Only he knows why he was exiled to the remote place of the Far East, or even the engineer of the former Mauser Factory.

However, regardless of whether his experience is true or not, he still has technical ability. Not long after he was hired, he came up with a complete set of factory building plans, and then began to test the Type 88 rifle using the equipment that has been shipped one after another in the past few months.

In front of him is the trial guns he just brought from Fuyuan Machine Factory. Although these trial guns cannot represent the real production level of Fuyuan Machine Factory, they can also reflect the technical ability of Fuyuan Machine Factory from the side and take out samples in advance to solve many design problems. .

This 88 rifle is similar to the existing 88 rifle on the surface. It still has a barrel jacket, but the internal river has been improved and is based on the improved model of the 1888 rifle: 88\Z rifle.

Zhao Dongyun picked it up and looked at it for a long time before saying, "Although this barrel jacket can prevent hot hands, there are many inconveniences in use. Is there any way to solve it?"

At the beginning of the design, the 88 rifle was limited by the design concept. At the beginning, in order to solve the problem of continuous firing barrel overheating and unable to hold the gun, a rather creative barrel jacket design was adopted. However, with the passage of time, the progress of technology and the emergence of a number of new rifle designs have made engineers pay attention to and begin to solve this problem. Historically, Hanyang Arsenal replaced the barrel sleeve by installing handguards in 1904.

This method is not an innovative method, but imitates the design of today's mainstream rifle, so as soon as Zhao Dongyun said this problem, Kurt said, "Do you mean to remove the barrel coat and then add handguard?"

Zhao Dongyun nodded: "Well, I don't know if there is a technical problem?"

"This needs to be modified, but I believe there will be no problem!" Kurt said, "If Mr. Zhao thinks it is necessary, I can also refer to Mauser's 1898 rifle for certain details, such aszhao men, ruler and so on!"

Zhao Dongyun said, "That's better. I hope it won't be long before I can see Mr. Schneider's latest work!"

Kurt Schneider took back the sample of the Type 88 rifle in his hand and said, "This time, in addition to Mr. Zhao to show our rifle design, he also brought the mortars and grenades mentioned by Mr. Zhao before!"

"According to the design sketch and design requirements submitted by Mr. Zhao, we have made a preliminary design. You see, this is the grenade sample we designed!"

After saying that, Kurt took out a small arm-sized one.

The size of this grenade is larger than the grenade under Zhao Dongyun's influence, which is more than 30 centimeters long. It is also difficult for Zhao Dongyun to judge whether it is big or small for a while, because the impact of his opponent's grenade is also basically from film and television dramas. His impression of those during the Anti-Japanese War Wooden grenade, but it doesn't seem to be so big.

At this time, Kurt said, "This wooden handle grenade is 32 centimeters long and has a relatively simple structure. In addition, in order to reduce costs, black gunpowder is used. At the same time, in order to increase the explosive power, the amount of charge has been specially increased, resulting in a relatively large volume of the bomb!"

Zhao Dongyun nodded while listening. In fact, there is no big problem with the grenade. The problem of the bullet body and fuse is not big. If there is a technical problem, it is a charge.

If you want to achieve the ideal explosive effect, it is best to install TN`T explosives, followed by bitter acid explosives. However, the tragedy is that neither of these two explosives can be produced in China now, and the price is not cheap if imported, and only imported TN`T or bitter acid fry can be used in the production of artillery shells. Medicine is cost-effective. As for positioning: cheap and simple grenades with expensive imported TNT explosives, it is pure waste.

So you can only install black fire medicine. Maybe someone asked, isn't there smokeless gunpowder? Unfortunately, smokeless gunpowder, also known as nitro cotton, is a gunpowder, that is used to fire bullets and shells. Its function is to launch bullets and shells. As for the explosion after the shell hits the target, it is not an official. It is a matter of explosives.

Before 1885, people generally used black explosives, and then Western countries used bitter acid. Now, Western countries have begun to replace bitter acid with TNT.

At present, there is no arsenal in China that can produce bitter acid or T`NT, which can only rely on imports.

In the case of expensive imported explosives, using black explosives as grenades is a necessary choice for cheapness.

"Let them try!" Zhao Dongyun's interest in this grenade is actually more interested in the rifle than in the rifle. Zhao Dongyun's participation in the rifle is not large. Even if he proposes some small changes, the impact is not big. It's not polite to say that whether there is him or not, those engineers can make the 88 rifle.

However, the grenade had an important relationship with him from the beginning. It can be said that the grenade was made after his suggestion.

In addition, there is another tactical reason. For an army whose soldiers are almost all illiterate, and for an army whose live-fire training is far inferior to that of the Western powers, the individual quality of the Beiyang New Army is absolutely not as good as that of the great powers, which has nothing to do with people and spirit, but is limited by reality.

So when the infantry's shooting ability and even hand combat is not as good as that of the opponent, what weapons can supplement this? Is it a more advanced rifle? Are there more machine guns or artillery?

Neither!

It is not advanced rifles, more machine guns, or artillery, but a large number of cheap grenades that can make the Beiyang New Army in 1902 play a greater combat effectiveness.

In history, whether it is the melee of warlords for many years or the Anti-Japanese War that has lasted for many years, the contribution of grenades is absolutely the greatest among the many weapons in the hands of Chinese troops.

The training costs less, because there is no need for live ammunition training, just throw stones directly.

The requirements for soldiers are of low quality. You don't need to be smart, literate, or even deaf and mute. As long as you can throw grenades, you will be qualified.

When these two articles are combined, it is enough to prove the applicability of grenades to today's Beiyang New Army!

Under the guidance of the technicians of Fuyuan Machine Factory, several soldiers began to prepare for the preliminary preparations one by one. Before long, a soldier threw out a grenade in his hand. A few seconds later, a fire rose and a loud explosion sounded.

Without waiting for Zhao Dongyun to speak, Lin Yongquan, who came with him, said, "I'm afraid it's more than 30 meters away!"

Kurt Schmidt said: "In our preliminary test, the throwing distance was between 20 meters and 40 meters according to the physical fitness of the soldiers! But most of them are concentrated between 25 meters and 30 meters!"

"Now it weighs 950 grams, 320 millimeters long, and 100 grams of charge! Although the price is cheap, the power is slightly smaller. If TNT explosives can be used, the power can be greatly improved!" Obviously, Kurt, who focuses on technology, is quite dissatisfied with using black gunpowder in order to control costs.

According to his design, if TN`T explosives can be used, then the power is not as it is now.

For his little resentment, Zhao Dongyun just smiled and used T`NT explosives, joking. How can he have a lot of equipment when the price comes up?

After watching the live test of multiple grenades again, Zhao Dongyun expressed his satisfaction: "This grenade looks very good. Although it is less powerful, it is not a big deal!"

At this time, he turned his head to Zhao Chenbin next to him and said, "Go back and prepare a batch of samples and send them to Baoding. I will try it for a while, and then ask Lord Yuan to have a look!"

Zhao Chenbin said, "I know. I'll prepare it when I go back. This thing is also simple. It doesn't take half a month to make a batch and send it to me!"

Seeing that the grenade he designed won Zhao Dongyun's satisfaction, Kurt's resentment about not being able to use TNT explosives in the grenade disappeared, and then he looked like a treasure: "Mr. Zhao, look at this. This is the mortar you said. Look, I'll make it!"

But when Zhao Dongyun looked at the big iron shelf that was more than one person high, he looked puzzled. It didn't look like a mortar. This big guy looks so thick, and it is estimated that it weighs five or 600 kilograms!