At noon the next day, they followed Jop to the Second Machinery Factory in the industrial zone.
After briefly explaining the purpose of their visit, Jop's brother, Lafite, showed great interest. He took the rifle from Van'er and fiddled with it fondly. "Is this really okay? I used to be a miner, and now I only do rough work like polishing and cutting. If I accidentally break it... "
"Brother!" Jop coughed twice.
"It's not a big problem if it's only one or two. After all, firearms can be damaged during practice." Van'er said frankly, "If it's more than this number, it only means that my idea is not feasible. I won't blame you."
"I see." Lafite nodded excitedly. "Then please leave it to me! But the machine tools in the factory may not be free. I'll try to find time to help you. "
"Your brother seems to like flintlocks very much." Cat's Claw whispered to Jop.
"That's not surprising." Rodney moved closer to Van'er. "Who doesn't like powerful weapons? It used to be swords, swords, but now it's just flintlocks and cannons. "
Van'er couldn't agree more. After witnessing the power of the 12-pound field artillery, he gradually changed his hobby from cooking eggs to this duty. He opened the leather bag carried by his companion, took out a metal pipe from a scrapped heavy machine gun, and said to Lafite, "Then let's start now."
...
The rifle barrel was disassembled and fixed on the drill press.
Lafite twisted the switch, aimed the drill at the marked position, and carefully closed the distance between the two. When the drill came into contact with the barrel, the silk-like metal debris instantly splashed.
For Van'er, this was a very fresh scene. Although he knew that both the steam engine and the Longsong Cannon were processed from pieces of metal ingots, it was the first time for him to see them at such a close distance. In his mind, the indestructible steel was changing its shape under the drill bit by bit, as if its hardness no longer existed. This kind of experience was really amazing.
According to Lafite, some of the machine tools in the Second Machinery Factory had been replaced by the third generation driven by "Dawn I", which was much better than the machine tools driven by the steam engine in the past. Both the vibration and the noise were greatly reduced, and it could be started at any time. As long as the technique was good enough, some old masters could even carve flowers on a finger-sized iron rod.
However, Van'er did not need such superb craftsmanship. After a night of thinking, he had sorted out his whole idea. In short, it was to use the least number of steps and a handful of resources to achieve the goal. After all, this kind of transformation must be easy to use, and it must not interfere with the normal production of the factory. For this reason, he had specially brought the air duct from the Mark I to simplify the process and save time.
With the key components in place, the first step of drawing out the gunpowder was no longer a problem. The key was how to achieve continuous shooting.
In fact, Van'er had long been interested in the heavy machine guns of the Flintlock Battalion. During the Northern Expedition, he had played with the treasures of the anti-air squads in the artillery positions. One thing he was sure of was that in order to accommodate a set of complex reloading mechanism, the body of the Mark I gun was much larger than the rifle. Also, the way the ammunition chain was loaded was different from the way the magazine was loaded. It was not realistic to move the entire gun over.
Even if it was feasible, it would mean that the production of the heavy machine guns was already low, and they would have to allocate some spare parts for the artillery. Even if Brian remained indifferent, Sir Iron Axe would definitely scold him.
The best way was to not make any changes to the gun body, and try to concentrate all the changes on the outside of the gun body.
"This should be enough..." Lafite finished cleaning the drilling hole and compared the rifle barrel and the air duct to the sunlight outside the window. "If we cut off the extra part of the air duct, the two pipes should be able to match."
"Don't rush to connect them." Van'er took out a piece of white paper from his pocket and spread it in front of Lafite. "Next, I want you to make a part like this."
There was a rather simple drawing on the paper. It was curved, about one finger long and two fingers wide, and there was a groove in the middle.
"What's this?" Everyone came up and asked curiously. "It doesn't look like a part of a gun."
Van'er was also a little uncertain. After all, this was only his personal idea and had not been verified yet. However, in front of his subordinates, he could not show any weakness. "Ahem... if everything goes well, this thing will replace our hands."
...
Five days later, many soldiers of the Artillery Battalion gathered on the shooting training ground of the First Army.
They learned from their respective superiors that a flintlock specially designed for artillerymen was being tested. Unlike the equipment commonly used in the army, this weapon was not designed by His Majesty but was the brainchild of the battalion commander, Sir Van'er. Van'er's statement naturally aroused everyone's interest. Even though they were on vacation, they wanted to see what the new weapon looked like.
To everyone's surprise, although the weapon on the test platform would jam and malfunction from time to time, it could indeed shoot continuously. As long as the trigger was constantly pulled, it could pour out all the bullets in its belly in a short period of time!
Compared with the five bullets of the revolving rifle, the new weapon could hold more than 20 bullets at one go. If a few more were installed, it would be comparable to a heavy machine gun.
"I didn't expect you could really make it." Cat's Claw exclaimed in admiration. "I finally understand why Sir Iron Axe chose you as the battalion commander."
"This is actually His Majesty's credit. Didn't he often say that we should combine the knowledge we learned from books with the actual situation? I just made a small attempt." Van'er said proudly. He had not expected that it would be so smooth. In just five days, they had assembled a usable weapon. Furthermore, they had basically achieved their goals. After making some minor adjustments, the Artillery Battalion would be able to obtain enough firepower to protect themselves with a small amount of resources.
"Excuse me, are you Battalion Commander Van'er?" Someone suddenly asked.
"Yes, you are..." Van'er turned his head in the direction of the voice.
"I'm a member of the precision shooting team. My name is Danny," the man said with a smile. "When I was on duty, I saw a lot of people here, so I came to learn about the situation... May I try the new weapon you designed?"
"Precision shooting team?" Jop was stunned and then winked at Van'er. "Chief..."
Van'er naturally knew the origin of this team. Every precision shooter was an outstanding soldier carefully selected by Brian from the Gun Battalion. Not long after the formation of the team, they became famous in the battle against the church in Coldwind Ridge and were awarded the Marksman Medal by His Majesty. They could be said to be the best of the best. Moreover, judging from the other party's attire, his position in the team should not be low. If they could make such people envious of the guns of the Artillery Battalion, wouldn't it mean that they could completely surpass the Gun Battalion?
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