The newly launched Dauntless is now the Navy's hope for a large decisive battleship in the future, but the specific situation will not be known until the selenium installation is completed and sea trials are carried out.
Carlo left Venice after attending the launching ceremony of the Intrepid. Although the Navy tried its best to retain him and looked at other warships, such as the new destroyers and cruisers that had just been commissioned, they still could not retain the King.
After leaving Venice by car, Carlo diverted to Brescia, because a new weapon was successfully developed here, and Carlo came here to take a look.
Speaking of Brescia, the industry here has a long history, especially the metallurgical industry and machinery industry, which are well-known throughout the Kingdom of Italy. Among them, Brescia is most famous for its weapons manufacturing. Beretta Arms Company, which ranks among the top three in Italy, is
The city's most famous company.
Today at the weapons testing site of Beretta Arms Company, a unique weapons test is going on.
"Da... da da... da da da..."
A weapons test sergeant was operating a strange-looking machine gun on his shoulder for weapons testing. Short bursts, long bursts, and continuous shooting. In this shooting method, the target in the distance was riddled with bullets.
hole, showing the power of the gun.
To say it is strange is also for today's machine guns. For example, the Maxim machine gun, which is currently famous, has a thick barrel, a thick gun box, and a fixed support frame, all showing the air of a cold killing machine.
.
Compared with it, this gun can be described as small and exquisite. In addition, the magazine inserted upside down on the gun case can be described as quite strange.
As for whether it's strange or not, it doesn't matter to everyone watching at the test site. How the gun performs is what they are most concerned about.
From this aspect, the gun is currently performing well. After firing two magazines in a row, the shooting is still very accurate.
Among the visitors, there were not only Chief of General Staff General Simeone, but also Carlo. Of course, there were also many senior army officials. With such a large formation, Pietro, general manager of Beretta Arms Company,
Beretta and chief firearms designer Baron Hiram Stevens Maxim were also there. In front of them, a slightly younger middle-aged man was introducing this weird machine gun to the big guys present.
.
"Your Majesty, General, the total length of this gun is 1,193 mm, the total weight of the empty gun is 8.79kg, the total length of the barrel is 593mm, the caliber is 6.5mm, the theoretical rate of fire is 450 rounds per minute, and the muzzle velocity is 881 meters per second. The gun adopts
Long-stroke gas-guided piston, tilt locking. The sights use wheel-type sights and mechanical sights. In addition, the gun..."
This middle-aged man is the chief designer of the gun, Nicolai Reveri. Faced with many big names, the designer stumbled a bit when he spoke.
However, although what the firearms designer said was a bit unfavorable, no one present cared about it. Instead, they all looked at him with a smile.
Fortunately, someone rescued him soon. After finishing three consecutive magazines, the sergeant who was testing the machine gun came over.
"Tell us how it feels for you."
Admiral Simeone asked the test sergeant.
"Reporting to the general, this gun shoots smoothly, has no jamming, and does not have a high degree of rise. It is a good continuous fire weapon."
The test sergeant's praise put smiles on the faces of everyone at Beretta Weapons Company, but they were happy too early, as the sergeant continued to speak.
"As for the shortcomings, I am a little uncomfortable with the side sight. In addition, I feel like the bullets are floating when shooting at distant targets. Moreover, the bullet capacity is too small and the rate of fire is low. In addition, it only has a capacity of 20 bullets.
It makes me feel that it has no suppressive effect at all.”
The targets he shot later also confirmed his statement. The distribution of bullet points on targets ranging from 200 meters to 600 meters was pretty good. However, after the 800-meter target was brought over, the expressions of several people from Beretta Weapons Company were not so good.
Looks good.
Because there is only one bullet hole in such a large target, it is even more unsatisfactory to know that this is shot by burst fire. In addition, the test sergeant's skills are not bad.
Faced with this situation, Baron Maxim felt that he needed to stand up and say something.
"Your Majesty, General, for this light machine gun, the Army had very high weight requirements at that time, so when designing the gun, our priority was the weight, which is enough for a soldier to carry the gun and keep up with the team's attack.
Speed. In addition, the gun needs to use the same 6.5mm caliber as the rifle, and the bullet is smaller than the machine gun currently equipped by me.
The 7.92mm is lighter. This also causes it to stall more seriously at long distances and its long-distance accuracy is poor. If the caliber of the gun is changed to 7.92mm, it will be much better. Of course, there is another reason, because this
A test sergeant used the bipod that comes with the gun when shooting. If a quadrupod or tripod is used, the long-distance accuracy will be higher."
After Baron Maxim's explanation, everyone present finally accepted his explanation.
"If the caliber of 7.92 mm is used, how much more accurate will the gun be at long distances?" an officer asked at this time.
Maxim secretly praised this officer, what a good assist.
"If this is the case, according to our tests, the accuracy of the gun at a distance of 800 meters is guaranteed." The main designer Nicolai Revery answered this question. "In fact, we have used it before.
The 7.92mm barrel does feel more accurate at long distances than the 6.5mm barrel.”
Well, this designer has exposed all his secrets.
After hearing this answer, Simone looked at Carlo. "Your Majesty, what do you think?"
Facing Simeone giving him the choice, Carlo almost laughed, this guy is really naughty.
"I think it's better to do this. The Army will first purchase some of the two calibers, 6.5mm and 7.92mm, and give them to the troops for testing. Whichever one is easier to use will be chosen."
Carlo's suggestion is really good. As for the good points, you can feel them by yourself. If you can't feel them, it means you don't have enough understanding.
Faced with Carlo's conciliatory idea, General Simeone said immediately without much thought. "Let's do this. Each of you will produce one hundred light machine guns of 6.5mm and 7.92mm calibers. It depends on which the troops like.
Let’s talk about the payment later.”
Faced with General Simeone's decision to let the troops conduct testing, how could Pietro Beretta, the general manager of Beretta Arms Company, disagree? This was a precursor to large-scale military equipment. .As long as it does not cause complaints from the troops, it means that this light machine gun is a great success.
"By the way, what is the purchase price of this gun?"
At this time, General Simeone asked about the price again. The hard life of the Army in recent years has made him very price-sensitive, not to mention that this kind of weapon for infantry is famous for its large quantity, so it is more needed. Consider the price factor. Every lira of the Italian Army is very precious and cannot be wasted.
"Your Excellency, since you only purchased 200 guns, the price will not be too cheap. 2,400 lire per gun is the best price."
Pietro Beretta's words made all the army bosses take a breath. The price is too expensive. These 200 new light machine guns cost 480,000 lire. The price is really not cheap.
"The purchase price of your company's Maxim heavy machine gun for our army is only 4,500 lire. Your price is too high."
The price of the Maxim machine gun at this time was already very cheap. If you only knew how to equip it, each Maxim machine gun would cost as much as 8,000 lire.
Moreover, apart from its weight, this light machine gun is incomparable with the Maxim machine gun in terms of performance.
Faced with the Army's disapproval of the price, Pietro Beretta was about to cry out. "I didn't include the research and development costs of this machine gun. These are all manufacturing costs."
Although this is the truth, the price makes many people in the Army somewhat dissatisfied.
Fortunately, as the head of the army, General Simeone was very sober and said, "Then, at the price you mentioned, we will deliver two hundred troops to our army."
