"According to the arrangement of his superiors, he will serve as the director of the Military Industry Bureau, responsible for military production and industrial development. He is an expert leader and much better than me." Chen Kang said with a smile.
"I understand." Yu Hua breathed out lightly and nodded in reply.
There is no doubt that the scientific research team combination of Li Qiang + Zhuang Qianding + himself + Lin Wan will explode with unprecedented power, and when Fang Yu and Zhou Yuan return from their studies...
The base area can be regarded as having a real scientific research talent team.
"One last thing I want to ask you before I leave, when can we start making bullets?" Chen Kang carefully considered his words and said what he had wanted to ask all along.
When can we start making bullets?
This ‘made’ bullet is not a reloadable bullet today, but a serious fixed-loading bullet!
Yu Hua understood the meaning of Chen Kang's words, pondered for a while, and said slowly: "Making bullets is a systematic project. From raw materials to finished products, it involves hundreds of processes. Based on the current technological level of the base, there are about two
In half a month, we will be able to meet the benchmark requirements for the production of custom-loaded ammunition."
How many processes are involved in manufacturing a 7.92mm custom-loaded ammunition?
Warhead: brass jacket material production, stamping bottomed hollow parts, jacket covering, steel core material, steel core punch, steel core and jacket assembly, sealing paint, high-precision mold calibration and processing...
Cartridge case: Brass raw material stamping, shearing, cleaning, drilling fire holes, moisture-proof paint, mold manufacturing...
Propellant: single-base propellant or double-base propellant.
Primer: ignition anvil, firing agent fulminant.
Bullet assembly: sealing paint is applied to the warhead and cartridge case, moisture-proof paint is applied to the cartridge case and primer, efficient bullet assembly equipment, weighing, quality inspection, and packaging.
This is the production process of a 7.92mm fixed-load ammunition.
Each process has corresponding technical and equipment support behind it, and each one is indispensable. Otherwise, bullets cannot be made.
And this is only to meet the baseline requirements for manufacturing fixed-load ammunition.
It's one thing to be able to make bullets, but it's another thing to be able to make good bullets.
The entire bullet production is much more difficult than firearms production. Without a basic industrial system covering chemical industry, steel, mechanical processing and energy supply, it is unrealistic to make bullets.
Today, the technological level of the base can only meet the basic requirements for manufacturing propellants and primers, but the processing technology of warheads and cartridge cases is not good enough.
Professional stamping machine tools, drawing processing equipment, cartridge case shearing machines, bullet assembly equipment... This is the necessary processing equipment for warheads and cartridge cases.
"Two and a half months... Fortunately, it's not too long. The main reason is that the army is currently very short of bullets. The average bullet per capita does not exceed 5 rounds, so I have to ask you." When Chen Kang heard the time given by Yu Hua, he felt slightly in his heart.
Song, then explained, his words full of helplessness.
Nowadays, all the troops are extremely short of ammunition. The main force has 10 rounds of ammunition per person, while the weaker troops only have 2 rounds of ammunition per person. Some newly formed troops even have as low as 0.2 rounds of ammunition per person, with an average of 5 people getting one bullet.
.
You should know that this is the total bullets per person, not the bullets per person that can be allocated in a battle.
Not to mention rifles, nearly half of the soldiers did not have guns and could only use broadswords and spears.
At this point, it is still the level of weapons and ammunition purchased from the north and transported to the base area. If it were placed after the Eastern Expedition and the Western Expedition, the ammunition reserve level would have to drop by half.
"If this is the case, in order to alleviate the urgent need, I actually have a way to make bullets now. It is to use a completely manual method and use a lathe to process a batch of special metal rods for bullet cases to solve the production of bullet cases. The principle is similar to that of a punch machine, using metal rods to align
The raw material of the cartridge case cannot be hammered twice until the shape of the cartridge case is hammered out. The steel core of the bullet is also processed with a lathe, and the brass jacket and bowl are made in the same way as the cartridge case. Finally, moisture-proof paint and sealant are applied by hand and loaded.
Propellant and primer are used to complete the bullet assembly."
Hearing these words, Yu Hua frowned slightly and almost forgot about the situation the army was facing now. After a brief thought, he thought about the indigenous method of reloading and production that he had conceived for the Eighth Route Army when he was a military fan in his previous life. After sorting out his thoughts,
He said slowly:
"Compared with large-scale industrial production, the technical requirements of this manual custom-loaded ammunition production method are almost zero. The advantage is that it allows the army or arsenal to manufacture urgently needed bullets. The disadvantages are obvious: First, the quality of the bullets is unstable and prone to jamming problems.
, Second, there are certain requirements for workers’ skills and equipment. After all, only workers with good skills can guarantee quality, and simple lathes are needed. Third, production efficiency is low and output is low.”
Bullet problem?
It doesn’t matter, I am also Doraemon in the technical field now!
"How much can the daily output of this kind of hand-loaded ammunition be produced?!" Chen Kang was undoubtedly confused when he heard the plan thrown out by Yu Hua. After half a second, he suddenly came to his senses and quickly asked the most important question.
data.
The words conveyed urgency.
Bullet quality is unstable?
Can a bullet that has been reloaded seven or eight times become unstable?
Are there certain requirements for worker skills and equipment?
There is no shortage of workers-turned-soldiers in the team. Judging from the situation, the equipment is nothing more than lathes.
Chen Kang only cares about one thing most - the output Yu Hua said is low, what is the specific data!
"Disregarding the supply of raw materials, a seven-person manual custom-loading ammunition production line can produce about 100-300 rounds per day." Yu Hua gave the daily output data and said with a smile: "The base area can currently produce standard propellants and primers, copper and
We also have steel, so the supply of raw materials is not a problem.”
Turning the steel core, hammering the jacket, hammering the cartridge case, drilling fire holes, painting, loading propellant and primer, and bullet assembly are the seven processes of the fully manual custom-loaded ammunition production line, with a minimum of one person per process.
One lathe and seven workers can meet the minimum requirements for manual custom-loaded ammunition production.
This method was inspired by the industrial production of bullets when Yu Hua was bragging to others on the forum. The core idea is that you have your industrialization, and I have my manualization. As long as I have the raw materials, I can make bullets.
It was just right, as the base area already had the ability to supply raw materials such as propellant, primer, copper, and steel.
For industrial countries, this method is thankless, but for today's base areas, for troops with about 5 bullets per capita...
What kind of bike do you want?
Anyway, in one sentence, first solve the problem of whether or not it is available, and then solve the problem of whether it is good or not.
"100 to 300 rounds, it's enough, it's completely enough, haha, this method is very suitable for us." Chen Kang's face was filled with joy, the sleepiness in his eyes dissipated again, and the joy in his heart could not be increased. He did not expect to come out to send
During one trip, Yu Hua actually found an effective solution to bullet production.
It is true that this manual custom-loaded ammunition production method has low efficiency, low output, and unstable quality defects, and is completely incomparable with industrially produced standard bullets.
But so what?
What do these flaws affect?
In terms of shortcomings, the army has long used the most reloaded bullets, which suffer from increased rifling wear, insufficient accuracy, low effective range, insufficient lethality, etc.
Compared with reloading bullets, the hand-loaded bullets proposed by Yu Hua are simply better.
The horse column is above. This is 100 to 300 rounds per day. Taking the highest number, it will be a full 9,000 rounds in a month. If rounded up, wouldn’t it be 10,000?
Seven people + one lathe = monthly production of 10,000 rounds of custom-loaded ammunition.
And seventy people + ten lathes = monthly production of 100,000 rounds of custom-loaded ammunition.
What is this concept?
Nowadays, the Red Army has 80,000 people, and 100,000 rounds of fixed-load ammunition per month means that the total number of bullets per capita in the army has increased by 1.25 rounds per month.
To be honest, Chen Kang was so happy that he was about to cry. This is a real fixed bomb...
It's not about reloading bullets again and again.
"Also, in order to adapt to the lack of electricity and improve portability, we can also build a human-powered lathe with a pedal structure similar to that of a sewing machine and add a flywheel to achieve pure human production. In this way, it can follow the military operations, and the bullet output may be reduced.
, but the scope of adaptability has been improved. After all, most areas do not have power supply conditions."
Yu Hua thought for a while, and his fast-moving mind immediately came up with an improvement plan. He smiled and said, "Just tell the professor about this method. The professor knows how to make this kind of lathe."
Similar to a sewing machine power structure + flywheel, the power of two people's feet is enough to meet the speed of the lathe for turning processing. This kind of lathe that specializes in turning elastic cores does not need to be too big, as long as it can process elastic cores with a diameter of several millimeters.
In this way, the weight of the lathe can be controlled within 50 kilograms. After being broken into its components, it can be carried by three soldiers and move with the army. It is extremely suitable for guerrilla warfare and operations behind enemy lines.
As for raw materials, one is provided by the base area, and the other is raised by oneself.
"Okay, very good. In this way, even a company-level unit can produce bullets and be self-sufficient. It is foreseeable that the plan you proposed will greatly ease the ammunition supply pressure on the army." Chen Kang heard Yu Hua's words.
The unconventional but extremely practical improvement plan made him excited and praised him repeatedly. As a military supervisor from the army, he knew very well that the human lathe proposed by Yu Hua was very practical.
Company-level troops can permanently set up a manual custom-loading ammunition production line based on human lathes, which can travel with the army during wartime and produce ammunition during leisure time, greatly alleviating the pressure on logistics and ammunition supply.
"It's just a small thought before I leave. I'm glad that my knowledge and wisdom can help the soldiers. Director Chen, just stop here. No need to send it off." Yu Hua stood there with a smile on his face and said to Chen Kang
.
Unknowingly, the two of them had arrived at the entrance from the depths of Willow Valley, and the Dodge truck was parked a few meters away.
"Mr. Yu Hua, take care along the way." Chen Kang took a deep breath, frowned, his face was solemn and solemn, his back straightened, and he saluted the young Yu Hua with a military salute.
The word "sir" is definitely not a compliment, but a word of respect.
In Chen Kang's mind, although Yu Hua is only in his early eighteenth year, he can still be called a gentleman.
"goodbye."
Yu Hua smiled, turned around and faced the Dodge truck, and then boarded the truck accompanied by Lu Junyu and three guards carrying radios.
In order to keep communication smooth and safe, the Military Industry Bureau has specially equipped a radio station, so that whether it is information exchange or emergency matters, it can be notified immediately.
"Buzz!"
Accompanied by the sound of a car engine starting and running, the entire Dodge truck drove away from Liushugou, facing the early morning sunshine, and embarked on the road to Yulin.
The great steelmaking era of 1937 is here.
The two-roller cross-rolling mill, the hand-operated ball mill, the manual loading of ammunition, and the human-powered lathe are all not as important as the oxygen top-blown converter.
With steel, everything is possible.
…
"Interesting, the manual custom-loading ammunition production line, human lathes, this guy is good at taking the wrong approach with swords... In essence, this manual custom-loading ammunition model is an evolution of reloading bullets, but compared with reloading bullets, custom-loaded ammunition
The accuracy and lethality of the ammunition are definitely better, but the same defects are very obvious, the quality is unstable, and the output is low. If you want to ensure the quality of manual custom-loaded ammunition, the requirements for the craftsmanship of the personnel are higher." The factory office of Liushugou Arsenal is preparing to improve it.
Zhuang Qianding, who designed the 10MW steam turbine, was amazed after listening to Chen Kang's explanation, and the details of the production of hand-made custom-loaded bombs already appeared in his mind.
With a hammer in one hand and an iron rod in the other, bullet casings, jackets and bowl casings were smashed out.
A lathe is used to turn out the bullet core.
To be honest, this was the first time Zhuang Qianding discovered that fixed-load ammunition could be produced in this way. Yu Hua's wonderful idea really refreshed his knowledge again.
interesting.
It's really interesting.
Lin Wan was sitting in the office. She was completely surprised by Yu Hua's proposal for hand-loaded ammunition. The difficulty in producing bullets for the army was obvious to all. Who would have thought that it would only take so long for Yu Hua to create a hand-loaded pop-up.
The important thing is that this is not a fool's errand, but extremely practical.
Today, this office and the surrounding area in the arsenal headquarters have been vacated for the exclusive use of the top scientific and technical team, and the security work has been taken over by the headquarters security group.
"Professor, can we make this kind of human-powered lathe?" Chen Kang nodded and asked.
"No problem, this is entirely a mechanical structure. The human lathe is not in a hurry for now. Let's go to the machine shop first to process three types of metal rods."
Zhuang Qianding nodded, and was very interested in the manual custom-loading mode proposed by Yu Hua: "Lin Wan, you are responsible for recording this. Don't worry about the cement production. Get this done. Yu Hua must also give it before he goes to Yulin.
I'm looking for something to give me a headache..."
The production of bullets was of great importance, and Zhuang Qianding did not object to it taking a little time to help organize the troops to solve the problem of ammunition supply.
However, Yu Hua has too many ideas, from the two-roller cross-rolling machine last night, to the conveyor belt equipment and hand-operated ball mill in the middle of the night, and before leaving, he also messed with the manual fixed-loading ammunition...
Forget it, as the saying goes, if you have a lot of debts, you won’t have to worry about it, and if you have a lot of lice, you won’t be itchy.
"Yes, Professor." Lin Wan smiled. She was originally going to be responsible for the technical guidance of the vertical cement kiln next to the Liushugou Iron Works. After hearing this temporary arrangement, she had to agree.
After saying that, I picked up my notebook and pencil.
The group left the office and came to the arsenal's machining workshop. Zhuang Qianding, who already had a draft in mind, quickly found three steel bars with a diameter of about ten millimeters, and then Ma Liu controlled the lathe to process three plugs with different shapes and diameters.
7.92mm metal punch.
The head of the cartridge case stamping rod is in the shape of a bottle. This is because the 7.92mm round nose bullet of the Hanyang-made rifle uses a bottle-shaped cartridge case. Generally speaking, a necking process is required, but with the bottle-shaped head, it can be punched in place in one step.
The tip of the armor punch rod is round, which is very simple, because the bullet is round. If it is a 7.92mm pointed bullet of a medium-sized formal rifle, it needs to be changed to a conical tip.
The top of the primer punch is round, with high surroundings and a concave center. When the hammer is hammered down, it can produce a squeezing and cutting effect, punching out the primer shell.
The surfaces of the three punch rods were smooth and emitted a silvery white luster like works of art. Professor Zhuang worked non-stop to make a base mold that matched the three punch rods.
Without a matching base mold, this kind of manual stamping cannot be achieved.
After the base was ready, only the most important bullet core was missing. Professor Zhuang used a lathe to process five shiny silver steel cores.
Lin Wan stood quietly next to the lathe, constantly recording the entire processing process and related information.
"Brass plate, sealing paint, moisture-proof paint, as well as granular propellant and primer. Director Chen, could you please find it? I remember that the brass plate is in the oxygen top-blown converter material list. Just get one piece." After finishing the tool.
Professor Zhuang said to Chen Kang and gave the required materials: "By the way, call some workers and I will teach them how to get started."
"Okay, right away." Chen Kang nodded and quickly found the materials.
The arsenal has been working on reloading bullets. These materials are basically complete. The only thing missing is the brass plate. It just so happens that this thing is included in the material list for the oxygen top-blown converter project.
Imported brass plate, authentic American product.
After a while, Chen Kang and seven workers returned to the workshop and put down the materials one by one.
"I'll demonstrate it first. If you don't understand, ask again." Zhuang Qianding said to the workers surrounding him, then picked up the brass plate, cut out a small copper plate with scissors, and then placed it on the shell base mold.
The left hand holds the hammer and the right palm punches the stick.
"Boom!" As soon as the hammer came down, the brass plate quickly deformed under the action of the punch and entered the groove of the base.
But one hammer is not enough.
"Dong dong dong!"
The sound of the hammer striking the punch spread throughout the surroundings, and after a while, a brand new cartridge case with a bottle-like shape came out of the furnace.
Seeing this scene, the expressions of the workers who were standing around and studying changed instantly. They were full of surprise and confusion. How could a shell be produced with just a few hammer blows?
"This is the cartridge case punch, which is formed in one go with the base mold. The next step is to make the jacket. Note that the jacket is very thin and requires much less material than the cartridge case. If it is cut too much, the thickness of the jacket will be increased.
Affects bullet performance." Professor Zhuang explained the content carefully, and then used scissors to cut a smaller brass plate again.
This time, place it on the quilt base mold and align it with the quilt punch.
"Boom!" The hammer hit and landed on the end of the punch, and the thin and small brass plate suddenly sank into the base.
After seven or eight hammer blows, a round brass quilt came out of the furnace and came into the sight of all the surrounding workers.
Incredible!
It’s incredible!
Seeing this scene, the workers with rich experience in reloading bullets were all uneasy. They looked like they had seen a ghost. The bottle-shaped shells were formed with just a few hammers, and the round jackets were smashed out with just a few hammers...
You must know that the manufacturing difficulty of cartridge cases and jackets is in the first echelon of the bullet production process, second only to primers.
The man in front of me, whom my own leader respected so much but was a stranger to, actually did it with just a few hammers!
God, do you want to be so exaggerated?
When Chen Kang saw the brand new jacket, he looked at the cartridge case again, his eyes full of joy. Although the labor efficiency was very low, he could really make customized ammunition.
"The top of the jacket stamping rod is round. It can only punch the round-headed bullet jackets made in Hanyang. It cannot stamp the official pointed bullet jackets. You need to pay attention to this. Then there is the primer stamping, or the primer stamping rod.
, use as much strength as possible, punch it out in one go, and trim the edges at the end." Then, Zhuang Qianding finally used the primer to punch the rod, and stamped out the primer seat with average accuracy. He explained and demonstrated at the same time: "Do you understand?"
"I understand." The worker standing closest to the operating table nodded quickly and replied. At this moment, he already understood what Zhuang Qianding was doing and what they were about to do.
Make bullets!
Make real bullets, not reloaded bullets!
At this moment, although he did not know Zhuang Qianding's name and identity, the worker respected Zhuang Qianding from the bottom of his heart.
"With the cartridge case, jacket, primer seat, and cartridge core, it is a bullet. Next, we assemble the bullet. Remember, sealant paint is applied to the connection between the bullet and the cartridge case, and moisture-proof paint is applied to the connection between the primer and the cartridge case.
We can't mix things up." Zhuang Qianding turned around and looked at everyone, seriously explained the knowledge, and then demonstrated assembling bullets under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Wrap the bullet core with armor, apply moisture-proof paint, install the primer seat, load the primer, apply sealing paint, load the granular single-base propellant, and finally insert the warhead into the shell bottle mouth by extrusion. The entire assembly process is the same as
There is no difference between reloading bullets, but the difference is that this is a serious fixed-loading bullet.
Soon, a 7.92mm round-nose bullet was assembled, and the first custom-loaded bullet in the history of the base area was born.
"Xiao Lin, how long did it take?" After loading the bullet, Zhuang Qianding relaxed slightly and looked at Lin Wan beside him.
"A total of 6 minutes." Lin Wan responded.
"About 240 rounds in 24 hours. If it can last five minutes, we can basically produce 300 rounds of ammunition a day." Zhuang Qianding simply calculated the data, nodded affirmatively, looked at the workers around him, and said seriously: "No way.
Due to the principle of confidentiality, I cannot tell you my identity information, but you can try to produce bullets now. If you have any questions, just ask and I will try my best to answer them."
"Sir, how come you can get out a bullet casing with just a few hammer blows and it's so accurate?" a middle-aged worker about forty years old asked respectfully.
Zhuang Qianding answered: "This is a stamping process. Look carefully at the punch head and base mold. As long as pressure is applied, the head can press down the brass plate and use the mold to create a cartridge case. The jacket and primer seat are even
That’s it.”
"So that's what it looks like...I understand." Upon hearing this, the middle-aged worker immediately looked carefully at the punch rod and base mold. Although he didn't understand what the stamping process was, he could understand its meaning and principle.
Another worker with a beard asked: "Sir, how do you make bullet cores?"
"It's very simple to process with a lathe and easy to use," said Zhuang Qianding.
lathe?
The workers around him suddenly understood.
"Do you have any questions?" Seeing that no one asked any more questions, Zhuang Qianding looked at everyone.
All the workers shook their heads. They were just surprised that they could make a standard bullet case with just a few hammers. As for the production process, they said they already understood it.
In a word, the hammer is swinging and the cart is bullet-proof.
They know all these.
"Then let's try to produce bullets first, and those who can lathe will turn out the bullet cores." Zhuang Qianding immediately gave the instruction.
If you want to teach, then teach it well and let the workers learn the skills first.