Chapter 1672 The Romance of the Cavalry: I'd rather die than a pistol
In the afternoon of that day, Li Xuan personally watched the live ammunition testing of these three rifles.
The results of the test were very obvious. The rifle of the Jinling Arms Design Bureau, a subsidiary of Jiangnan Arms Company, ranked last because after more than thirty consecutive shots, the long firing pin of the test gun broke.
The penultimate rifle is the rifle from Hanyang Arsenal. There is no problem in the regular live ammunition test. However, because it uses paper-cased bullets, it can only be loaded manually with a single shot, and the rate of fire is not very fast.
In addition, in the mid-distance test of 300 meters, the accuracy performance was pretty good, but after reaching 500 meters, the accuracy dropped significantly, and then more or less problems appeared after the heat resistance and cold resistance tests.
The best performing rifle is naturally the new rifle designed by Professor Li Fu. It has excellent accuracy and the longest effective range. At the same time, the reliability test far exceeds the previous two rifles, even after high temperature or extreme cold or other complex environments.
You can also continue to use it.
And there is also a very prominent advantage, that is, because it uses all-metal bullets, it can be fed from the magazine, the rate of fire is faster, and it is convenient and stable when shooting.
Both the military and Li Xuan had already expected this result.
The rifle designed by Professor Li Fu is naturally good, but it is expensive and the military cannot afford to equip it.
For weapons and equipment, what is needed is not the best, but the most cost-effective.
So when Li Xuan saw the designs of these three rifles in person, he made his own decision. He was full of praise for the designs of Hanyang Arsenal on the spot.
It is said to achieve the best performance within limited cost.
Li Xuan said that it has basically been determined that the military's next generation rifle will be based on the design of Hanyang Arsenal. Of course, it cannot be directly equipped because this gun still has flaws.
So Li Xuan then told the accompanying generals that the performance of these three rifles have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they also have different characteristics. The new generation rifle is related to the main rifle in the next ten years or even longer, so it is necessary to
Learn the advantages of different rifles from each other.
For example, the cost of the Li Fu rifle is high purely because the design standards are too high and the processing requirements are too high. In addition, all-metal bullets use more copper and the ammunition cost is high. However, this does not mean that there are no merits, such as the standard
Although it is high, it is still acceptable to lower it appropriately.
There is also the design of Hanyang Arsenal. Although its barrel design has poor accuracy in long-range shooting of more than 500 meters, in actual combat, it is impossible for soldiers to attack targets 500 meters away.
Because human vision is limited, without the help of a high-magnification sight, it is impossible for ordinary soldiers to hit such a distant target, so the accuracy of the gun is useless.
In the age of flintlock muskets, the combat distance between soldiers was within one hundred meters, and more often between eighty meters and fifty meters. The hit rate was not good when it was over eighty meters, and when it was less than fifty meters
The requirements for the courage and quality of the military are too high.
The front-loaded rifled rifle that was previously transitionally equipped on the Central Asian frontline and the Guards, that is, the Mini rifle, has an effective range of about 400 meters. However, according to actual combat on the frontline, the best combat distance is within 100 meters.
Within 100 meters to 300 meters, because if it exceeds 300 meters, it is difficult for soldiers to aim, and they can only rely on more bullets to form a barrage to kill the enemy, which is a huge waste of ammunition.
As for the limit of one hundred meters, it is naturally because the enemies of the Tang Dynasty all used flintlock guns, and the effective range was within one hundred meters.
So from a practical point of view, the rifle design of Hanyang Arsenal actually has merits. The drop in hit rate beyond 500 meters is not a problem, as long as the hit rate can be maintained at a distance of three to four hundred meters, it is enough.
In the end, even the rifle design of Jinling City Weapon Design Bureau has merits. Their gun design is quite good, and the gun stock is more in line with the usage habits of soldiers.
Therefore, Li Xuan asked the Army to absorb the advantages of all aspects and then conduct a comprehensive design. As for the new technology patents designed for these rifles, there is no problem at all.
After all, rifles and artillery are not ordinary commodities, but national defense products. The three major arms companies are also wholly-owned enterprises directly under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises, and the Royal Institute of Technology is also an official institution, so there are no issues such as patent restrictions.
However, when he ordered the Army to combine the advantages of all aspects before designing, Li Xuan also ordered the Guards to find an arsenal to produce some Li Fu rifles.
The Army has to consider procurement costs, subsequent use costs and ammunition supply issues, but the Guards do not need to consider these issues. The Guards only want the best.
Anyway, there are only three divisions of the Guards, and the total number of them can't be used for tens of thousands of rifles. Li Xuan said that they can afford it.
After all, this Li Fu rifle is still quite good. In Li Xuan's view, if it can be replaced with smokeless bullets and the caliber can be reduced, it will basically be the standard rifle of later generations during the First World War.
In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the Guards, a small amount of equipment is not a big problem.
The advance equipment of the Guards with this rifle will not only enhance the combat effectiveness of the Guards, but also enhance the arsenal's processing and production capabilities by purchasing orders for Li Fu rifles.
After looking at many rifles, the Army's new generation rifle is still missing. It is estimated that a comprehensive design will be needed, but it has entered the final stage of research, and it will not take long to come up with the final design and start production.
However, the Guards can first equip a small amount of Li Fu rifles.
And even if the future army's new rifles are developed and equipped, their performance will still be inferior to the Li Fu rifle. After all, among the three major weapons companies and the Royal Institute of Technology, the technology of guns and guns is basically transparent. The performance of the Li Fu rifle
It's all due to cost, not some more clever design.
To reduce costs, we can only lower standards.
While looking at the standard rifles, Li Xuan also took the time to look at some of the lances and pistols. There was nothing much to say about the lances. In order to unify logistics and control manufacturing costs, the cavalry muskets of the Tang Empire were always modified from infantry muskets.
Yes, just cut off part of the barrel.
The same is true for the navy. The rifles used by the navy are also army rifles. They are actually the same, except that the barrel is slightly shorter.
As for pistols, they were also in a mess. Li Xuan even saw a revolver, but it was still a flash cap firing pistol, which was not very reliable. It was still different from Li Xuan's impression of later generations' revolvers using metal bullets.
Huge difference.
However, pistols have never been taken seriously in the Tang Empire. Nowadays, only officers are generally equipped with pistols as decorations.
It's for decoration, not a weapon.
The weapons of officers are their sabers, and junior officers will also directly fight with rifles.
The cavalry has one man per man, but the cavalry is rarely used. Sometimes in order to reduce the load, the pistol will be thrown away before the battle begins...
Even if there is a revolver now, Li Xuan estimates that his fate will be very bumpy. This is not a question of whether it is useful or not, but the army's prejudice against cavalry pistols.
Many Tang Dynasty cavalry generals' attitude towards cavalry pistols was that they would rather die than use them!
And now Mini rifles have begun to be used as transitional equipment. Since the 3rd Cavalry Division used Mini rifles to achieve good results last year, most of the troops in the Western Expeditionary Army are now equipped with Mini rifles. In just one year
, there are already more than 100,000 equipped.
Nowadays, the Army has a new trend of thought regarding the use of cavalry units!
That’s kite flying!
Make use of the ultra-long range of your own rifled rifle and shoot from a few hundred meters away. When the enemy comes, you will run away on horseback, and when the enemy stops, you will continue to shoot.
This new tactic of just attacking the enemy without any danger in itself made many cavalry generals think it was beautiful just thinking about it.
As for close combat, the Tang cavalry said that we have sabers and use pistols for medium and close combat. How can we use sabers to charge!
Any cavalryman who uses a pistol is a coward!
The cavalry's prejudice against pistols and preference for sabers has not been formed in a year or two, but has been formed in more than 20 years. It is estimated that it will be difficult to change them in a short period of time.
Artillery and firearms are the focus of Li Xuan's inspection at the Guards training ground this time. Of course, this does not mean that he only looks at guns and cannons, but also other ordnance and equipment.
Many of them are inconspicuous, but are indispensable to the army, such as kettles, military shoes and even tents, etc.
There is also a military wired telegraph system!
Ever since the Tang Empire developed the telegraph, the military has always wanted to use telegraphs to quickly transmit messages. Naturally, those ultra-long-distance telegraph lines have nothing to do with the military, that is the telegraph company's business.
What the Army wants is a telegraph system that can be deployed directly and quickly on the frontline battlefield.
For example, if an army is stationed in a certain area, several of its divisions may be stationed dozens of kilometers around. In the past, messengers on horseback were relied on to report news. If there is a telegraph, rapid communication can be achieved directly.
.
Moreover, it is not difficult to lay telegraph lines of several kilometers or tens of kilometers.
After cooperating with Datang Telegraph Company, the military purchased a batch of their telegraph machines and tried to use telegraphs for rapid communication on the battlefield.
Li Xuan naturally supported the emergence of these new equipment.
A few days later, Li Xuan did not bring too many people with him, but only brought some military personnel with him to the Guards' shooting range again, preparing to see a variety of live ammunition designs of artillery currently in service and about to be equipped.
In the past few days, Li Xuan only watched all kinds of messy things, such as live ammunition shooting, and only watched live ammunition shooting of rifles.
The reason why there are no arrangements for artillery is because there are too many types of artillery that need to be tested, and many of them are heavy artillery, such as a 300-millimeter naval gun, which cannot be displayed at ordinary shooting ranges.
Because its maximum effective range reaches ten kilometers, and it makes too much noise when shooting.
Therefore, this time the artillery fire was arranged in the suburbs, targeting the wasteland across the Yangtze River!