Chapter 1164: The Eve of the Military Industry Explosion
"You built it this quickly?"
Joseph looked in surprise at his proud father, weighing the firearm in his hand.
The gun was heavy, its weight enough to serve as a hammer if swung. It possessed that distinct, solid metal heft characteristic of the steam age.
Louis XVI said gleefully, "Originally, the hammer linkage required welding, and the strength simply wasn't sufficient. But now, it was machined directly using that milling machine. Then there is the rotating cylinder—it is very difficult to achieve high airtightness through manual polishing."
He gestured toward the handgun. "With this one, I can barely see a single gap with my naked eye."
He turned around and took another cylinder from the box he had brought. "This one was filed by Monsieur Aymeric. The contrast is quite obvious."
Joseph took the handcrafted cylinder and could see the file marks. Its flatness and edge refinement were far inferior to those produced by the rotary milling machine.
'Industrialization is indeed the ultimate form of military power,' he mused. Now that they had high-precision machine tools, the number of new weapons they could attempt to develop had suddenly multiplied.
The first thing that came to his mind was the breech-loading cannon.
The simplest type of breech-loader to implement involved using an iron block to plug the end of the gun barrel, then using an oversized bolt to press against it to achieve a seal.
This required the iron block sealing the gun barrel to fit perfectly with no gaps whatsoever.
Furthermore, the bolt had to withstand the immense pressure within the chamber without deforming, while still being easy to unscrew and tighten at any time.
None of this could be achieved through manual craftsmanship.
Of course, Joseph suspected that even the precision of the Royal Type I might not be enough, and Whitney would need to continue making improvements.
However, once the technology for breech-loading cannons was breached, the combat effectiveness of the French army would increase several times over.
First, the rate of fire of a breech-loader completely crushed that of a muzzle-loader. For every shot a muzzle-loader fired, a breech-loader could fire two or three.
This was equivalent to doubling or tripling the density of firepower.
Secondly, breech-loading cannons were naturally compatible with rifling. The diameter of the projectile for a breech-loader had to be slightly larger than the cannon's bore so that it could jam into the end of the gun barrel, facilitating the loading of gunpowder.
Once the projectile was fired, it would embed itself into the rifling to achieve rotation, resulting in terrifyingly high accuracy.
In contrast, muzzle-loading rifled cannons were extremely difficult to load. Because a projectile slightly larger than the muzzle had to be hammered down to the bottom of the cannon, the time consumed—not to mention the physical strength required of the soldiers—was enough for the enemy to fire several rounds in return.
Finally, breech-loading cannons could be fitted with gun shields—large iron plates mounted in the middle of the gun barrel. Artillerymen could operate the cannon from behind these shields without having to run to the muzzle.
This greatly increased the safety margin for the artillery crews; at the very least, it made it difficult for enemy infantry to pick them off.
At the same time, the cannon's ammunition could be stacked entirely behind the gun shield, reducing the risk of accidental explosions from enemy fire.
For the navy, breech-loading cannons were even more of a divine gift.
On land, artillerymen could move to the front of the cannon to reload. On a warship, however, a muzzle-loading cannon had to be retracted into the middle of the gun deck after firing, reloaded, and then pushed back out through the gun port.
With breech-loading cannons, the gunners only needed to continuously load and fire. The rate of fire would be more than three times higher than that of muzzle-loaders.
This would allow the firepower density of a fifth-rate cruiser to nearly match that of a third-rate battleship!
And that wasn't even accounting for the increase in firepower brought by the extreme accuracy of rifled cannons.
Joseph was about to excitedly discuss breech-loading cannons with his father when he suddenly noticed the revolver in his hand.
He immediately realized that in order to manufacture this thing, his father had likely delayed much of the development progress on the steam forging machine.
'Well, I shouldn't use new weapons to distract the attention of the steam forging machine project lead.'
The development of breech-loading cannons could be left to the Engineering Design Institute and the Royal Armory. After all, French weapon development couldn't always depend on His Majesty the King.
Furthermore, the complexity of such a weapon was much higher than previous firearms, involving metal materials, casting, chemistry, and many other fields in which his father did not specialize. A professional research and development team would have to be assembled to take charge.
Over there, Louis XVI was already learning how to operate the high-precision milling machine from Lenoir.
He continued tinkering until nearly midnight, only then signaling the latter to shut down the machine with a look of lingering excitement.
Joseph stepped forward to ask, "Dear father, shall we now..."
He had intended to say "return to Versailles to rest," but to his surprise, Louis XVI nodded vigorously and interjected, "Yes, we are going to the firing range now to test the revolver!"
"Ah..." Joseph could only force himself to stay alert, nodding with a smile. "I would also very much like to see the performance of this unprecedented weapon."
On the way, Joseph subtly asked about the development progress of the steam forging machine. To his surprise, while his father had been playing with guns, he hadn't neglected his proper work.
Currently, his project team had already built a full-sized, low-power prototype, though its reliability had not yet met the requirements.
"However, after seeing that milling machine, I already have many ideas for improvements," Louis XVI said excitedly. "For example, some load-bearing components can now be manufactured using integrated machining methods, which will greatly increase their structural integrity. The airtightness of those piston components can also be much improved compared to before."
"Oh, and the bearings. I heard that the ironworks in Namur produced a type of very wear-resistant steel that could enhance the performance of the bearings..."
Listening to his rambling, Joseph suddenly felt that everything in the carriage was incredibly warm—chatting about light topics with his closest kin, looking forward to a better tomorrow together.
This was the best reward for his years of hard work.
'Then, no one shall be allowed to break this peace and harmony!'
As Louis XVI was talking about the material for the anvil, the carriage slowly came to a halt. The King's attendant opened the door and bowed. "Your Majesty, we have arrived at the firing range."
Joseph followed his father out of the carriage. The gas lamps surrounding the area were already lit, making the place as bright as day.
Louis XVI walked familiarly to the shooting area, took out his precious revolver, and personally loaded six rounds through the cylinders before handing the gun to the test shooter.
"I feel like I could almost fire it myself."
As Louis XVI spoke, a loud blast rang out from beside them—Bang!
The test shooter skillfully cocked the hammer, inserted a percussion cap, raised the gun, and fired again.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
In less than eight seconds, he had finished all six rounds, and white gunpowder smoke rose into the air.
A target marker in the distance poked his head out and shouted, "Six shots fired, all hits on the target!"
Joseph squinted and saw that the thick, man-sized wooden board twenty-five meters away had been snapped in half by the bullets.
Indeed, this revolver used a rifled barrel, making its accuracy very high.
As for the difficulty of loading, since six rounds could be loaded in advance, it had almost no impact on the initial engagement.
In fact, a rate of fire of six shots in eight seconds could already be considered the submachine gun of this era.
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