Make France Great Again-Chapter 738 - 729: The Nearly Perfect Breech-Loading Gun
Staring at the target with a bullet hole in the distance, Jerome Bonaparte felt slightly embarrassed, because the bullet from the Mauser Rear-loading Rifle almost missed the target.
Valerovsky, standing by his side, didn’t feel embarrassed at all. He immediately applauded and flattered Jerome Bonaparte, saying, "Well! Your Majesty, great shooting!"
Old Mauser and his sons, realizing what was happening, also began to applaud, praising Jerome Bonaparte’s sunset red marksmanship.
"Hehe!" Jerome Bonaparte felt even more embarrassed.
So, he handed a paper cartridge to Valerovsky, with a friendly smile, saying, "Minister Valvesky, why don’t you give it a try too!"
Valerovsky was taken aback for a moment, then accepted the paper cartridge and the Mauser Rear-loading Gun handed to him by Jerome Bonaparte.
When Valerovsky opened the Mauser Rear-loading Gun, a wisp of white smoke drifted out of the barrel.
"Go ahead!" Jerome Bonaparte said lightly, then added, "Valerovsky, I know your shooting skills, so don’t try to fool me by missing the target!"
Upon hearing this, Valerovsky immediately felt as if he had shot himself in the foot.
Why did he have to say something flattering earlier? Now the Emperor wouldn’t allow him to miss the target.
Seeing that he couldn’t bluff his way through, Valerovsky had no choice but to grit his teeth, load the paper cartridge into the barrel, close it, concentrate on aiming at the distant target, while thinking about how to score lower than the Emperor without missing the target.
Meanwhile, Jerome Bonaparte folded his arms and conversed with old Mauser, "Mr. Mauser!"
"Your Majesty, what are your orders!" old Mauser inquired of Jerome Bonaparte.
"Here’s the thing, Mr. Mauser, I noticed a piece of rubber at the striker of this Mauser Rifle, and I wonder, in the situation of switching to brass bullets, how would you ensure smooth extraction of brass cartridges?" Jerome Bonaparte asked old Mauser, "Moreover, I don’t see an extraction mechanism on your rifle!"
After a moment of silence, old Mauser responded to Jerome Bonaparte, "Your Majesty, this rifle is not equipped with an extraction mechanism!"
"So, this is a product entirely for paper cartridge shooting!" Jerome Bonaparte inquired further of old Mauser.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" old Mauser nodded and responded to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Can you tell me why you didn’t follow the design ideas I gave you?" Jerome Bonaparte asked old Mauser seriously.
"Your Majesty, this isn’t my father’s fault!" Paul Mauser spoke up, pleading with Jerome Bonaparte, "This is all my fault!"
"Paul, I’m not trying to assign blame!" Jerome Bonaparte quickly realized there was an issue with his tone and corrected himself, responding to Paul Mauser, "My question is, where did you encounter difficulties?"
Paul Mauser told Jerome Bonaparte that they encountered some difficulties with the metallic cartridged ammunition.
Although metallic cartridge ammunition first appeared over 20 years ago (in the 1830s), it only truly developed in the 1850s.
It means the whole development time for metallic cartridges is only about 5 years, so there are many technical problems to be addressed.
If these issues with metallic ammunition are not addressed, even if an extraction mechanism is completed now, it would require major adjustments in the future.
Under these circumstances, it’s better to first test other performances.
Once the metallic cartridges are fully matured, then the extraction mechanism can be considered.
Moreover, installing a magazine will need to wait until the extraction mechanism is resolved.
"I understand!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded to Paul Mauser in response.
Just then, a gunshot rang out, and Jerome Bonaparte shifted his attention from the Mauser father and son to the target.
In the distance, more than 200 meters away, another small black dot appeared on the target, the black dot also positioned at the edge area of the target.
"Your Majesty!" Valerovsky put down the Mauser Rear-loading Gun in his hand, and felt a sense of relief inside.
"Not bad! Not bad!" Jerome Bonaparte glanced at the sweat on Valerovsky’s forehead, hinting, "You’ve worked hard!"
"Not at all! Not at all!" Valerovsky showed a slightly embarrassed smile. That shot had indeed exhausted him immensely; it was arguably the hardest shot of his life!
"Alright then! Wipe it, the sweat is about to drip down to your chin!" Jerome Bonaparte said lightly, then took the rifle from Valerovsky’s hand.
Just when Jerome Bonaparte was about to test another shot, the person sent to fetch brass bullets appeared and handed the bullets to old Mauser.
"Your Majesty, the bullets have arrived!" old Mauser handed a few brass bullets to Jerome Bonaparte.
Holding the brass bullet with a diameter of about 11mm in his hand (before smokeless powder was produced, bullet diameters were generally larger than after smokeless powder), Jerome Bonaparte hesitated for a moment, then returned the brass bullet to Old Mauser.
"Your Majesty, aren’t you going to continue the experiment?" Old Mauser looked at Jerome Bonaparte with curiosity and asked.
"I’ll wait until you’ve completed the shell extraction mechanism, then I’ll test it!" Jerome Bonaparte replied to Old Mauser. "The current focus of the test is the rifle’s range!"
Then, Jerome Bonaparte ordered Valvesky to call in the retired soldiers patrolling the industrial park.
The retired soldiers first saluted Jerome Bonaparte and then asked what instructions Jerome Bonaparte had for them.
Jerome Bonaparte casually assigned one person and handed the Mauser Rear-loading Rifle and three paper-wrapped fixed cartridges to him.
"Now, I want you to shoot at the target from approximately 300, 400, and 500 meters!" Jerome Bonaparte ordered the veteran, pointing at the distant target.
"Your Majesty, watch closely! Back then, I was also..." The veteran patted his chest and bragged to Jerome Bonaparte.
After that, the veteran walked to about 300 meters away and began to open the paper-wrapped fixed cartridge, intending to pour it into the gun barrel.
"Wait a moment!" Jerome Bonaparte hurriedly stopped him.
Under the veteran’s puzzled gaze, Jerome Bonaparte pointed at the breech of the Mauser Rifle and said to the veteran, "This type of rifle doesn’t need the wrapped paper shell; you just need to load the whole thing into the rifle!!"
"Your Majesty, is this a rear-loading gun?" The veteran widened his eyes and asked Jerome Bonaparte.
"Yes!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded. "What’s wrong? Are there any difficulties?"
"No, none!" The veteran shook his head at Jerome Bonaparte, then couldn’t help but remind, "Your Majesty, I’ve heard that the performance of rear-loading guns is far inferior to front-loading ones!"
"That depends on what aspect of performance you’re talking about!" Jerome Bonaparte replied to the veteran with a smile, "If you’re simply evaluating power and range, currently, rear-loading guns can’t compare with front-loading ones! (The range of the Chasebo Rifle in 1866 was the same as the Minie Gun, and its power slightly inferior to the Minie Gun)
But if you’re talking about firing rate and other aspects, rear-loading guns are far superior to front-loading guns.
Moreover, the potential of rear-loading guns is much greater than front-loading!"
"But I remember my previous officer saying he would rather die than use a rear-loading gun!" The veteran said to Jerome Bonaparte once more.
Indeed, under the premise that rear-loading guns have not been tested in actual combat (Dreiser even lost face in Olomouc), the conservative forces in the military find it hard to let a Minie Rifle, which has proven itself in the Crimean War, completely exit the stage!
"That’s not up to them!" Jerome Bonaparte responded firmly.
Once the technology of metal fixed cartridges and Mauser Rifles is fully mature, he will implement it across the army.
No one should try to stop him!
The veteran said no more and began loading the bullet into the breech.
After a while, the sound of gunfire rang out, and Jerome Bonaparte immediately used a telescope to observe.
Through the telescope, Jerome Bonaparte saw a new bullet hole appear on the target over 300 meters away from him, very close to the bullseye.
"Very good!" Jerome Bonaparte patted the veteran’s shoulder, "You were indeed a skilled hand in the army!"
The veteran chuckled and then ran to the 400-meter mark for the second shot.
This shot was evidently not as good as the previous one, with the bullet hole very close to the edge of the target.
When the veteran ran to the target roughly 500 meters away, Jerome Bonaparte immediately ordered him to change the target. The veteran no longer aimed at the target but at the large tree behind it, which was much easier to hit than the target.
"No problem!" The veteran raised the gun and fired again, and soon another bullet hole appeared on the tree.
"Continue!" Jerome Bonaparte ordered the veteran to retreat to 600 meters, this time with the bullet hole on the edge of the tree.
The veteran’s face showed a look of surprise, having used the Minie Gun himself, he understood that such a range was almost equal to that of the Minie Gun.
This meant that this rear-loading gun could completely replace the ecological niche of the Minie Gun, and its reloading speed was faster than the Minie Gun’s.
"Excellent!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded, then said to the veteran, "You may leave!"
The veteran handed the Mauser Rear-loading Rifle to Jerome Bonaparte and left. Jerome Bonaparte said to Old Mauser, "Mr. Mauser, honestly, your rifle has reached the point where it can fully replace the Minie Rifle. I find it hard to believe you’ve created such a perfect piece in such a short amount of time!"
