Marin had been hesitant to take out the Mini rifle because it was too powerful. With this gun, you can not only hurt people, but if you leak secrets, you can also hurt yourself. In the case that he has not yet won the religious wars and gained enough territory, the leakage of the secrets of the Minnie rifle is a disaster. Therefore, Marin was reluctant to "invent" the Mini rifle and the Mini round.

Marin's original plan was to suddenly launch Minnie rifles and Minnie rounds before the Religious Wars, and then use the powerful firepower advantage to quickly destroy the enemy and grab enough territory. As for whether the technology is leaked afterwards, it doesn't matter.

He was sure that as long as he introduced the Mini rifle and the Mini round, the French would have obtained the secrets of the Mini rifle and the Mini bullet by any means necessary, just as they had obtained the secret recipe of the Venetian mirror. Not only France, but other countries that want to be militarily strong will do the same.

Before he had enough strength to resist the coveting from all sides, Marin did not want to come up with Mini rifles and Mini bullets that were simple in technology and easy to be plagiarized. That is, Marin does not want to mount a rifled gun at the moment, but will have to wait and see.

However, without the use of Minnie rifles and Minnie rounds, Marin's musketeers have little advantage. Shooting against people is basically relying on Meng. Spherical buckshot is too easy to roll and fly, and it is really difficult to hit the enemy. Historically, Europeans have relied on each other to shoot muskets at each other for three or four hundred years. Later, the British realized a truth - it is better to stand there and cover each other's fire, it is better to gather fire within 30 paces of each other's fire, and then rush up to fight bayonets......

In other words, the only advantage of Marin's current musketeers is that they do not use arquebuses, they are not affected by the weather, and the musketeers are no more than 1 meter apart, so they can line up more densely. However, no matter how densely lined up, it is still ...... to shoot at people

……

Then, in the case that Marin refuses to launch the rifled gun, the pinnacle killer of the smoothbore gun, the single-headed bullet, is the best choice.

Although the power of the one-headed bullet is not as strong as that of the Mini bullet, within 100 meters, there is no need to be blind. At 150 meters, most of the single-headed shells are also very accurate. And some well-crafted single-headed bullets can even hit accurately at a distance of 200 meters (with a bit of luck, of course).

If a single bullet is used, then Marin's musketeers can no longer be blinded by the mutual fire, but aim at the opponent and harvest the head......

Especially if you're aiming at the opposing commanders, that's even better......

Before the advent of modern armies, European armies, like Asian armies, relied heavily on commanders. If the commander dies in battle, there is a high probability that the army will collapse. Therefore, the benefits of killing the commander are very large.

In this era, in order to show courage, commanders often lead their troops to walk in a relatively high position, encourage soldiers and command on the spot. Generally speaking, the commander is certainly nearby, if not at the forefront. At least, within 200 meters.

In addition, the commander is generally on horseback, and the upper half of his body will definitely be exposed for you to look at......

Therefore, with a single-headed bullet that can accurately kill an officer within 200 meters, then the impact on the battle situation will be greater.

……

In addition, the reason why Marin favors single-headed bullets is because the craftsmanship of single-headed bullets is very demanding!

Yes, don't look at the single-headed bullet is a smoothbore gun bullet, but its process requirements are very high. It engraved the rifling into the head of the bullet so that the wind could spin the bullet......

Herein lies the problem......

In general, with rifled guns, one barrel can be used repeatedly. Therefore, even if one barrel is obliterated, it is a big deal to replace it with another one. I had to pass the barrel inspection and go to the battlefield, and there would generally be no major problems.

But the one-headed bullet is different......

The single-headed bullet engraved the rifling on the bullet, and if the rifling is crooked, it will be miserable, and it will fly crookedly, resulting in a miss on the target.

Therefore, the rifling of the head of the single-headed bullet must be engraved precisely and evenly, and there must be no mistakes. Otherwise, the purpose of using the wind power will not be achieved. Moreover, it must be the case with every one-headed bomb.

In this way, it is difficult, not to mention the manufacturing level in the early 16th century, even in the arsenal of Tuba Road during the Anti-Japanese War in the 20th century, it will definitely not meet this requirement. And the consequence of not meeting the requirements is that the bullet will not hit accurately......

What's worse is that bullets in this era are made of lead. What is lead? Soft! If you bump it during transportation and break the rifling, the bullet will be useless.

Therefore, the single-headed bullets of the shotgun bullets of later generations are sealed and packaged in the hard plastic shell of the shotgun bullet, so that they are not allowed to be bumped. But what are the habits of musketeers now? They all took out lead bullets from their bags and stabbed them roughly into the barrel with an iron strip. If you treat it like this, you will definitely make a single-headed bullet made of lead useless.

In addition, the quality control of goods made by European craftsmen in this era was also very loose, and it was difficult to accurately produce single-headed bullets that met the aerodynamic requirements. Unlike later generations, automatic machine tools were used directly, and the accuracy was very high.

……

Marlin isn't afraid of precision issues, though. It's a big deal, take the high-end route. Moreover, since the promotion of vernier calipers to strictly control the quality, the precision of Beihai machinery manufacturing has been greatly improved, and it is definitely far beyond other European countries in the same era. At present, the accuracy of other European countries is still millimeter-level, while the manufacturing accuracy of Beihai country has reached 0.1 millimeter-level. Of course, this is a requirement when manufacturing high-quality products, and the scrap rate is also very high. However, this is well suited to the production of such a demanding thing as a single-headed projectile. Moreover, high-precision gadgets can also form technical barriers to other European countries.

It's just that it seems that there are not such high requirements for making a single-headed bomb...... Although mass production is more troublesome, it is not difficult to manufacture on a small scale......

……

As soon as he said he would do it, Marin approached Leonardo da Vinci and helped him spend a precise drawing, that is, a drawing of a one-headed bullet.

In order to achieve the longest possible effective range, Marin designed the single-headed bullet to be "male-rifled in the head and tail with a tail"

The two technologies are 2-in-1 in shape. With the two designs of stable flight, the rifling and the tail work together, the bullet flies more steadily, and the effective range is naturally higher.

Drawings are very easy to draw, after all, Marin is an expert in drawing, and Leonardo da Vinci is a master of drawing. As long as you pay attention to the symmetry of the rifling, there is nothing.

However, it shouldn't be too difficult to convert it into a real thing. In modern times, as long as the drawing data is input into the computer, then the CNC machine can easily cut it for you. But this handmade era......

Marin hired a few carpenters who were good at carving, and carved the prototype of the one-headed bullet out of wood day and night according to the drawings. After carving, he personally measured the ...... one by one with vernier calipers

In this way, after carving thousands of failed products, Marin finally got 5 qualified finished products.

Then, Marin brought in the craftsmen who made the pottery and asked them to make the clay. After preparing the clay, Marin inserted 5 qualified single-headed wooden models into the clay to obtain the model space. Then, he had the clay model air-dry for a while using a thin blade, and everything was in two. The clay model, which was then split in half, was fired in a furnace......

In the same way, Marin made a hundred pottery models. But after the final acceptance, only 7 qualified products remained. However, this is also enough.

With Tao Fan, making a single bullet is simple - Marin combines two halves of Tao Fan into one, and then pours molten lead liquid. After it cooled down, he broke the two halves of the pottery fan and got a one-headed bomb.

……

However, when trying to reload and test the results, Marlin encountered a big problem. It's the same thing he'd thought before - reloading tends to deform one-headed bullets......

Because it is used in front-loading smoothbore guns, single-headed bullets also need to be pierced into the barrel with iron strips. However, the single-headed bullet made of lead is so soft, how can it be stabbed hard with an iron strip? It's going to be broken...... And once it is stabbed, it will not be far away......

How do you safely poke a single bullet to the bottom of the barrel? This question has been bothering Marin for a long time......

At the same time, there is another big problem - since the tail section has been changed to a tail fin similar to a mortar shell, the tail section may not be able to hold the bullet breath. Also, stuffing paper balls or leather underlays will not work. Because, after the gunpowder breaks through the protection of the paper ball or leather, the force acts on the bullet, and there will still be problems. The small tail could not withstand the thrust of enough gunpowder gas. In other words, the thrust of gunpowder gas does not work well on the single-headed projectile......

……

How did the future generations solve this problem? Add a wooden bullet stock? Marin began to reminisce......

Indeed, adding a cylindrical cork butt behind the tail of the single-headed bomb can solve the problem of breath-holding, and the cork butt can completely absorb the thrust of gunpowder gas and transmit the thrust to the tail of the single-headed bomb.

……

Well, the last question remains - how to avoid the rifling of the head of the single-headed bullet from being pierced by the iron strip when loading?

Cancel the rifling of the head and keep only the tail fin? That's a good idea. However, it will reduce performance. Without the male-rifling that causes rotation, the effective range of the single-headed projectile will definitely be much lower.

However, if you don't cancel the rifling of the head, the lead bullet really can't resist the barbaric stabbing of the iron tongtong......

……

For several days, Marin had some troubles with the solution. Just when he was about to compromise and get rid of the rifling of the one-headed bullet head, he suddenly found inspiration at the dinner table......

Robert, the bear child, Marin's future pope, mischievously pierced an egg with a chopstick during a meal, and then laughed at the chopsticks with the eggs skewered. Then, Caesar, another bear child, did the same, poking an egg with chopsticks and waving it......

Marin suddenly had an inspiration -

"Soft lead...... Piercing ...... Or, just let Tietongtiao stab through the lead bullet? Marin thought about it, but shook his head.

Later generations did have hollow bullets, and the hollow shaft could also be used. But the problem is that the iron pass may not be so accurate. Once the buckshot is stabbed and the center of gravity changes, the bullet is useless......

"Why don't you just make a central shaft for buckshot?" Watching the two bear children waving chopsticks, Marlin was inspired......

……

Then, he modified the model and punched the mold so that a thin iron bar was inserted in the central axis between the head and tail of the single-headed war.

After penetrating the tail fin, the thin iron bar sticks out and inserts it into the cylindrical cork stock, perfectly combining the single-head bullet and the stock.

And in the head of the single-headed war, a thin iron bar also sticks out partially. The function of this part is to make Tietong strip poke......

After all, the bullet needs to be stabbed hard into the bottom of the barrel. The lead one-headed bullet itself cannot be stabbed with brutal force. However, this thin iron bar, which is the central axis, can be poked. Because, it is fixed to the cork butt, and stabbing it will not hurt the single-head bullet itself.

After testing, this single-headed bullet with a thin iron bar shaft was safely stabbed into the bottom of the barrel. During the test launch, the effective firing range reached an astonishing 170 meters.

On the side, Leonardo da Vinci, who was onlookers, suddenly said:

"According to the principle of aerodynamics, after the bullet is discharged, the wooden butt hanging behind it seems to have a large air resistance, which affects the range ......."

Marin nodded, acknowledging the situation. In fact, the main function of the wooden butt is actually to transmit the thrust of gunpowder gas. And after the bullet is discharged, because it has a tail fin, the role of the wooden butt is actually dispensable. Attached to the butt, it really hinders the flight of the bullet.

"Why don't we make the connection between the iron bar and the butt move?" Leonardo da Vinci suddenly suggested.

"Why?" Marin was a little unresponsive.

"I think that if the connection between the iron bar and the wooden butt is movable, the bullet may come off automatically after it flies out because of the air resistance. Anyway, you said that with the tail fin, the wooden cartridge butt is useless when the chamber is out. Leonardo da Vinci explained. During this period of physical study, the level of scientific theories has been greatly improved. Even, in many ways, surpassing Marin as a teacher.

Marin was dumbfounded:

"Isn't this a 'tail stabilized deshelling armor-piercing projectile'?"

But he quickly shook his head and said:

"No, it's not about taking off the shell, it's about taking off the burden of the butt, but the meaning is about the same!"

Marlin excitedly had the barbs between the bar and the cork base removed, so that the bar shaft could be easily separated from the cork stock.

When I tested it again, shortly after the bullet was discharged, the cork butt was separated from the single-headed bullet due to air resistance. Without the drag of the air resistance of the cork butt, the single-headed projectile with the combination of two technologies (windward rifling and tail stabilization technology) hit an effective range of 200 meters......

"That's ......," Marin was a little dumbfounded. 200 meters is basically the limit of a one-headed projectile......

Then, Marin looked at Leonardo da Vinci with admiration - sure enough, it was a man who could imagine a helicopter and make a mechanical lion, and a random suggestion had such a good effect......

But before he could be pleasantly surprised, Leonardo da Vinci made another good suggestion:

"Why don't you replace that iron bar with a steel nail? The kind of ...... made of high-carbon steel"

"Why?"

"Break through the armor protection!"

"Oh...... yes, isn't this a carbide point-tipped armor-piercing bullet in the future? Seeing the new one-headed bullet with the nail head exposed in front of the modification, Marin suddenly realized.

Of course, it can also be seen as the kind of steel core bullet that specializes in dealing with body armor in later generations. With the pointed impact of high-carbon steel nails, the ability of bullets to break through the defenses of plate armor is greatly improved.

If it is a single-headed bullet of pure lead, if it hits the plate armor, it can certainly hurt the person wearing the plate armor with the impact force, and even form a pit in the plate armor. However, the lead is too soft after all, which makes it difficult for lead bullets to penetrate the plate armor, and can only injure the person wearing the plate armor through the plate armor, and cannot be fatal.

After testing, it turned out to be the case - the single-headed bullet with a steel nail as the core certainly penetrated some plate armor, but only the steel nail pierced the plate armor, leaving a small eye, and the lead bullet part could not penetrate.

However, the tremendous kinetic energy brought by lead bullets can itself injure those who wear plate armor. Coupled with the puncture damage of nails, the power is much greater than that of simple lead bullets.

Marin also made improvements to the steel nails that serve as the core of the steel - for example, grinding a blood groove on the head of the steel nail to bleed the person who was shot. You can even smear poison in your blood tank to deal more serious damage to your enemies. If the blood trough is smeared with a little Huaxia's "Seeing Blood and Sealing the Throat", then it is simply a nirvana.

In order to improve the strength of the steel nails that are used as steel cores, Marin also asked craftsmen to further carburize and quench the nails after grinding the blood grooves on the heads of the nails of high-carbon steel, so as to further strengthen the hardness of the nail tips and strengthen the armor-piercing ability.

After seeing several instances of a steel core single-headed bullet breaking through the plate armor, Marin was so frightened that he smacked his tongue:

"Well, that's a big deal. In 1508, Lao Tzu came up with an armor-piercing projectile that could penetrate humanoid armor (plate armor) only in the 20th century? In the future, it will not be safe for Lao Tzu to wear plate armor? ”

Thinking of this, Marin's face changed drastically. Then, gritting his teeth, he called Kohler:

"All the craftsmen involved in the development of the steel-core single-headed bomb should be moved to a hidden place, and they must not be allowed to come into contact with outsiders. If an outsider dares to approach there, shoot and kill! ”

Kohler quickly took the order, and Leonardo da Vinci glanced at Marin with disdain:

"Is it necessary? If you use a bullet on an enemy, won't the enemy be able to see what the bullet looks like? ”

Marin smiled, asked people to take the bullet after the test, and said to Leonardo da Vinci:

"See for yourself!"

Then Leonardo da Vinci saw an iron nail, and a lump of lead...... Obviously, under the huge impact, the soft buckshot was squeezed out of shape, where can you still see the original appearance?

It can be said that unless it is hit in water or mud, with the softness of lead, as long as it is impacted, it will be squeezed into a lump of lead, and it is difficult to recognize the original appearance. In particular, the male-rifled wire of the head is the first to touch the target, and the first one is squeezed so that it is not visible at all.

As for the rear wing, Marin is not worried. Because, the wooden butt has long since fallen off first. All the enemy gets is a small tail and a bullet body, but it is also deformed. But if you don't know the technology of the wooden buttle, the thin tail can't bear the responsibility of bearing the impetus of gunpowder...... And obviously, people in this era did not know about the technology of bullet stock, which seems to have only appeared in the 19th century......

Anyway, as long as the user doesn't shoot the bullet into the water or the mud, it will be difficult for the enemy to get a good steel core one-headed bullet.

Of course, the use and preservation of steel-core single-headed bullets is even more important. Marin decides to use this high-grade ammunition by picking out a team of musketeers who have been brainwashed the most successfully and most loyal to him. In addition, in peacetime, bullets are not fired, and they are kept in a warehouse with a high level of defense, and it is strictly forbidden for outsiders to come into contact with them. Only before the war will this high-powered bullet be fired, which is specially used to shoot the enemy's high-ranking generals and plate knights......

In this way, the leakage of secrets can also be fully avoided. As long as the enemy can't steal a bullet sample, they can't copy it. The musket that fires this bullet is no different from the one used by other musketeers. Even if the firearm is stolen, it will not have any effect......

……

"Charge...... Insert the tail of a high-carbon steel nail on the central axis of the single-headed bomb into a cylindrical cork stock......"

"Apply the cork stock with whale oil (to reduce friction) and stuff it into the barrel......"

"Then, press the tip of the steel nail with a thick iron strip and push the bullet into the bottom of the barrel as a whole......"

"Hmm...... The next step is to aim and shoot......"

"Bang-"

After the gunshots rang out, Marin went to inspect the target himself, a steel nail was stuck in a thick iron plate about 180 meters away. And at the end of the steel nail, there is still a lump of lead...... The iron plate was pierced by steel nails, and the lump of lead also smashed a big pit in the iron plate......

If there was a person behind the iron plate, this person must have been pierced with a bloody hole by the steel nails. In addition, the lump of lead will also give him internal injuries at the level of breaking several ribs...... If the tip of the steel nail is smeared with poison, then it is a dead death......

This is a thick iron plate, the highest level of plate armor. If it is replaced with inferior plate armor, the bullet will break the defense as a whole, enter the human body, and stir the internal organs - KO......