It's easy to think, but in practice, the distance from the idea is a bit large, so big that it almost makes it difficult for mortars to be delivered. The problem is not the barrel and collision fuse that Hong Tao initially feared, but the projectile body and the firing and charging links that he thinks are the easiest to solve, and there is another problem that seems to be less of a problem, the bracket.

Qi Zu's method of making cannon barrels was very primitive, he used a hollow steel rod with polished sleek as a core mold, and then rolled the red-hot steel plate by hand little by little. Then inject cold water into the hollow steel rod, use the principle of thermal expansion and cold contraction, pull out the hollow steel rod, and the outer steel plate becomes a cylinder with gaps. At this time, the joint is filled with iron wire and borax, and the whole steel pipe is wrapped with soil and continued to be heated, so as to melt the iron wire at the joint, and the gap is welded. The welded steel pipe is scraped clean with a boring cutter, and after grinding, a gun barrel comes out.

It's a hassle, but it's a common thing for those of them who are used to playing with hammers and charcoals. Ding Dong a few people made one in half a day, and then spent more than a day polishing it, sewing it up and plugging it, and it was done. Qi Zu was afraid that this pipe was not strong enough, so he made a slightly thicker half-section pipe and put it at the bottom of it, and used two steel hoops to tie it. After this cannon barrel is finished, the net weight is more than 60 kilograms, and one person can barely move it.

"It's not heavy at all, this is a cannon, not a gun, you can't expect one person to carry it all over the ground!" Hong Tao felt that this 60 mm caliber barrel was a bit heavy, and the whole mortar he planned weighed 100 catties, and now it was obviously not suitable for a barrel to be so heavy. But Qi Zu insisted that he was right, in his opinion, the cannon should be heavier than the gun, if they are all about the same, why do you still call the cannon, you can't just call the gun.

"In this way, you can try to get a casing first, if not, it's not too late for us to get a casing, right?" Hong Tao felt that what Qi Zu said was also a little reasonable, but he still thought that the barrel was too heavy, and insisted that Qi Zu make two more barrels without casing, only adding three steel hoops to reinforce, and when the shells were made, he would try the chamber pressure first.

But what he didn't expect was that after several days of wasted time, the three shells of different shapes cast with gray iron, no matter how the center of gravity was configured, could only shoot out 100 meters away, and the full charge of the shotgun used for firing and firing was still at this level.

"I'll just say, with such a gadget, can you shoot such a big cannonball far? Impossible! I knew that it would be such a big pressure, and I would have rolled a tube with copper for you. "Mortars, such a whimsical weapon, were not treated well by Zizu from the beginning. He likes cannons, the bigger the better, and this gadget can't get into his eyes.

"Your Majesty, why don't we add more ejaculation and medicine?" Cixiang has no prejudice against mortars, and his idea is very simple, since he can't shoot far, it must be because of the lack of fire, fire, and medicine, so add more, when it is enough, when it is enough.

"There's no way to add it, the bullet tail is just a little bit of space, and the hole where the shotgun is put is bigger, the entire tail has to be bigger, and the bullet body has to be lengthened, otherwise the center of gravity is wrong!" The idea of adding more hair \ ejaculation \ medicine is right, Hong Tao also thought of it, but he can't add it, there are wings outside the tail, and the hole in the middle can't be too big.

“…… How about you say that we should pour some shots into the barrel of the cannon first? When a shell fires, the fire and ammunition inside will follow. "Cixiang feels that things are not as complicated as Hong Tao said, the previous cannons did not pour the firing and firing into the barrel first, why not this time?

"I'm also an old fool, come on, come on, let's put the amount of three shotguns first." Hong Tao patted his head and kept saying that other people's inertial thinking, but this time he was pure inertial thinking. Constantly thinking about the appearance of mortar shells in later generations ignores the basic principles of artillery, and sometimes it is not a good thing to think too much.

Kindness's idea was very correct, every time one more shotgun was added, the shell could fly out a little more, until it was increased to fifteen shotguns, and the shell could finally hit a thousand meters away, and Qi Zu's single-layer barrel was finally squeezed open by the bore pressure.

"Uncle Qi, you don't think this will happen. The barrel could be thinner, but the lower half still has to be double-layered, but not too thick. After trying for a long time, Hong Tao almost figured out the ability of the barrel to withstand chamber pressure. The first layer of gun barrel is really not very safe, mainly because it has a weld, especially the bottom is under great pressure and needs to be double-layered. But in order to reduce the weight, you can reduce the thickness of the barrel a little, after all, the upper part of the barrel is less pressurized, and it makes no sense if it is too thick.

Hong Tao also thought of the issue of fire, shooting, and medicine, and there was no need to disassemble the shotgun and pour it into the barrel of the gun. Directly make the collodion into a round sheet, leave a hole in the middle, open an opening on one side, and put it in the thinnest place in front of the tail of the shell according to the requirements of different ranges when firing, and you need a few pieces of a few pieces. The explosion effect of these projectiles in front of the tail is basically the same as that of the explosion behind the tail, because the body of the projectile is tightly attached to the barrel by the soft lead sealing ring in the middle and front, and as long as it is exploded behind it, it is theoretically the same driving effect.

In fact, Hong Tao's method of adding external firing tablets is the same as the mortar firing procedure of later generations, and it is not original. The scenes in movies and television that pick up a slippery mortar shell and stuff it into the barrel to hit the enemy at a great distance are unreal. Mortar shells without a projectile bag can usually be shot out for more than 200 meters, and if you want to go farther, you have to add something like a bagel to the tail of the shell, which is the external projectile package. Each additional one increases the range, and you can add as many bagels as you need.

With the addition of the external medicine pack, Hong Tao's mortar was finally able to hit a kilometer away, and Qi Zu's new barrel was also obtained, and the caliber was still the same, that is, the wall of the tube was thinner by one-third, and the weight was also reduced by one-third, leaving less than forty kilograms. This weight is too heavy, but for the sake of insurance, the focus is on it. Qi Zu is right, this is a cannon, not a gun, and there is no need to keep trying to make people run all over the ground.

After refitting the barrel and firing the charge, Hong Tao fired the first live ammunition. Of course, he must have been hiding in the bunker, and it was a soldier who put the shells into the barrel, and Hong Tao has always attached great importance to the principle that the dead are not dead and the poor are not dead.

"Tom...... "The first shell fired normally, and a sharp sound of low-speed shells and air friction was heard in the sky, but this shell did not explode.......

"It's okay, this is the tightest, you can't hit the fire cap if you throw it on the ground in your hand, and then look at the next shot." Qi Zu is now a little interested in this new type of cannon made by Hong Tao, because he found that as long as the barrel is made thicker and the shell is bigger, it can also be turned into a cannon, and the power is not less than that of the traditional cannon.

"Tom...... Woo woo woo ...... "The second shot was still a stink bomb.

"It's okay, let's take a look at the third shot...... I've prepared a total of 20 kinds of fuses with different tightnesses, so I don't think they all sound off, right? Although Qi Zu said it lightly, he was also a little vague in his heart. Kindness got the shell out, Hong Tao solved the problem of firing \ firing \ medicine, and only the collision fuse he got was considered a success, and he must not drop the chain at a critical moment and smash his reputation.

"Look, look, I'll just say, our craftsmanship can't be so bad, it's ringing!" The remaining three shells were test-fired, and Qi Zu was tormented, and the old man's hands began to tremble, and he was anxious. Fortunately, by the time of the sixth round, the shells finally sounded, and the movement was not small, and a cloud of black smoke exploded on the shooting range 500 meters away, and one of the dozens of wooden stakes buried for the sabotage test was blown off, and it flew high.

One blast goes off, and the rest is easy. The principle of this crash fuze designed by Zizu is very simple, it is a wrought-iron round cap with a spring plate pressed underneath. The thickness of these springs is high and the bottom is high, and the elasticity is large and small. The moment the shell hits the ground, its own gravity is enough to flatten the spring sheet, and the firing pin can be pushed against the fire cap, and if the fire cap explodes, the surrounding black powder will explode. Knowing how big a spring is suitable for the impact force, replace the rest of the shells with this kind of spring blade, and the rate of fire will be higher.

However, this is only the first test launch, the target is ordinary land, whether Qi Zu's collision fuse can be successfully detonated on mud and stones, this will have to be known after many tests. Fortunately, there is time to do it, Swan does not need mortars at present, just like new warships, they are all weapons with an eye to the future, which can be slowly tested and improved.

This trial lasted more than three months, and Svandu returned from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec with men, and his cavalry artillery was barely finalized. However, Qi Zu and Cixiang are not very satisfied with many details of the new cannon, such as the bracket of the cannon barrel vibrates very strongly when fired, and it has to be repositioned after one or two fires. But Hong Tao couldn't wait, and decided to start small batch production, and the follow-up research can be improved while being used, and there is no need to solve all the problems at once.

The first artillery of the Union Army in the spring was born in the last month of 1251. It was only sixty millimeters in caliber and seventy centimeters long, and the total weight was seventy-nine kilograms, counting the gun carriage and base. This is already the result of Qi Zu and Cixiang's painstaking efforts to lose weight, and they can't lose one or two.

Its shells weighed 1,500 grams, the body was gray cast iron, and it contained 450 grams of black powder, which was fired by the impact of the collision mechanism on the warhead. The tail is made of brass, has six tail fins, and uses shotgun shotguns as the basic firing charge, and according to different firing distances, a number of ring-shaped firing tablets can be added to the tail. The maximum firing range is 1.5 kilometers, and the effective killing radius of shrapnel is about three meters. Not to mention the shock wave, the deflagration speed of black powder is a bit slow, which is not suitable for making explosives.

Filling shells with black powder was also a last resort. The stability of the collodion is sufficient, but when the shell is filled as explosive, the nitrogen content is high, and it is a little unstable.

Shells, unlike ordinary explosives, can be stored very well in normal times, and they are only taken out when they are used. These shells have to run with the team, in a hot and bumpy environment, and maybe they will have to collide. Once it blew itself up, it would be a great loss, and in order to ensure the safety of the soldiers, Hong Tao had to switch to black powder, which was much weaker.

As for why the springtail is made of precious brass, it is not for good looks, but for ease of processing. The six pieces of tail wing can not be firmly connected with the projectile body with other materials, and in the absence of electric welding process, if you want to directly cast the iron castings connected to the tail wing, the process requirements are too high, and it is not yet up to it, so you can only use brass that is easier to process. However, Kindness is experimenting with a new technology of using gray cast iron to make a springtail, and then using steel sheets as a tail.

It probably means that the steel sheet is embedded in the gap of the cast iron springtail, and then filled with borax mixed with iron powder and copper sheet, and then heated with mud paste to melt the iron powder and copper sheet, and weld the steel sheet into the gap of the cast iron. If this technology can be done, the cost of shells can be reduced by half. After all, copper is still the currency of many countries at present, and hitting people with this thing is equivalent to stoning people to death with copper coins.

(To be continued.) )