Finally, this new semi-automatic rifle was officially named Type 26 by Song Zhewu as the standard weapon of the Fourth Route Army.

The production of two types of infantry and cavalry, the bayonet is changed to a folding type, no need to insert it on the waist, and the time of the bayonet can be saved in white-knuckle combat.

In the selection of machine guns as infantry fire support, Song Zhewu has always been very entangled.

Although in 1919, in order to promote a peaceful settlement of the Chinese civil war, the United States proposed an embargo on Chinese weapons and arms. The decade-long embargo that began in 1919 and lasted until 1929 no longer exists, and importing weapons has become relatively easy.

However, as a local unit under the name of the central political axe, it is still taboo to import large quantities of weapons, especially machine guns and artillery.

Moreover, as far as machine guns are concerned, whether it is the Bren machine gun that the British improved on the basis of the ZB-26, or the Browning M2 machine gun in the United States, or even the first general-purpose machine gun MG34 made in Germany during World War II, there are certain shortcomings or deficiencies in Song Zhewu's view, at least for Song Zhewu.

For example, the Bren machine gun uses a 7.7mm caliber, not only the muzzle velocity is low, but Song Zhewu also has to build a new 7.7mm caliber bullet production line, otherwise this model will not be found in China at all.

The American Browning M2 machine gun has a thin barrel, which is difficult to adapt to continuous fire; The production of MG34 in Germany took a long time and was also very expensive, each of which required 49 kilograms of steel to be drilled to produce 12.1 kilograms of MG34, and due to the high rate of fire, the barrel was more prone to overheating and failure.

Of course, the advantages of the above-mentioned machine guns are numerous, and they are better known than the MG34 for providing long-term fire support.

However, Song Zhewu was still very inclined to develop his own machine gun on the basis of the ZB-26, like the British Bren machine gun. It's just that Song Zhewu is inclined to overhaul.

The machine gun that is now heavily used by his Fourth Route Army is the Czech ZB-26 light machine gun.

The ZB-26 light machine gun is extremely reliable and can be used in a variety of complex environments. And the main thing is that it is produced at a lower price, not only much cheaper than heavy machine guns, but also cheaper than foreign contemporaries.

No way, Song Zhewu is "poor"!

Although Song Zhewu is rich and wealthy in China, but his little family background, even including the assets of the United States, is counted as compared with the Western powers, and even compared with the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union, Song Zhewu's property is not a drop in the bucket for these countries, at least the proportion of water tanks and ponds.

The structure of ZB-26 is relatively simple, it is relatively easy to imitate, the Dagu Arsenal can be imitated as early as 27 years, and there are now many arsenals in production in China.

Although there are no design drawings provided by the Czech Republic, domestic production is produced by drawings drawn in reverse.

Reverse imitation is a specialty of the Chinese. In the memory of Song Zhewu's previous life, the J-11B developed by the Chinese on the basis of the Su-27 is even said to be far stronger than its prototype.

It's just that, because of the differences in the drawings drawn by different manufacturers, the parts produced cannot even be used. But after all, it is relatively easy to produce, and the 7.92mm ammunition used has a very good lethality. Plus as long as the barrel is replaced in time, it is possible to maintain the continuous surname of the shot.

It is also important to note that the ZB-26 is extremely simple in changing the barrel, and it takes a skilled veteran less than ten seconds to change a barrel.

Moreover, even the German MG34, which is known for its continuous firepower, needs to replace the barrel after 200 rounds. That is to say, intermittent fire, which is a common problem with any machine gun.

When defending in real combat, the advantages of the ZB-26 light machine gun are outstanding and it is the absolute firepower pillar of the Chinese infantry squad platoon. At this time, there is an old saying in the [***] team, which is called that veterans are afraid of machine guns. This sentence is actually for the ZB-26 light machine gun, for the ZB-26 light machine gun's accurate two or three long and short bursts, as long as it is aimed at shooting, it is almost impossible to dodge.

During the offensive, the ZB-26 light machine gun can also provide timely fire support with the rapid advance of the infantry. Also, in actual combat, the machine gun can also be fired by the shooter while charging at the same time.

One of the most obvious drawbacks of the ZB-26 is that the ammunition capacity is too small, only 20 rounds, and it has a lot of interruptions in the continuous firing time.

However, Song Zhewu believes that this problem can be solved by playing drums instead.

Song Zhewu brought Zhou Liqun two kinds of drum drawings this time, one is a single-chamber drum with a capacity of 47 rounds; The other is a double-chamber drum with a capacity of 100 rounds.

When it is necessary to move quickly during shooting, or even when shooting on the move, a 47-round single-chamber drum can be used. When holding the position, the use of 100 rounds of double-chamber drums can effectively improve the shooting duration, and do not require the secondary shooter to constantly supply ammunition, reducing casualties.

It's just that because the two-chamber drum is too large, it needs to be fed through an adapter in the lower part, so the new machine gun developed on the basis of the ZB-26 needs to be fed in the lower part.

The new machine gun, in terms of firing range, also needs to be improved. This is because, in his bones, Song Zhewu still yearns for a general-purpose machine gun of his own, and the effective range of the ZB-26 is only 1500 meters, which is still a little too close.

Although he was skeptical that the general-purpose machine gun and heavy machine gun would be very effective in suppressing fire from a distance of two thousand meters, the increase in range would at least help the bullets penetrate at long distances.

Therefore, for the new machine gun, Song Zhewu believed that the advantages of the ZB-26 should be preserved as much as possible, except for the proposal to switch to a drum for ammunition, only the firing range and caliber were required. The firing range should reach two kilometers, and the caliber should be 7.92mm.

The reason why the 7.92 caliber is chosen is not only because it is better to kill and kill at a long distance, but also because the domestic guns are mainly 7.92, which is convenient for them to find ammunition when they are supplied to other domestic troops in the future.

Song Zhewu's Fourth Route Army now heavily uses the MP18 submachine gun, which was developed by Louis? Schmeiser designed it in 1917.

The MP18 prototype was tested with a double-row magazine, but the Germans insisted on a 32-round snail-shaped drum originally designed for the Luger P08 pistol. However, this clumsy drum made the whole gun extremely inconvenient to use and quite unreliable, which became the main flaw of the gun. Shortly after the end of World War I, Schmeiser switched his gun back to a more convenient and reliable magazine. The MP18 of the Fourth Route Army uses a magazine. In China, it is commonly known as the flower organ.

The MP18 is considered the world's first truly practical submachine gun, the design of which was borrowed from many later submachine guns. The new submachine gun that Song Zhewu needed naturally had to be modeled on it.

It's just that the caliber of MP18 is a very annoying 9x19mm Luger/Balabylum bullet, and now there is no ammunition of this caliber in China, and Song Zhewu's thousands of MP18 ammunition are all imported.

Regarding the design requirements of the submachine gun, Song Zhewu's requirements were simple: the firing range should not be less than 200 meters; rate of fire 700-900 rounds / min; 75 rounds of drums are to be used; The caliber should be changed to the same caliber as the Mauser pistol, which was widely used by the Fourth Route Army, that is, the 7.63mm barge gun, so as to facilitate the unification of ammunition; The weight of the whole gun should be as light as possible, and the maximum weight should not exceed 5 kg.

The reason why Song Zhewu put forward the above parameters is because he likes the famous PPSH41 submachine gun of the Soviet Army in the later generations, that is, the **sand submachine gun, these parameters are basically the deformed version of **sand.

Most of the parts of PPSH41 are made of steel plate stamping, welding, and jointing, which has the characteristics of simple structure, easy to manufacture in large quantities, and fierce firepower. PPSH41 has extremely high accuracy at a distance of 150~200 meters, with a rate of fire of up to 900 rounds per minute, so that targets within the range have no chance of escaping alive at all.

What Song Zhewu likes is its simple manufacturing, reliable surname, and strong firepower, which is suitable for his current conditions.

Later, the MP40 and STG44 of the German army, the Thomson of the United States, and the Stern submachine gun of the United Kingdom were manufactured precisely, but the cost was also very high. For example, Thomson in the United States was as high as $200 per team in the forties, and the cost of **sand was only one-eighth of Thomson's.

This is exactly the most suitable weapon for Song Zhewu, a "poor man".

In terms of artillery, the original Taiyuan Arsenal has been able to imitate the production of various types of mortars and 75mm below the mountain artillery, Zhou Liqun after they took over the Taiyuan Arsenal, the strength in artillery is stronger, and now it has the ability to develop larger-caliber artillery, but Zhou Liqun told Song Zhewu that it is not possible to manufacture large-caliber artillery in large quantities now, and the main reason is the reason for the barrel steel.

Wang Xuezhi has brought a group of engineering and technical personnel from Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, as well as a large number of skilled workers, to Taiyuan by appointment.

Wang Xuezhi is currently the general manager and chief engineer of the North Iron and Steel Company, and he, Dong Dengshan and others, as well as several Belarusian and Jewish engineers from Northeast China, have established a steel research institute, which is responsible for the production and manufacturing of steel equipment and the development of special steel alloys.

This time, the arrival of metallurgical experts hired by Li Rujuan and Wang Dong from Europe and the United States has made the strength of this research institute stronger, and there is no problem at all in producing some ordinary alloys, but the production of high-grade alloy steel is not possible for the time being. For example, large-caliber artillery barrel steel, they can't take it out now.

Song Zhewu knew that it would take time to develop special alloy steel. Although now not only weapons manufacturing, but also civilian production is also urgently needed, such as high-speed bearing steel for military and civilian use. This has become a bottleneck restricting the development of its defense industry.

(To be continued)