The M1855 Springfield rifle is a pretty good rifle. The theoretical effective range is around 500 yards (about 460 meters), and the maximum range is 1000 yards. Of course, this is a purely theoretical number, and a soldier can shoot a humanoid target at a distance of 500 yards with a maximum accuracy of 30%. Coupled with the environmental factors of the battlefield, the effective range of this rifle is less than 300 yards (about 270 meters).

In the era of front-loading muskets, although it did not stand out in terms of shooting principle, the M1855 rifle still had a unique design, that is, the Maynard tapeprimer.

It is well known that manually loading the fire cap on the anvil is a necessary and annoying step in the loading step of the front-loading rifle. The role of the fire cap in the firing bolt is equivalent to the gunpowder in the powder pool of the flintlock gun, which is not flexible and has a certain risk, and the fire cap is easy to fall off during installation.

The design concept of the Maynard primer belt is to pass guò a special device that automatically sends the fire cap to the anvil to increase the rate of fire. The primer belt is a conveyor-like device, a belt-like gunpowder system, which seals the ** into the paper tape in order, rolls up the paper belt and places it in the primer box printed with the eagle logo above the trigger obliquely, and automatically sends the paper tape equipped with the fire cap to the anvil with the pull of the hammer. This means that the soldier can simply pull the hammer after loading the ammunition to fire, instead of manually reloading the fire cap.

To match this particular container, the Americans also changed the design of the hammer handle. The hammer handle of the M1855 Springfield rifle has a unique design that curves backwards, much like a hunchback posture.

Compared with the British Enfield M1853 rifle and the French MLE1857 Mini rifle equipped with the inscription battalion, the design concept of the M1855 Springfield rifle is undoubtedly more advanced and advanced. It doesn't matter how effective it is.

As I am ahead of schedule, I do not succeed. The design of the Maynard primer belt is very unreliable, the error rate of the device in the early tests reached 50%, in addition to the poor reliability of the belt feeding system, the material (paper) of the primer belt is not waterproof, it is extremely susceptible to moisture and inactivity, and in humid climates it is even less reliable than a flintlock pistol, in order to solve this problem, the later Maynard system planned to replace the material of the primer belt with metal foil.

Of course, Bell understands these things as a dealer. But how could Bi Huaqing, a French officer, know about a rifle in the United States?

The old beauty at this time is not the old beauty of Liu Xian's period, in the eyes of Europeans, it is still just a little brother. The weak US Army is not in the eyes of the French at all, and no one will worry about how many rifles the Americans have come up with, what the performance is, what the price is.

Bi Hua cleared the feeling that the metal foil was a little expensive, and he couldn't find anything wrong with the gun. Don't you know, when the Civil War between the United States and the United States was fierce, the demand for weapons increased geometrically, and the Maynard system, which was urgently needed to be perfected, was ruthlessly abandoned by the United States and the United States because of its cumbersome and expensive reasons, and the 1861 rifle produced after them removed the Maynard primer belt.

Bi Huaqing, a master who deliberately recruited to find faults, couldn't find anything wrong, and Liu Xian, a pure white, couldn't say anything. The 500-shot M1855 Springfield rifle, with the corresponding metal foil and mine pump, was finally sold for 30,000 taels of silver. Together with 1,000 M1841 Mississippi rifles and 120 firing barrels, the turnover of the first batch of munitions reached 50,000 taels of silver, or 75,000 US dollars.

After the price was negotiated, Bell unabashedly showed his ecstatic excitement. They made a lot of money in this business.

The M1841 Mississippi rifle, a weapon that was completely eliminated on the battlefield, was disposed of by the government at an ultra-low price after the war, and the price did not exceed five dollars a piece. The same is true for the M1855 Springfield rifles, although they cost much more than the M1841 Mississippi rifle at the factory, but the price difference is now only three dollars, or eight dollars, less than five taels of silver. The metal foil and thunder pump equipped with it will be divided into five hundred parts, and the price increase will not exceed six taels of silver. But what about the selling price?

One is fifteen taels of silver, and one is sixty taels of silver.

No wonder they all say that arms are the most lucrative business in the world.

For a while, Bell had the urge to rush back to Hankow, to Shanghai, to the United States, and to do another vote.

"Mr. Bell, this time there are only muskets, don't forget the cannons next time."

"Rest assured, Lord Admiral, we have a very pleasant cooperation. With this pleasant cooperation, we have a trustworthy friendship. I will convey your request to Shanghai, and I believe that the headquarters will do its best to deliver what you need. ”

"Cheers to our next meeting?"

"Cheers to the Admiral's re-elevation!"

At this meeting in the Qin army camp outside Xiaogan City, Liu Xian brought huge profits to Maisheng Foreign Bank, brought Bell the capital for promotion, and gave Bell a chance to make a fortune.

The Minny rifle is different from the flintlock pistol, it is a firing pistol, and the primer is a thunder pump. But in China's current situation, in addition to the arsenal set up by the Xianghuai Army, how many people can be found who know how to make mine pumps?

Liu Xian's personal task for Bell was to ask him to find a few people who knew how to make mine pumps and knew some modern chemical knowledge. It doesn't matter if he is a foreigner or a Chinese.

As long as this shortcoming is made up, Liu Xian will be able to make a starting gun himself, even if the quality and performance are inferior to Europe and the United States. The attached can also continue to activate the three thousand carbines that Wang Tunzhen got from the Twist Army in the first battle, which is also a firing gun. The capabilities of the military industry will be greatly improved.

Thunder pump, fuse. With it, grenades, flowering shells, and even rockets will get a qualitative leap.

People can't just take one step and just look at one step. Take one step and look at three steps. No matter how absurd those three steps are, think about them with your brain.

……

After Bell left, Liu Xian took advantage of the fact that there was still some time before the year to start rectifying the various troops and horses under his command.

He wanted to form four new brigades, and all the musketeers of Qi Dalin, Zhou Jun, and Chen Bo were rearmed, and the remaining M1841 Mississippi rifles were distributed to Chen Tianzhu's department.

These nominal town markers of Liu Xian have also made a lot of death efforts in the past few days. Liu Xian can't make people feel cold, right?

The 500-shot M1855 Springfield rifle was included in the garrison brigade for his own use.

And the candidates for the captains of the four new brigades made Liu Xian distressed again.

Is it that their own team is too well trained, and they only need to line up to press through the battle, or what?

It has been a year and a half since the departure from Hanzhong, and there are still no new people in the army. When it comes to merit, the first and second-tier characters in the original old brothers have been promoted, and it is the turn of the third-tier ones.

Luo Zhimeng, Li Maozhong, Wu Hanchao, Zhao Tong.

Two of the four were the squadron leaders of the Fuji armor hand-to-hand combat squadron, one was the squadron leader of the garrison brigade, and the other was the squadron leader of the musket squadron. Compared with the squadron leader below them, the height is not much higher, and the gap is the difference between 100 points and 99 and 98 in Liu Xianam's view. In other words, whoever has good luck accumulates more merit once, and whoever has bad luck accumulates merit less once, will be selected and lost.

So far, the Xiaogan Qin Army has 11 integrated brigades, a military headquarters and an artillery team, a baggage team, four battalions of Chen Tianzhu, five brigades of the cavalry battalion, and more than 2,000 recruits, totaling 13,000 people. Counting the commanders and husbands who accompanied the army, the total number of Qin troops approached the total number of residents in Xiaogan County.