Li Xiaofeng gave Federov the task of designing a fully automatic rifle, in fact, this work Federov has already carried out, and has achieved phased results - that is, the M1916 automatic rifle.

It is undeniable that the M1916 automatic rifle was ahead of its time, and Federov did his best to create a perfect automatic weapon, but this weapon was too advanced for Russia at the time:

M1916 adopts the working principle of short recoil barrel and double clamp swing locking mechanism, which leads to the overly complex structure of the whole gun, many parts, and extremely inconvenient decomposition, combining, wiping and maintenance. And the gun has rounded corners for most of the parts that can scratch people, which is good from an ergonomic point of view, but greatly increases the processing time.

The more important problem is that the industrial processing capacity of Russia at that time was quite weak, and the M1916 produced from the external knots, pull handles, and simple guards, to the internal hammers and many other parts were marked with gun numbers, which shows that the production process in Russia at that time could not guarantee the versatility of the parts. And a weapon that cannot guarantee the universality of parts is probably impossible to mass-produce on a large scale.

Anyway, the M1916 looks good and powerful, but it is very difficult to produce. Moreover, the overall quality of the Russian soldiers at that time was quite inadequate, and they all felt that the maintenance of the SVT more than ten years later was complicated and difficult to use, and the M1916, which was far more complex than the SVT, was naturally unlikely to be welcomed by them.

In fact, Li Xiaofeng didn't like the M1916 either, not only because it was complicated and difficult to produce, but more importantly. The ammunition used by this weapon gave him a bit of a pain in the ass. The general information says that Federov designed the M1916 and a completely new 6.5mm ammunition. But in reality this is not true. The 6.5×50.5mm SR shell used in the M1916 was not developed by Federov. Rather, it is the Japanese Arisaka 6.5mm rifle cartridge.

During the First World War, due to the serious shortage of rifles in Russia, he not only commissioned the American imperialists and Gallic chickens to help him produce Mosinagan, but also imported many Type 38 rifles from Japan. So bullets are actually readily available.

Compared with the standard bullets of the European and American powers of the same period, the caliber of the little devil's Arisaka 6.5mm rifle cartridge is slightly smaller, and the recoil is also much smaller, which is very suitable for Oriental people to tell the truth.

And it was precisely because of the small recoil of the Arisaka bullet that Federov took a fancy to it and chose it as the ammunition for the M1916 automatic rifle. This makes it possible to significantly reduce the overall weight of the gun. As well as controlling recoil and muzzle jumps.

However, it must be noted that although the little devil's Arisaka bullet has a slightly less powerful and recoil power, it is still a full-powered rifle bullet anyway. Compared to the intermediate-power rifle cartridges used in later assault rifles, it was still too large. These are also important reasons why experts in the field of small arms do not recognize the M1916 as an assault rifle.

What Li Xiaofeng needs is a real assault rifle, so he won't accept the freak of the M1916, it's best for him to step into the AK series in one step, there is no need to toss this kind of half-baked stuff at all.

So the task he gave Federov was, first of all, to design a real intermediate-power rifle cartridge. To put it bluntly, it is to let the 7.62×39M43 rifle cartridge come out decades in advance. The second is to redesign a real assault rifle suitable for firing M43 rounds.

Someone asked. It would be nice to say that a certain immortal doesn't need to be so complicated at all, just COPYAK47 and M43 bullets. Is it worth the trouble?

Li Xiaofeng felt that it was useful, although he could exchange the full set of drawings of AK from the cornucopia, but it didn't make any sense. When Kalashnikov designed the AK47, there was a world of difference between the machining capabilities of the Soviet Union at that time and the current Russia.

Therefore, the direct copy will definitely face the problem of not adapting to the soil and water, these problems cannot be solved by him alone as an immortal, and he does not have the ability to solve it at that time. So the right thing to do is to come up with some advanced design concepts, and then leave the professional things to the experts to solve.

This is only one thing, and the second is that Li Xiaofeng felt that it was better to teach people to fish than to teach them to fish, and he exchanged the "high-tech" products of later generations from the cornucopia, which could certainly improve Russia's strength for a while. However, this is really not a long-term solution, and to engage in industry, especially the military industry, it is necessary to form a complete R&D and production system, and opportunistic shortcuts are absolutely not the right way.

So, proper enlightenment Federov and his team can, but Li Xiaofeng will not interfere too much in the design of weapons, unless Federov's work is extremely deviant.

"How is the weapon design work going?" An immortal asked.

"The progress is not particularly fast, all the work has been delayed by Turacica!" The old designer said indignantly.

In this regard, Li Xiaofeng could not say anything, who made the Cheka almost single-handedly promoted the establishment of the Cheka, and he himself was one of the leaders of the Cheka.

"Where have you been before?" Li Xiaofeng could only change the topic, "Is the new rifle cartridge designed?" ”

As soon as it came to professional things, Federov, like all designers, was fascinated, and immediately forgot about the unpleasantness of being arrested by the Cheka and began to discuss technical issues with great interest: "To be honest, the biggest problem is in the new ammunition. According to your requirements, the new ammunition will be significantly reduced in size, preferably shorter than the Arisaka bullet, but after our preliminary calculations, if the bullet length is further shortened, the kinetic energy of the new ammunition will be greatly reduced, and it is difficult to ensure the accuracy and power above 600 meters......"

"Oh," Li Xiaofeng nodded and asked, "Is there anything wrong with this?" ”

Federov looked at a certain immortal like a monster, and if it weren't for the fact that someone had previously shown expertise in small arms, he would have been driven out of the city by asking such layman's questions.

So Federov could only say: "It is difficult for such a bullet to be accepted by the army, most countries require that the rifle range must reach 1200 meters, and your request seems to be a bit out of the ordinary......"

It turned out that this was the reason, Li Xiaofeng couldn't help but vomit in his heart. What's the point of that anachronistic request? So he immediately asked rhetorically: "Does it really make sense to guarantee an effective range of about a thousand meters?" What ordinary soldier with an ordinary rifle can guarantee an accurate hit on a target of about a thousand meters? I'm afraid for the vast majority of soldiers in Russia. Hitting a target 400 meters away is a matter of luck. So, what's the point of such a request? ”

Federov was stunned, as an advocate of automatic rifles, at this time, he did not think much about this issue, otherwise he would not have chosen a slightly less powerful full-power rifle cartridge as the standard ammunition for the M1916. Although he was a "prophet" in reducing the caliber of his rifle, shortening the combat distance of his rifle, and increasing the firepower of his rifle, this foresight was more of an experimental nature, and he saw the general direction. But I can't accurately grasp him.

So when Li Xiaofeng asked that sharp question, he was stunned, as a designer, especially designers of this era, they rarely consider designing weapons from the perspective of soldiers, for them, the heads of the Ordnance Industry Bureau put forward the indicators of weapons, and then they tried every means to get closer to this index.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "But if the weapons in our soldiers' hands are too close." Wouldn't it be a great loss when you shoot at the enemy? ”

This question seems to make sense, but Li Xiaofeng does not want to unify the world with one ammunition. With the popularization of machine guns, artillery, aircraft, and tanks, the importance of rifles is declining step by step.

Long-range targets are left to heavy firepower, there is no need to let the rifle cover the world, and to tell the truth, the rifle can't do that kind of work, because the soldiers at the grassroots level are never sharpshooters, and they can't eliminate an enemy with every bullet.

According to Li Xiaofeng's idea, it is good to hand over the machine gun and the mortar to which the platoon belongs to the machine gun and platoon, and the infantry can honestly take care of the soft target within 600 meters.

This very novel idea impressed Federov, the old man is not the kind of old stubborn who eats the old, and will not be like the Yankees, who still hold on to the full-power rifle after the end of World War II, and as a result, the entire fifties and sixties have made all kinds of NATO automatic rifles stupid and stupid, and they can only be used as semi-automatic rifles in actual use.

The old man touched his chin: "If you follow your idea, the recoil of the new automatic rifle will be smaller, the size and weight of the whole gun will continue to be reduced, and the continuous fire can be better controlled...... That's a great idea, I thought I could give it a try! ”

After saying this, Federov was already a little eager to try, and he wanted to start working immediately, but Li Xiaofeng immediately stopped him, and he didn't come here today just for the automatic rifle. In fact, he felt that the new automatic rifle did not need to be in a hurry at all, for the time being the Russian army did not need a large-scale universal assault rifle, and the SKS45 would be enough for the time being. What serious Russian forces lack most is heavy firepower, such as machine guns and anti-tank weapons.

Especially the latter, although the Soviet Union was later a tank power, at the peak of the Cold War had nearly 70,000 tanks, and the sea of tanks could be used to flatten the entire Western Europe, anti-tank was not a problem for the Soviet Union at that time, and it was NATO countries that needed to worry about this problem seriously.

But in 1917, Russia was very problematic in this regard, as it was an industrially underdeveloped agricultural country among the great powers, Russia's heavy industry capacity was really problematic, and when the British MK series and the French FT-17 were unveiled, Russia was simply not able to follow up.

It was not until about 1920 that the master worker of the Petrograd Kirov plant copied the Renault FT-17 and knocked a knock-off by hand, and when the good news reached the ears of the mentor, he smiled from ear to ear, and the knock-off was later named Lenin.

Also in 1920, Stalin and Tukhachevsky were defeated in Warsaw, and in addition to the problem of command coordination, British and French support for Polish tanks and armored vehicles also played a major role. The Soviet Red Army, lacking anti-tank weapons, had little to do with the tanks of the Polish army. This was only then pushed back by the country of footmears in Europe.

Although Ukraine was saved in the end, when the peace treaty was signed, it was very unfavorable to the Soviet Union. It had to cede part of the country. And Li Xiaofeng naturally did not want to experience another warsaw fiasco. Be prepared in advance. It was important to prepare anti-tank weapons for the future Soviet Red Army.

However, Li Xiaofeng did not intend to defy the sky, neither prepared to equip anti-tank missiles (even if there were, the Soviet Red Army at that time could not afford to use them), nor did he intend to develop a competing tank, and he did not even plan to popularize anti-tank guns.

It's not that I don't want to, it's that I really can't do it, and for Russia now, it's very difficult for every soldier to have a rifle. Large-scale equipment Makqin also had to make a big leap forward for the Tula plant, not to mention missiles, tanks and artillery.

In the three-year civil war, the soldiers of the Red Army and the White Army did not even feel that mortars were burdensome and did not want them, and would rather be equipped with one more machine gun than a mortar.

Of course, this situation is understandable. The Russian Civil War was completely different from the trench warfare of the First World War, because of the vast size of the country. It was normal for both the Red Army and the White Army to maneuver on a large scale and run thousands of kilometers, and in such a situation, no soldier or commander was willing to ask for bulky weapons.

On the contrary, the machine gun is so easy to use, not too heavy, the ammunition is easy to find, and the firepower is enough, anyway, the opponent will not have many heavy weapons for the same reason, so why bother that effort to equip some dead guys?

Therefore, if Li Xiaofeng wants to develop an anti-tank weapon, then first of all, it must not be too bulky, and naturally those tank artillery and everything will be eliminated. And in addition to these, in this era, I am afraid that there is only one weapon that can meet the requirements - that is, anti-tank guns.

Although this weapon was eliminated in the early days of World War II, Li Xiaofeng felt that the power of anti-tank guns was enough to deal with those early tanks in World War I, anyway, not only the British MK series but also the French FT-17, they were all thin skins, and the early tank design was very problematic.

Li Xiaofeng remembered that in order to recover these lit "water tanks", the British also set up a special recovery unit, and strictly ordered the unit not to disclose the nature of their work to the tank crews, because the "water tanks" that were recovered were in a very miserable state (not only the cars, but also the people inside). In order to ensure the morale of the tank crews, they must not be made aware of the dangers of these mounts.

According to Li Xiaofeng's assumption, the anti-tank gun needs to be able to penetrate 30 mm armor plate within 100 meters, anyway, there are very few tanks of this era with armor more than 30 mm, and limited by inferior sighting equipment, it is difficult for these tanks to accurately shoot at long-distance targets.

"I need you to put aside the design of the automatic rifle for a while and focus on developing a large rifle that can effectively destroy armored targets!"

Federov was taken aback by this proposal, and he was now genuinely only interested in the new automatic rifle, especially after someone proposed to replace the full-power round with an intermediate-power round, and he was confident that he could design an epoch-making weapon. And now, someone suddenly made him give up halfway, and Federov was somewhat unacceptable.

Li Xiaofeng could only patiently explain: "I can only tell you that the front line is in great need of a weapon that can hit armored targets, and there is intelligence that the first tank of the Germans is about to be put into the battlefield, and with the popularization of tanks and armored vehicles, our soldiers lack weapons to fight it." So I hope you can come up with a solution as soon as possible! ”

However, Federov didn't particularly care about this, as a small arms designer, not an expert in tanks and armored forces, he didn't think that armored troops were particularly important, in fact, he didn't know what a tank was, or if a certain immortal had taught him some science, he only understood what someone was talking about.

But even so, Federov was still not very interested, if it wasn't for the fact that some immortal had saved his life before, the old man would probably have rejected the proposal outright.

"Well," said the old man, with a grim face, "I think you can give Vasily the anti-tank gun you need. Alexievich came to design. The old man was very enthusiastic to introduce his assistant to Li Xiaofeng, "And I will continue to be responsible for the design of the automatic rifle, and I will not delay any project!" ”

To be honest, Li Xiaofeng didn't like this result, it's not that he looked down on Deggalev, after all, this is also a master-level figure, and there is an anti-tank gun in his later works, so it is not unacceptable for him to preside over the design work.

But at this time, Dzhegalev was still very different from him later, now he was only Federov's assistant, and had not personally served as a designer of a model, Li Xiaofeng doubted that he had experience in this area, and his need for anti-tank guns was very urgent.

Federov seemed to see Li Xiaofeng's distrust of Deggalev, and the old man hurriedly said: "Mr. Andrey, don't underestimate Vasily. Alexievich, although he is only my assistant, he has a genius in small arms and a lot of experience, if you give him a chance, he will not let you down! ”

Li Xiaofeng looked at Deg Galev, who was looking at him pitifully beside him, he could see that the other party really wanted to prove his ability, and it seemed that it was not appropriate to reject a future master so directly.

After thinking about it, Li Xiaofeng gritted his teeth: "Since you trust him so much, then I will hand over this project to him." I trust your vision! ”

Federov was also immediately happy, partly probably for saving the project of the automatic rifle, and partly happy for his assistant, he smiled and said: "Mr. Andrey, I can guarantee that you will never be disappointed with this decision!" (To be continued......)