Chapter 1384 Matchlock Gun (Additional Chapter for 400 Monthly Tickets)

Zhou Xu's words made the old R&D staff blush. In fact, if you really want to talk about this matter, it is indeed that he was lazy and tried to deal with it with a stupid method.

Now that his majesty pointed it out on the spot, he wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it directly.

"Come and get this for me. I want to try it myself."

Zhou Xu said as he walked to the shooting range.

"Your Majesty, wait a moment. I will demonstrate it to you first."

The R&D staff who took out the second rifle took the rifle from Zhou Xu's hand with a swift movement, then pointed the muzzle upwards and leaned it on the ground.

"To fire this matchlock gun, you have to pour gunpowder into the barrel first. We also call this propellant."

As the R&D staff said this, he took out a small bamboo tube from his body, and then opened the bamboo tube. The thickness of the muzzle of the tube just fits the muzzle of the gun, so it can be stuffed into the barrel to prevent the propellant from spilling outside.

During this period, the R&D staff did not forget to explain.

"This propellant powder is just enough for one round in a bamboo tube, just pour it all in, then..."

While speaking, the R&D personnel pulled out a wooden stick that was inserted into the gun body and was basically parallel to the gun barrel, and then inserted the thicker end of the wooden stick into the gun barrel and pounded it a few times.

"This stick can be pulled out, it is matched, and its use is to tamp the gunpowder poured in before."

After pounding, the R&D personnel did not insert the stick back, but clamped it between his fingers, freed up one hand, and took out a marble-sized steel ball from the cloth bag beside him.

"Your Majesty, this is the bullet, just throw it directly into the gun barrel, then put a paper ball in, and then pound it a few more times with the stick."

The R&D personnel spoke while operating. Because they had used it too many times during the test, his operation skills were not unskilled at this time.

"This is to fix the gunpowder and bullets inside to prevent them from slipping out of the barrel."

After completing this step, the R&D personnel inserted the stick back to its original position, held the gun with one hand tilted slightly upward, and took out another bamboo tube with the other empty hand.

Compared with the previous one, this bamboo tube is obviously larger. It also contains gunpowder, but the amount is larger, and it is not for people to pour it all at once.

"Your Majesty, please look here."

Following the direction pointed by the R&D personnel, Zhou Xu saw a groove that was estimated to be the size of a coin.

"Here is also for pouring gunpowder. Pour a proper amount, don't let it overflow. After pouring, there is a small lid here. It will be covered with a push. Next, pay attention to the scattered gunpowder around. It must be blown off, otherwise there is a probability of accidental ignition, which is very dangerous, and then..."

While speaking, the R&D personnel took out another rope with one end already ignited.

"This is the matchlock. Because we were testing it just now, the matchlock has been lit. Otherwise, there would be a step to light the matchlock before all the operations."

"There is a mechanism here. Just clamp the lit end of the matchlock here. Then there is a safety mechanism below. You have to twist it twice. After twisting it, this mechanism can form a linkage with the trigger. When the trigger is pulled, it will push into the groove filled with gunpowder."

The R&D personnel said while gesturing.

"At this step, the preparation work is basically done. When we need to officially shoot, we will open the small cover that was covered before, aim at the target, and pull the trigger. The lit matchlock will contact the gunpowder in the groove, ignite the gunpowder, and shoot the bullet!"

The last two steps are very fast. The R&D personnel opened the cover, aimed slightly, and then pulled the trigger directly.

At that moment, there was only a "bang" sound of gunfire, accompanied by rising gunpowder smoke, and directly hit the target in the distance.

"The current effective range is about 100 meters."

This range is the result of many improvements made by their project team over the years.

From this move alone, the shooting skills of this developer can be said to be quite accurate.

But the developer who showed off this gun skill was not arrogant.

Because he knew that although the loading steps of this matchlock gun were relatively complicated, it was actually very easy to use and required even less from the user.

When a crossbowman fired a crossbow, he had to step on the crossbow pedal to exert some strength, but the matchlock gun did not even require this much strength.

If you shoot a target like just now, you can do it if you take the gun and practice hard for a while.

And this is the biggest advantage of hot weapons.

From cold weapons to hot weapons, this is essentially a process of lowering the threshold for use.

The main point is that even if you are a fool, after being caught and practiced hard, you can still exert your combat power on the battlefield.

"Let me try."

The whole set of steps just now looked complicated, but as long as you understand the meaning of each step, it is not difficult to remember.

Zhou Xu read it once, and with the explanation of the R&D personnel, he already had an idea in his mind.

It's just that he is not proficient in the whole set of operations, so he is relatively slow in operation.

Fortunately, he didn't care. He completed each step slowly, and then pulled the trigger. With a "bang", the bullet that came out of the barrel hit the edge of the target directly, which made Zhou Xu secretly relieved.

Although his mentality is very stable now, it would be a bit embarrassing if this shot went directly off the target.

After handing the musket back to the R&D personnel, Zhou Xu turned around and asked about the manufacturing.

At present, Zhou Xu was quite satisfied with the performance of the musket.

Although the effective range of their Zhou heavy crossbow has reached 200 meters, the enemy is wearing armor. If they want to achieve the fatal effect of armor-breaking, the effective range of the heavy crossbow must be reduced to 100 meters.

Under the same conditions, the effective range of the musket has reached 100 meters.

Under this premise, the musket has lower requirements and less effort for soldiers. According to the researcher's answer, according to the current technical level of their Zhou, the manufacturing difficulty is simpler and more efficient than the heavy crossbow.

In comprehensive comparison, the musket already has the basic qualities to eliminate the heavy crossbow.

At the same time, Zhou Xu realized that he had to make a choice.

And he made this choice very easily, because he knew that someone would take over for him.

"Pass my order and have the heavy crossbow manufacturing factory stop subsequent production after the last batch of heavy crossbows are made. Let the relevant staff come here to study the mass production of matchlock guns. Try to produce a batch first and see how it goes."