Chapter 509: Type 30 Fusil

The Type 30 Fusil — though its name says "fusil," strictly speaking this gun should be called a percussion cap gun or vent gun. It is a muzzle-loading smoothbore that uses a hammer and percussion cap together for ignition.

In theory, this kind of gun could absolutely be made as a breech-loader — the Type 38 Rifle currently used by the Crossing Army's main force is exactly a breech-loading rapid-fire percussion cap gun.

The reason it was changed to a muzzle-loading smoothbore design is very simple: this gun is meant for export.

Previously, when Cao Zong was in Beijing, in order to fool the Emperor, he had boasted about the percussion cap and agreed to sell firearms to the Emperor.

So now, seizing this opportunity, a smoothbore gun intended for overseas second-line troops and incidentally for export was designed.

Since it is for export, the muzzle-loading smoothbore premise was a given. The Transmigrators had to thoroughly widen the generation gap between export gun models and the main force's weapons, so that when they turned hostile in the future they could fight one against ten — therefore, a muzzle-loader was mandatory.

Additionally, this gun's ignition device was changed from flint to percussion cap. This not only increased the rate of fire, but because the percussion cap exists, it effectively adds another layer of insurance — whoever dares oppose Grand Commandant Cao simply won't be able to buy percussion caps in the future.

And so, once the design concept was settled, modeled after historical percussion cap guns, the Type 30 Fusil smoothly came out of the furnace.

The Type 30 Fusil has a total length of 145 centimeters, with a barrel length of 102 centimeters, a caliber of approximately 1.8 centimeters, and an overall gun weight reaching 4.5 kilograms — that is, 9 jin. Three ramrod pipes are fitted beneath the barrel.

Thanks to the Transmigrators' superb machining capability, the Type 30 Rifle not only has an exquisite structure, but the gap between the fixed cartridge and the bore is very small, resulting in a very low energy waste rate. At a distance of 100 meters, the Type 30 can absolutely knock an armored Manchu Qing knight off his horse.

Compared to the Brown Bess, historically the pinnacle of muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, the Type 30 is not only shorter and more compact, but its rate of fire is also greatly improved — a skilled shooter can fully achieve a firing speed of 5 to 6 rounds per minute.

Furthermore, the Type 30 can guarantee accurate shooting within a range of 30 to 50 meters, but if you want to hit an opponent at a distance of 100 to 200 meters, then you can only play rank-and-file execution volleys.

This range was deliberately calibrated by the Transmigrators.

With the Transmigrators' current processing capability, in fact, merely lengthening the barrel a little would greatly increase the Type 30's shooting accuracy. But considering generation-gap suppression, the final finished gun was still controlled to an accuracy range of 50 meters.

It comes back to that same point: it must not pose a threat to the main force.

Of course, in terms of this range and power, the Type 30 has no problem dealing with either natives or Tartars. The British conquered half the globe relying on the Brown Bess — there is no reason the faster-firing Type 30 cannot do the same.

Unless the user is a completely demoralized, rotten unit.

The prerequisite for sweeping away local tyrants is that the troops have sufficient pay and training... and these are precisely what the Great Ming lacks. So no matter what weapon you give the Great Ming, the outcome will probably be about the same. What the Transmigrators actually fear is the Great Ming becoming a transport Mobile Corps Commander, so the percussion cap is still very important.

On the great campus of Huangpu Military Port, voices surged like a boiling cauldron; all kinds of roaring sounds and the clashing of metal upon metal never ceased for a moment — the Pioneer Army was conducting selection tests.

The campus was roughly divided into two sections: one half of the grounds tested hot weapons, the other half cold weapons.

Large groups of people were lining up to shoot guns.

Many of the Ming natives who joined the Pioneer Army had actually previously had experience shooting bird blunderbusses or matchlocks, so they were not unfamiliar with firearms.

Under the guidance of regular army sergeants, the native shooters would first bite open the tail of the oil-paper fixed cartridge, pour all the gunpowder inside into the barrel, then use the ramrod to ram the lead bullet down the barrel.

After this step, they raised the gun, pulled open the cock's bird-beak hook, inserted the copper percussion cap into the specialized concave circular groove, and all shooting preparation actions were complete.

Compared to the matchlocks and bird blunderbusses that appeared historically, and even the darling fusil of the following two hundred years, the Type 30 Rifle's advanced fixed cartridge plus percussion cap ignition method had already thoroughly left its predecessors behind — it could be called supremely advanced.

The next moment, the shooter opened fire at a target 30 meters away. The percussion cap struck by the bird-beak ignited smoothly, and then the flame traveled through the vent hole to ignite the black powder in the barrel; the bullet was then pushed out of the barrel by the expanding gas.

At this point, the gap became apparent: most natives did not know the use of the front sight and rear sight on the barrel; they shot entirely by feel. Whether the bullet could hit the target was purely a matter of innate talent.

Everyone who came for the test had the chance to fire 5 shots. During this period, as long as they could hit the target with 1 bullet using the smoothbore gun in hand, they were considered a qualified candidate and could stay to continue "advanced training."

As for those eliminated in the shooting test, they had no choice but to go and handle cold weapons.

The organizational structure of the Pioneer Army, compared to the regular army, was freer and simpler. Currently, there were only three organizational levels: battalion, company, and squad. Among these, the number of squads could be more or less, added or removed at any time, freely assembled.

Wu Sanye's group, when squads were divided earlier, was assigned to 1st Company, 7th Squad. Wu Sanye naturally became the Squad Leader.

The total number of the 7th Squad was currently eight people. Because back in Taipei, the Overseers had chatted with the guard soldiers about firearms, half of the 7th Squad passed the shooting test — this included Wu Sanye and Yusheng Shaoye.

After obtaining his qualification, Wu Sanye hurried back to the training grounds and found several of his underlings who were playing around with blades and spears.

The cold weapon grounds were far more lively. From time to time, powerful experts from the Three Mountains and Five Peaks would publicly perform a set of ancestral skills with various exotic cold weapons, drawing cheers from a crowd of onlookers.

There were also real-person duels, with people wielding wooden knives and wooden swords, wearing protective gear, competing against each other.

The grounds where people watched real-person duels were not very lively; the atmosphere was even somewhat oppressive. Those gathering here were mostly individuals with life-and-death combat experience. On a real battlefield, life and death happen in an instant — there is simply no time or space to show off fancy moves. So these people mostly remained silent, watching as the two stepping into the arena decided victory and defeat in a few simple moves, their expressions all very grave.

In fact, those who stepped into the arena here were the ones with true ambition: the Pioneer Army supported gangs, and unaffiliated experts could use this method to attract some like-minded people and form their own teams.

Wu Sanye found his several underlings here.

Then, after watching the experts fight for a while, Wu Sanye nodded and led his underlings to the largest grounds.

In the center of the largest grounds, the circumference was packed with people.

Wei Yuan, standing 1.93 meters tall, wearing a military-green two-finger vest, riding breeches, and battle boots, his massive upper arms and pectoral muscle groups exposed, was now assuming a standard modern combat starting stance, facing three Ming knight-errants who were extremely short compared to him, constantly shifting his steps, ready to launch an attack at any moment.