I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 66 The Never-Before-Seen General Purpose Machine Gun
Looking at the blank drawing paper in front of me.

Chen Changzai had been sitting quietly at his desk for over an hour.

He had previously told the guards and Wang Ling that no one was allowed to come in and disturb him if he didn't come out.

Just prepare the food.

At this moment, he had not drawn a single line on the drawing.

But in his mind, a general-purpose machine gun was slowly taking shape.

First of all, the bullets used by this general-purpose machine gun are the same 7.92×57mm rifle bullets that are currently used in rifles.

It also needs to be able to fire light and heavy pointed bullets and round-nosed bullets, just like the newly finalized Red Type 1 rifle.

These are the basic requirements for this general-purpose machine gun.

Secondly, this general-purpose machine gun must be simple to manufacture and easy to maintain.

Third, it must have a low failure rate, be robust and durable, and be able to adapt to various environments.

Fourth, it needs to have powerful firepower, but it cannot have too fast a rate of fire.

A minimum rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute and a maximum rate of fire controlled within 800 rounds per minute are still acceptable.

However, regardless of the circumstances, this gun still requires a rate-of-fire regulator.

After the machine gun had roughly taken shape in Chen Changzai's mind...

He then began to make the first stroke on the drawing.

This machine gun is designed to be simple to manufacture, easy to maintain, and durable.

Chen Changzai first chose a long-stroke gas-guided piston.

Long-stroke gas-operated pistons have been known for their simplicity and reliability since their invention, which is why they became Chen Changzai's first choice.

However, Chen Changzai did not adopt the rotary locking mechanism commonly used in later generations.

Although rotary locking mechanisms are more reliable.

However, its processing and manufacturing are relatively difficult. It is quite time-consuming and labor-intensive to process that bolt head.

Therefore, he adopted a gill-type locking mechanism.

The so-called gill-type locking structure simply means that there are two elastic locking blocks on the left and right sides of the base.

When the bolt is pushed forward by the recoil spring.

The bolt head thrusts into the locking lugs, and the locking lugs, under the pressure of the elasticity, lock into the locking lugs on both sides of the bolt head.

This completes the locking action.

Once the bullet has been fired, the high-pressure gas rushing into the gas vent pushes the gas piston backward.

The piston pushes the bolt out of the gill-type slot.

This completes one firing action.

The gill-type locking mechanism was first invented by a Swede.

However, it was Soviet small arms designer Vasily Degtyarev who first successfully applied it to firearms.

His masterpiece, the DP28 light machine gun, is also known as "Dapanji" (a type of chicken dish).

It uses a gill-type locking mechanism.

The Type 77 heavy machine gun, a dual-purpose anti-aircraft and anti-tank machine gun designed and produced domestically in later generations, also used this locking structure.

As the core of a general-purpose machine gun, it has now taken shape on the blueprints.

However, Chen Changzai did not completely copy the DP28 light machine gun.

The DP28 was designed as a light machine gun and was not developed into a general-purpose machine gun.

Because of its original design concept, it was never intended to be used as a heavy machine gun.

For example, its feeding system and its difficult-to-replace barrel.

Therefore, for barrel replacement, he adopted the quick-change barrel of the Czech ZB26 light machine gun.

This type of gun barrel is now being mass-produced here, and it is quick to replace, very practical, and there is a large stock available.

Although its sights position is different from the new machine gun.

The ZB26's front sight is in the upper left, while the new general-purpose machine gun's front sight is directly above.

But these are not major problems.

You only need to adjust the position of the sight clamp slot.

The Type 80 general-purpose machine gun in later China was a copy of the Soviet PKM general-purpose machine gun.

It uses a carrying handle-style barrel structure that is very similar to the Czech ZB26.

After the barrel was determined.

For the ammunition feeding mechanism, Chen Changzai chose the simplified ammunition feeding rail structure of the MG42.

Whether it's the Type 80 general-purpose machine gun or the Soviet PKM general-purpose machine gun.

Compared to the MG42 general-purpose machine gun, their ammunition feeding mechanism includes an additional feed roller that drives the movement of the ammunition belt.

Their ammunition loading channels are also relatively complex.

In contrast to this structure.

The MG42 general-purpose machine gun uses a slanted guide rail driven by the bolt action, which is simpler and more reliable.

However, regarding the choice of ammunition belts.

Chen Changzai did not choose to use the soft canvas ammunition belt, or the metal-linked ammunition belt used by many machine guns today.

Instead, he opted for a metal-linked, disintegrating bullet belt.

His choice of this type of ammunition belt was based on careful consideration.

Disintegrating ammunition belt.

As the name suggests, its ammunition belt is dispersible. This type of ammunition belt became the dominant type in later generations.

It first appeared on Hotchkiss machine guns during World War I.

Although it was used during World War II, it was not widespread.

However, in later generations it almost completely dominated the world.

In comparison.

Canvas belt feeding has a very high failure rate.

In a war, the goal is to ensure a continuous supply of ammunition via canvas belts without any malfunctions.

We can only rely on God's blessing.

This is especially true for canvas belts that have been used two or three times.

If the canvas chain is stored for a long time, it will also get moldy and mildewed.

In severe cases, the belt may be suddenly torn off.

Such accidents are unacceptable on the battlefield.

The all-metal one-piece belt.

First of all, let's not talk about its weight.

The problem is not so obvious when shooting from a prone or tripod position.

But if you are carrying a machine gun and moving forward quickly, or shooting, or running.

You will then discover that long, empty ammunition belt.

Every now and then, it might trip you up.

If you want to fire while moving, the external inertial force from the empty ammunition belt is something you simply cannot control while holding the machine gun.

This is extremely unfriendly to machine gunners who need to quickly follow up with troops.

Disintegrating belts do not have this problem.

Its structure is very simple.

It's a small steel piece with two large semicircular rings, one convex and one concave, on its left and right sides.

The link between them is the link of bullets.

That bullet was like the connecting pin between the track plates of a tank.

Once the bullet is fired, the link is broken.

Its drawback is that during combat, its scattered ammunition links will scatter all over the ground.

However, this is not an insurmountable problem.

Simply place a basket or a sack at the location of the ejection port.

Then all these spent cartridge cases and ammunition belts can be put into the collection bag.

If it is necessary to quickly follow the troops and fire on the move, the machine gunner will not be affected by the excess empty ammunition belts.

If the battle is won.

Therefore, any link in the ammunition belt, even the spent cartridge case, can be recovered.

If it fails.

Then don't think about anything.

The machine gun and the people might be gone, so why bother thinking about recovering the ammunition belt?

As for controlling the rate of fire, this was not very complicated for Chen Changzai.

He can adjust the firing rate entirely by controlling the pressure of the piston in the air intake.

This is also a common method for adjusting the rate of fire of general-purpose machine guns.

There are exhaust holes of different sizes on the pipes of the air guide piston chamber.

The air pressure in the pressure chamber of the air guide piston can be adjusted by blocking different holes.

This makes it the simplest way to control the rate of fire of this new general-purpose machine gun.

Perhaps it was inspiration.

Chen Changzai didn't know how long he had been drawing the picture.

Anyway, he was at his own workbench, constantly drawing and calculating data.

Then, based on the data, the drawings are modified.

The time spent writing and drawing passed by just like that.

But outside the cave dwelling, a group of people were so anxious they were about to jump up and down.

　Thank you to all my friends who have supported me.

　　There will be another chapter tonight.

　　I know many friends are voting for me.

　　I never asked for votes.

　　But today a friend reminded me that there's a novel about the Japanese invaders that's better than mine.

　　Although I haven't seen him, I still feel very annoyed, so I'd like to ask my friends to help me. If you still have any votes, please cast one for me and take that guy down.

　　Thank you
　　Another new gun has come out, and half of my brain cells have died.

　　This is truly a new gun that I imagined and designed myself, without any reference.

　　Any similarity is purely coincidental.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)