Bright Sword: Starting from the Improved Grenade

"Director Chang, how long will it take to purify all the copper ore? How much pure copper can be extracted?"

In the blast furnace area, Zhao Tianyang asked three questions.

Ever since the armored vehicle was manufactured, Zhao Tianyang began to care about the bullet problem. He ran to the blast furnace area early in the morning to inquire about the progress of copper ore refining.

"Section Chief, we will almost be done in 12 hours."

Chang San thought for a moment and said, "Based on the copper ore we smelted in the first batch, the copper content of the copper ore we brought back this time reached 20%. Four hundred kilograms of copper ore can be refined into about 80 kilograms of pure copper."

"80 kilograms! Based on the 7.92x57mm bullets we currently use, we can produce bullet shells. Not bad!"

Zhao Tianyang felt a little surprised. If they could obtain copper ore from General Wei steadily, then their Eighth Route Army would never be short of bullets, and he would not have to make the particularly troublesome copper-coated steel shells or painted steel shells.

"Okay, you refine it first. Once you have refined pure copper, process it all into brass. The ratio is 70% copper and 30% zinc."

Zhao Tianyang nodded and explained.

"got it!"

Chang San nodded.

After leaving the blast furnace area, Zhao Tianyang came to the tent office and found Liu Ding and others who were busy assembling machines.

"Wow, we're finally going to make a semi-automatic bullet production machine!"

As soon as he came in, Zhao Tianyang said with an exaggerated expression.

Liu Ding rolled his eyes and said, "Stop being funny. Why are you coming to us if you're not busy with your armored vehicle?"

"The armored vehicle has been completed. Now we just need to install the light and heavy machine guns."

Zhao Tianyang answered casually.

"So fast!"

Liu Ding was a little embarrassed. The machine guns on his semi-automatic bullet production line had not yet been assembled, but others had already made armored vehicles.

Zhao Tianyang waved his hand and said nonchalantly: "What's so fast about this? Except for the chassis which is a bit difficult, the rest can be done with hands!"

"Yes, yes, you are the best!"

Liu Ding was a little speechless. Generally speaking, the emergence of a weapon or equipment would require a lot of calculations and testing before it could be manufactured. A large number of problems would arise during the manufacturing process. It would be impossible to succeed without ten days or half a month. It was not surprising that some took half a year or a year.

But these principles don't work for Zhao Tianyang. He said he would do it the day before yesterday, and the blueprints would be produced the day after tomorrow. The armored vehicle was manufactured the day after tomorrow. It took about a week to complete it all. It was as if he already had mature armored vehicle blueprints and processes in his head, waiting for him to copy them.

"hey-hey."

Seeing that Liu Ding had been silent for a long time, Zhao Tianyang came over with a smile and said, "Don't work overtime tonight. Old Liu, gather all the staff from the Military Industry Department. Let's hold a meeting to discuss the design of light and heavy machine guns!"

I don't know why, but ever since the invention of the pot-carrying machine and the factory had electricity, everyone started working overtime on their own accord, making Zhao Tianyang feel a little embarrassed to be lazy.

"Row!"

Liu Ding nodded: "It just so happens that everyone is tired from working overtime these days, so let's take tonight as a day off."

"That's it, you go ahead and get busy!"

After saying that, Zhao Tianyang ran out. From what Liu Ding said, could it be that he was the one who started the overtime work culture?

.............

Next to the coking furnace, Zhao Tianyang first measured with his hands the cement piers that had been built here a week ago. After finding that the standards were the same as before, he found a sledgehammer, a saw, and sulfuric acid, and tested the impact resistance, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance respectively. He was satisfied.

The result was similar to what he had guessed, and was consistent with the characteristics of medium-heat cement. Although its frost resistance was not tested, it didn't matter, after all, Shanxi was not very cold.

"The next step is large-scale refining."

Thinking of this, Zhao Tianyang returned to the tent and prepared to design two machines for the cement plant to improve efficiency.

"Raw material crusher, vertical kiln, mixer, cement grinding machine."

Looking at the three machines needed to make cement on the paper, Zhao Tianyang felt it was so easy and simple. It only took him one afternoon to design four machines.

Putting down the pencil, Zhao Tianyang stretched, stood up and went to the cafeteria for dinner.

After the meal, Liu Ding called all the staff members of the Military Industry Department to hold a meeting in the tent office.

"Sorry for being late!"

Zhao Tianyang was the last one to arrive. He had just given the drawings he had drawn in the afternoon to Li Yuncai, asking him to take people to make the three machines. As for the vertical kiln, they could just build one on site.

"It's okay, let's get started!"

Liu Ding waved his hand and said.

"it is good!"

Zhao Tianyang nodded and walked quickly to the blackboard in front: "Mr. Liu should have told you the purpose of this meeting, right?"

"said!"

Liu Ransheng raised his hand and answered.

"Okay, I won't waste my words. Today we are going to discuss light and heavy machine guns, such as which caliber to choose, how to feed the ammunition, and what materials to use for manufacturing. Let's start with the light machine gun!"

Zhao Tianyang wrote the words "light machine gun" on the blackboard, and then looked at everyone present.

"The common calibers of light machine guns currently include 7.92mm, 7.62mm and 6.5mm. I don't think there is anything to discuss. We are mainly using 7.92mm bullets now, and that's it. This will also reduce the pressure on logistics!"

Liu Ding spoke without hesitation.

"I object. The recoil of the 7.92mm bullet is too strong. Our soldiers are generally short and malnourished. It would be a bit difficult for them to operate a 7.92 caliber light machine gun."

Wu Shimeng retorted.

"Machine gunners are selected from strong people, and not everyone can carry a light machine gun. I think 7.92 is good."

Liu Guifu continued.

"Yes, that makes sense!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and even Wu Shimeng, who was against it, stopped talking.

Seeing this, Zhao Tianyang wrote the caliber data on the blackboard.

"Okay, let's move on to the next topic, the method of supplying ammunition!"

"The magazine capacity of a light machine gun is generally between 20 and 30 rounds. For disk feeding, it is generally more than 40 rounds. For belt feeding, it goes without saying that it is generally rounds."

It was Liu Ding who started the introduction.

"First of all, we don't need to consider belt feeding. Currently, we are fighting guerrilla warfare, so we don't need belt feeding at all. But just in case, I think we can choose disk feeding. This way, the number of bullets is more than 40, which can be used in both guerrilla warfare and defensive warfare."

Shen Hong thought for a moment and said.

"agree!"

There was almost no dispute on this point, and everyone nodded.

"Okay, the feeding method is the magazine. The last question is, what kind of material should be chosen to make the light machine gun?"

Zhao Tianyang turned around and wrote down the data.

"Section Chief, you invented stainless steel! I think it would be great if the barrels of both light and heavy machine guns were made of stainless steel. As for the magazines, just use ordinary carbon steel, and the gun body can be made of low-carbon steel!"

As soon as Zhao Tianyang finished speaking, Liu Guifu said with a smile.

"Yes, this configuration is very suitable for us, cheap and sturdy!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Okay, let's start discussing the heavy machine guns!"

Zhao Tianyang wrote stainless steel, carbon steel, and low carbon steel and said.

After another half an hour of intense discussion, Zhao Tianyang put down his chalk and said, "Okay, we have almost finished the discussion. When you go back, use the data we discussed today as the standard to design a light machine gun and a heavy machine gun. The day after tomorrow, bring the designed drawings and discuss them again. Then select the best drawings and work together to perfect the details."

"no problem."

Everyone nodded in agreement.