Survival skills maxed out, I feed my wife and daughter by catching fish and shrimp

“The tool should be fed slowly, the tool should be adjusted steadily, and remember to apply cutting fluid to reduce tool wear.”

This step is the critical moment. Chen Changfan began to give reminders and the craftsmen also worked meticulously.

Chi Chi!

As the last bit of iron fell off, the worker carefully retracted the knife, let the iron rod cool for a while, removed it, and handed it to Chen Changfan.

Chen Changfan looked at the iron pipe in his hand. The surface of the iron pipe had a cold metallic luster, but it still felt warm in his hand.

This is just an ordinary musket barrel, but it is also unique.

Because this is the first machined product in this world.

Producing gun barrels using lathes can not only greatly improve production efficiency, but also greatly improve shooting accuracy and equipment consistency.

The so-called equipment consistency is to ensure that the performance of each musket is as similar as possible.

In this way, soldiers can use any musket they pick up, which greatly reduces the time it takes to adapt to the gun.

"Assemble this barrel and test-fire it to see how it works."

Perhaps because Chen Changfan was supervising the work, the workmanship of the gun barrel, which was processed using a lathe for the first time, was surprisingly good. Chen Changfan was also looking forward to seeing how this new gun barrel would perform.

"Sir, it's assembled, but... who wants to test-fire it?"

Tang Shao brought out a shiny musket and glanced at everyone present.

Including himself, they were all craftsmen who only knew how to forge iron and were good at making muskets, but if they were allowed to shoot, they were afraid that they would easily hurt their own people.

Chen Changfan took the musket without saying a word, skillfully loaded it with gunpowder and iron sand, and then raised his hand casually.

Bang.

The old crow's nest eighty meters away fell down with a sound.

"color!"

"Boss, you have great marksmanship!"

Chen Changfan's move stunned everyone present.

Everyone only knew that the boss was quite talented in martial arts, and was good at riding, fishing, and archery. Who would have thought that he was also an excellent marksman.

Chen Changfan had already become numb to the shocked expressions of the crowd.

He loaded the ammunition skillfully and test-fired a few rounds before stopping with satisfaction.

"The effective range is roughly between eighty and one hundred steps, and the power has been significantly improved. It can penetrate three layers of leather armor at eighty steps, a full thirty steps farther than before. It's still a bit of a hassle to reload, though."

The difficulty in loading is not the barrel's fault, but the design of the musket.

There was no way. Xiaofengzhuang had just started to develop its industry, and at that time, being able to make a musket by hand was already very good.

He also wanted to change to a better flintlock or even a rifle, but that would be a step too far and would be counterproductive.

He called Hu the bricklayer and Tang Shao over to discuss the improvement of the lathe and popularized the concept of rifling.

"Boss, I've taken note of all the improvements you mentioned. I guarantee the renovation will be completed within three days!"

After receiving Chen Changfan's guidance, the two were full of confidence and immediately patted their chests and made a promise.

Because they know that once the handcart is successfully modified, it will be reproduced using it as a template.

If such powerful machinery were put into production, their future work efficiency would be greatly improved.

"Don't get too excited just yet. These drive shafts appear to be made of pear wood. They've already warped slightly after just one barrel. If my guess is correct, they'll need new shafts every five barrels."

There is nothing wrong with the wooden axle itself. After all, with the current level of craftsmanship and assembly, it is still too difficult to use fine iron for all parts.

Wooden axles are easier to process and the cost of debugging and replacing them is much lower.

After hearing what Chen Changfan said, Tang Shao and Hu the roofer also realized the problem, but they didn't have a good solution for the time being.

Chen Changfan squatted down to examine the wood grain. "Try using jujube wood instead. Soak it in tung oil for three days. There are plenty of jujube trees on Zhengqing Mountain. Just send someone to cut them down."

He traced his fingertips across the lathe base. "Add a cast iron counterweight here to reduce vibration."

The two kept Chen Changfan's words in mind.

It seems that no matter what difficulties we encounter, the boss can always provide a solution quickly.

Moreover, the rifling that the boss just mentioned really gave the two of them a lot of knowledge.

The boss said that he had conceived an advanced firearm that could fire a type of ammunition called "bullets" with faster speed, higher accuracy, and more terrifying lethality.

The rifling that the boss mentioned can make the bullet fly higher and farther, and the trajectory is smoother.

They still don't fully understand the specific principles, but they still think it is very powerful.

After giving the two of them instructions, Chen Changfan thought for a moment and then took them to the furnace.

Whoohoo!

More than a dozen blast furnaces are spewing out blue smoke.

In front of every blast furnace, there is a blower whirring.

With the coke, the temperature of the furnace was raised to another level, and soon a furnace of molten iron was ready.

I saw several strong men working together to open the furnace, and let the red-hot molten iron flow into the cannon mold along the ceramic mold, which turned out to be the entire barrel of the red cannon.

"Sir!" Han, the blacksmith in charge of supervision, came forward, wiping his sweat. "The integral casting method you proposed saves the process of splicing the gun barrel, and the gun wall thickness is uniform. But there are still some flaws..."

Having learned from the previous experience, Han the blacksmith now reports any problems in a timely manner.

"Don't worry, I'm overseeing the casting of this batch of artillery. There won't be any quality issues. The main issue is Yuan Lang's request. He wants the Red Coat Cannon to have a range of 300 or even 499 steps, and to have its accuracy further improved. I've been scratching my head for a long time and still can't come up with any good ideas."

Chen Changfan didn't respond, but looked at Tang Shao and Hu the tile-maker. "Didn't you guys just seem a little confused about rifling? Today I'll demonstrate it to you."

"Rifling?" Han the blacksmith scratched his head. It was the first time he heard of this new word and he became curious.

"Find some skilled hands to carve six grooves into this cannon. We'll know the effect in a moment."

Tang Shao lay down in front of the muzzle and took a look, then used a pen to outline the trajectory of the rifling, while Hu the bricklayer went to find helpers and tools.

It is difficult to engrave rifling on a gun barrel, but it is easier on a larger caliber barrel.

After a while, the craftsmen finished engraving the rifling. Chen Changfan took a look and felt that it should meet the requirements, so he ordered people to load the shells and aim at a wild mountain.

boom!

When the artillery was fired, a deafening sound erupted, and the round, black shell flew out in a rotation, swept across the sky, and finally landed on a slope about three or four hundred meters high, blasting a large hole in the ground.

"That shot went really far! At least three hundred steps away! Now I can report to Yuan Lang!"

Blacksmith Han was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.

"I never thought that such small rifling could have such power." Tang Shaohu and Hu the bricklayer looked at each other and were truly shocked by their boss's move.