Comrade, Your Ingredients Are Too Complicated

Chapter 13 The final glory of black powder

 After hearing what the brigade commander said, Huang He was not surprised.

If someone asks what is most important to the Eighth Route Army at this stage, it is undoubtedly bullets and grenades.

 The former is the foundation of the army's combat effectiveness, while the latter is the best choice for dealing with the enemy's sudden attack tactics.

 During the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army was always troubled by insufficient ammunition.

The nickname "Three Guns and Eight Routes" comes from the fact that veterans in the army always emphasize that three rounds of bullets are needed to destroy an enemy, and after that, they must launch a charge.

Old devils all know that fighting the Eighth Route Army is very difficult and dangerous. Because they did not have many bullets, they were forced to use some sharpshooters.

 However, no matter how much you save ammunition, the consumption of bullets is inevitable. Without purchasing channels and your own military factory, it will only be water without roots.

 At the beginning of the war, our troops mainly engaged in raids, ambushes and blocking operations.

 In the process, destroy the enemy's transportation, cut off the enemy's supply lines, and strive to achieve maximum results with minimum consumption.

 But even so, our combat discipline still requires that the troops cannot fight for too long.

 There was a surprise attack on the Japanese airport, and the battle ended in just one hour. And it bombed 24 Japanese fighter jets, which became headline news in Chinese and foreign media.

 So, at that time, the ammunition of our troops was generally maintainable.

 However, with the continuous expansion of base areas, the expansion of the army, and the increase in the frequency and scale of battles, the army's demand for weapons and ammunition has increased sharply.

 Demand is expanding, but supply is becoming increasingly scarce. Faced with this situation, the troops can only work harder on capturing them.

  Combat seizures can be said to be an important source of ammunition for the Eighth Route Army, but two conditions need to be met.

 Not only must it be an organized enemy-eating unit, but it must also be fast.

 Nowadays, the Japanese are very stubborn, and they often fight to the end and would rather die than surrender.

 This caused the Japanese to consume a lot of ammunition when resisting, and once the defeat was determined, these beasts would directly destroy the supplies, which would lead to a loss of business if they were not careful.

 For many units, capture does not replenish consumption, or only equalizes it.

 Especially ammunition, which is often consumed more than captured, and it is really difficult to make ends meet.

 So every shot and bullet are hard to come by, and soldiers often have to pay the price with their blood or even their lives.

 In addition, due to long-term financial constraints, the amount of money that can be used to purchase weapons and ammunition is very limited.

 The base area was blocked and embargoed, and there was no way to buy it.

When fighting the Japanese, the most common thing the troop commanders said was to aim and hit at a close range, and never fire until the enemy is killed.

By various coincidences, the cavalry, which should have withdrawn from the stage of the times long ago, ushered in a second spring in this land.

 Because of the above reasons, reloading bullets has become a top priority for various military factories in the rear.

 Reloading, in layman’s terms, means recycling bullet casings.

 Then re-clean the cartridge case, reshape it, install the primer, load the ammunition, and load the warhead.

 When it comes to black powder, we are the ancestors. A large number of people in the base area were mobilized to boil saltpeter and make gunpowder. Reloading bullets was not as simple as imagined.

 There are many processes involved, the first of which is collecting used bullet casings.

We all know that the troops have shooting discipline. The soldiers will recover the shells as much as possible and take them back to the logistics department arsenal for screening and repair after the battle.

 Only those cartridge cases that are not deformed or cracked can be used to avoid explosion or misfit accidents.

 But this is not a long-term solution after all.

 After soldiers use reloaded bullets, their already battle-scarred weapons will be more or less prone to explosions.

 Zhang Wanhe hears many complaints from frontline commanders every month.

 The second step is to recreate the primer.

Comrades usually cut copper sheets from broken brass cartridge cases and punch them into copper bowls.

 After adding mercury fulminate, it is re-embedded into the bottom of the cartridge case, and then the granulated gunpowder is loaded into the cartridge case according to the specified weight.

 At the end add the warhead.

The usual method is to make a mold for the bullet head, stamp a copper plate into the mold to form a jacket, and then pour molten lead into it.

The bullets reloaded through the above methods have many shortcomings. For example, the gunpowder is easily affected by moisture due to poor sealing performance, there are many shooting residues, the range is short, the accuracy is poor, the muzzle velocity is low, and the warhead shape is also unsatisfactory.

And currently the arsenal can only manufacture round-nose warheads.

 Sometimes the copper plate is not stamped well, causing a break and exposing the lead core.

However, it may also be a blessing in disguise and become a disguised dummy bomb.

 Troops generally do not shoot at enemies 100 meters away when using this kind of bullet. Beyond this distance, no one knows where the bullet will fly, and there is a high probability that it will have no lethality.

Even this kind of bullet, which is not even considered a defective product in the eyes of the Japanese, can be regarded as a huge achievement of the Logistics Department's arsenal based on the industrial level of the base area at that time. Troops rely on reloading bullets, which greatly alleviates the difficulty of ammunition shortage. This can be regarded as the last glory of black powder in the world.

 After sorting out his thoughts, Huang He looked at the three of them and said

“As for bullets, although I personally despise reloading bullets, we won’t be able to get rid of them in a short time.”

“In addition to the lack of materials in the current base area, another problem is that the caliber of bullets is not uniform.”

"We have too many types of weapons on hand. The caliber of bullets used in the 38 cover and crooked handle is 6.5×50mm, and the Type 92 heavy machine gun uses 7.7×58mm. It is made in Hanyang and used in the Czech light machine gun. The bullet is 7.92×57mm.”

“Coupled with all kinds of Wanguo brand weapons. If we want to build a new bullet factory, the logistics pressure will be too great, and Lao Zhang and I will definitely die suddenly.”

 Huang He looked at the brigade commander's expectant eyes and told him his recent arrangements.

 Unifying the caliber of bullets is something that must be done, but it can only be done step by step.

This is not only to reduce logistical pressure, but also to improve battlefield survivability.

 Many of our soldiers now use the weapons that captured the Japanese, and the sounds of different guns are different.

If it is a stalemate battle between the two sides in the dark, most comrades will not be able to see anything and can only rely on the sound to judge whether the Japanese have touched them.

 When they hear the gunfire around them being made in Hanyang, the soldiers will feel more secure.

 But if there are all the sounds of San Ba ​​Da Gai, normal people will instinctively feel scared and will confuse their hearing and hearing.

 So in order to increase the survival rate of recruits and make them more heroic in combat, sooner or later, we must build our own weapons production line.

·Deciding to "establish the academy of sciences" in the first month of the quota offer, Huanghe selected five researchers majoring in ammunition engineering and explosive technology.

 Although he himself is good at chemistry, professional matters should be left to professionals.

These researchers are proficient in ammunition system analysis and design, explosion physics, ballistics, terminal effects, dynamic detection technology, impact dynamics, explosion technology, safety engineering, etc.

And they have strong hands-on skills and can make bullets by hand even under limited conditions.

These people are good at teaching and can teach students in accordance with their aptitude and pass on their skills to comrades in the base area.

“I have arranged a lot of things this month, and I specially obtained a batch of copper.”

“And I can also increase the lethality of bullets, whether they are new or reloaded.”

Hearing that the lethality of bullets could be increased, Li Yunlong, who was originally a good boy, suddenly became energetic and hurriedly asked Huang He what to do.

“You two should know the biggest difference between our bullets and the Japanese bullets.”

 Facing this question, the brigade commander and Zhang Wanhe nodded.

“We use black powder due to technical issues, but smokeless powder is indispensable for modern weapons.”

“The power of black powder itself is limited. Bullets made from black powder can indeed kill the enemy, but the effect is far from good.”

“The first batch of smokeless gunpowder in the world was invented by the French. I studied it when I was in school, and I knew it would be useful one day.”

“For the past month, I have been thinking about how to produce smokeless gunpowder under limited conditions. Recently, I have come to a general conclusion.”

“You are not specialized in chemical engineering, so I won’t explain the specific steps to you.”

Li Yunlong was confused by Huang He's words. As a big boss, he had seen black gunpowder, but he didn't know what smokeless gunpowder was.

But since the brigade commander was by his side, it was not easy for him to be confused, so he could only ask patiently:

“Director Huang, when can we use the smokeless gunpowder you mentioned?”

"The method I just mentioned is a local refining method. The delivery rate of the finished product is not high, and it is also dangerous."

“But this step is a step we must take. In the next few days, I will find the right people to teach the method. If it is soon, by the end of this year, or at the latest early next year, our bullets will have obvious changes.”

 Huang He rubbed his chin and thought. He didn't know how to word his next words.

Seeing that he was obviously worried, the brigade commander took the initiative and asked: "If you have any problems, just tell me and I will try my best to help you deal with it."

"My abilities are limited after all. I hope to set up a school in the rear area. I want to teach talented people everything I know."

“And my friends will return to China one after another. They also want to contribute to the cause of anti-Japanese war. Victory is based on the production of weapons.”

When Huanghe said this, he was trying to pave the way for researchers who would continue to come to the base area.

 It is also from the heart for a better tomorrow.

　　Although the conditions were poor at that time, it was not really hard. Haha.

　　　Although the equipment in the military factory is small, it is not without it.

A small amount of this equipment was purchased, but it was mainly borrowed and seized.

How could there be only a screwdriver, a stove, and a few sledgehammers?

New book for everything!

Someone in the comment area asked me to update more, so today it will be 6K

 (End of this chapter)