My German Empire - Chapter 33:

The next morning Wilhelm had just arrived at the office for a while, before Annie led an old man in. “Your Highness, Mr. Mauser is here.”

It seems that an old man in his seventies saluted tremblingly. “Hello, your royal prince.”

Wilhelm responded with a lukewarm greeting. “Oh, isn’t this Mr. Mauser? Why did you come here in person?” last time the disdain from Mauser’s representative made him very upset.

The old man gave a wry smile and went straight to the subject. “His Royal Highness Wilhelm, this old man will not speak nonsense. I have nothing to say about Feigert. I am willing to give you 15% of the shares.”

“…” Does the old man regard him as a blackmailer? Wilhelm shook his head. “No, no, Mr. Mauser. I’m not accepting bribes. My last proposal was that I exchange three-point drawings for the 12% of your company’s shares. But now there is an additional condition. You have to change the caliber of the bullet.” He took out three drawings from the drawer and let Annie pass them to the old man.

The old man put on reading glasses, opened the first drawing, and was stunned after a glance. “Kar 98k? This locking method…”

Wilhelm nodded in response. “Yes, the back end locking.”

Locking is the connection method between the bolt and the barrel during firing. The purpose of locking is to withstand the pressure on the bottom of the bullet when the bullet is fired and prevent the bolt from recoiling early. The locking method is divided into inertial locking and rigid locking: inertial locking is that there is no mechanical connection between the bolt and the barrel at the time of firing, but the bolt is locked by the inertia of the mass of the bolt. There are free bolt action, semi-free bolt action, roller delay and other types. Rigid locking is a form in which the bolt is directly connected to the barrel through a certain mechanism, and then the bolt is released and rear seated through an unlocking mechanism.

In this way, a lot of lock-up methods are blooming, and of course many are only short-lived. At present, the most widely used is the rotary locking method, and the representative of front-end locking is German Mauser and the rear-end locking is the UK.

The front end locking of the Mauser is a characteristic of the Mauser gun. It was invented by the Mauser brothers at the end of the 19th century. Due to its simple structure and reliable locking, it has been used for more than a hundred years without even a little change. Even for later generations, the design difference from the Mauser brothers a hundred years ago can be said to be very small. There are two lugs on the front of the bolt, which will be inserted into the groove on the wall of the receiver at the rear of the chamber after being rotated; since the locking position is just behind the chamber, the error of the bolt itself will not affect the shooting accuracy

The back-end lock is British Lee. The locking method of the Enfield rifle. The lug is located at the back of the bolt. In order to lock it, a groove must be dug in the middle of the receiver. The receiver wall must be made thicker. However, because the handle is very close to the lug, this locking method The opening and closing strokes of the sniffer are much smoother than that of the Mauser with the lugs in the front. Because of this feature, plus Li. Enfield’s ten-round magazine, it was claimed by the British Army at the beginning of World War I that a soldier could fire as many as 15 rounds per minute. When the British soldiers fired in a volley, the German soldiers felt as if they were suppressed by the firepower of a machine gun. What’s even more exaggerated is that this high rate of fire is achieved while ensuring accuracy.

Wilhelm applied this ten-round magazine and rear-end locking method to the upcoming Kar 98k revision. It also uses a target-hole type rear sight, which is easier to aim and hit the target than the Mauser 98k with a V-shaped rear sight. And in order to make production easier, the main parts are simplified.

The old man’s face was a little ugly, and it was obviously not a reconciling thing to let them give up the proud front-end locking they invented themselves. He looked at Wilhelm, trying to save his front end lock. “His Royal Highness, the patent for the back-end locking…”

Wilhelm curled his lips in disdain. “Isn’t their No.3 model imitated from the Mauser (front-end locking) gun? Even if they applied for a patent, how many years have passed now… the patent has expired already!” Of course he knew what Mauser intended. , Aggravating the tone of voice he said. “Mr. Mauser, you have to know that I am not here to discuss with you! You can accept it if you want, if you can’t accept it, you can leave now!!”

Hey! After a while, the old man sighed deeply and opened the next one.

“MG3? NSV?”

For the machine gun, Wilhelm chose the MG3 machine gun with reliable action and fierce firepower. In the structure stamping parts, spot welding and spot riveting technology were widely used. The production process was simple and the cost was low.

The first improved version of the MG-42, which launched with a 7.62×51mm NATO standard round, which was originally produced by Rheinmetall in accordance with the measured drawings of the MG42 during World War II. It was named MG1 after changing the caliber. Then, after making a few small improvements to MG1, it became MG3. Therefore, the later MG3 machine gun and the MG42 produced by Germany in World War II not only had high parts versatility, but the look was also very similar. If no one looks at the inscription on the gun or the retraction device on the muzzle, it is difficult to distinguish them.

What makes him most satisfied is that unlike MG42, MG3 can adjust the rate of fire.

Equipped with a 550g gun and equipped with an N-type buffer, the rate of fire can reach 1,200 rounds/min. The rate of fire can also be reduced to 700-900 rounds per minute when replaced with a 950g gun and equipped with an R-type buffer.

The NSV that Mauser said was a heavy machine gun developed by the Soviet Union. Due to its excellent overall performance and innovations in many structures, it was once widely used by Warsaw Pact member states as a general-purpose large-caliber machine gun for infantry, and it competes with the Browning M2 large-caliber heavy machine gun widely used in the West. Several decades later, some NATO member states also recommended and tried NSV to replace the old M2.

If the U.S. Army at this time did not improve on the M1921 and officially named it M2, Wilhelm would definitely take it for his own use.

Even if he wants to talk to the United States about authorization, the United States may not agree to it. In addition, the weight of the NSV is much lighter than that of the M2, and the rate of fire is much faster, so Wilhelm made a simple choice.

“…” Mauser was shocked after reading all the information. He was also a designer when he was young. Of course, he saw the value of these design drawings. At first glance, he thought it was drawn by a master designer. It is hard to imagine that it came from the hands of the royal prince before him.