1850 American Gold Tycoon

"I didn't expect that you would see through my little thoughts. To be honest, my company has been suffering from poor sales because the weapons it produces are too unconventional. If we can't get an order, a comparison will For large orders, we can only declare bankruptcy.”

Kony spread his hands helplessly.

"I can't even read your thoughts, so am I worthy of being your boss? Isn't your construction company running well? Why are you involved in the weapons manufacturing industry now?" Liang Yao asked.

"It's no better than before. In the past, there were only a few construction companies in California. Competition was small and you could make money just by doing it. Now there are construction companies everywhere in California, and the profits of construction companies are getting worse every year." Kony is very serious. said.

"The entry barrier for construction companies is really too low. My idea is that construction companies will continue to do it first, and at the same time enter some industries with higher barriers to prepare for their own future. Besides, I am also the son of Vanderbilt , I can’t be your assistant for the rest of my life, right?”

"It sounds like you feel wronged by being my assistant." Liang Yao rolled his eyes at Kony angrily.

"It is an honor for me to be your assistant, and it is also something that many people dream of. However, my background does not allow me to be your assistant all the time." Kony smiled helplessly and said.

"It would be easier if I could be your assistant for the rest of my life. The salary is high. All I have to do is follow your instructions. I don't need to mess around on my own."

Liang Yao didn't say anything more. The fact that Kony had such thoughts showed that he was no longer the cynical second-generation rich man he was before.

He picked up the rifle on the table. It had to be said that this rifle was very beautifully made.

The precise lever structure told him that this was an expensive gun.

The barrel of this rifle is only two-thirds of that of a conventional rifle, or even shorter, and its weight is much lighter than that of a conventional rifle.

After playing with it for a while, Liang Yao took a closer look at the inscription on the gun: volcanorifle (volcanic stone rifle).

Lava stone rifle? Is this the famous volcanic stone rifle?

As an early lever-action rifle, the Lava Rifle was a commercial failure.

However, due to its excellent manufacturing, low production volume, and the addition of early mass-produced lever-action rifles, the volcanic stone rifle and the volcanic stone pistol produced in the same year have always been the favorites of later generations of firearms collectors.

The Henry M1860 lever-action rifle that shined during the Civil War was a lever-action rifle developed and produced by a technician named Henry who Winchester poached from the Volcanic Stone Company and established the famous New Haven Arms Company.

Due to catching up with the Civil War, the Henry M1860 lever-action rifle achieved unexpected success.

It's just that things didn't end well for Henry.

The success of the 181860 lever rifle brought this technician to the pinnacle of his life.

His wallet was bulging, he was getting fat, and his heart was beginning to wander. Henry believed that the success of New Haven Company was entirely due to him, so he tried to get the Connecticut State Court to transfer New Haven Company to him.

Henry, who was just a technician, was no match for a business veteran like Winchester.

Boss Winchester admired Henry very much and was very moved after seeing his passionate love for the company. Then he emptied Henry's shares and kicked Henry out. Then he reorganized the New Haven Company and changed its name, which we are very familiar with. of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

As for Henry, he has nothing to do with the new company.

This is why when people in later generations think of lever-action rifles, they first think of Winchester, not Henry.

Smith and Wesson, the two founders of the Volcanic Stone Company, had a relatively good ending with their company. Although they went through several twists and turns, they finally decided to continue cooperation.

Smith \u0026 Wesson eventually found its niche, producing well-received police firearms and police items. The company has continued to operate into the 21st century.

"What's the name of your company?" Liang Yao asked Coney while continuing to play with the rifle in his hand.

This kid Kony has quite a vicious eye.

"Volcanic Repeating Arms Company."

Seeing that Liang Yao was interested in this gun, Kony gushed: "This company was established in 1854 by a guy named Smith and a guy named Wesson. They specially purchased Mr. Walter's patent for development and production. This rapid fire rifle caught my attention.

However, their product was not successful and the company fell into trouble and faced bankruptcy. I happened to have a little money, so I spent $185,000 to acquire 51% of the shares of the Volcanic Stone Company. The remaining shares were held by their two founders and speculator Winchester.

I think this weapon has great potential and I asked a few troopers about it.

The cavalrymen said that the Colt revolver was good at everything, but the range was too close. They wanted a weapon that could fire as fast as the Colt revolver and be lighter for use on horseback.

This weapon is very suitable for cavalry. Do you think about buying a fucking Qianer 800 to equip your cavalry? "

Sure enough, the Volcano Rifle, the Volcanic Rifle, and the Volcanic Pistol were an early lever-action rifle manufactured by the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company.

Liang Yao checked the bullets used in the volcanic stone rifle. Disappointingly, the gun used lead bullets without shells.

Caseless bullets mean lower reliability.

It is also a helpless move for the volcanic stone rifle to use bullets without shells. If you want stability and reliability, the best choice is of course bullets with metal shells.

It was just that in the mid-19th century, the speed of bullet development failed to keep up with the speed of firearms development. The backwardness of ammunition technology restricted the development of firearms.

The more mature metal case bullet at this stage is the rim needle bullet, which is the ammunition used by Liang Yao's own version of the Walter M1851 rifle.

This kind of bullet is relatively expensive. Currently, only Liang Yao's Western Brigade in the world is using this kind of ridiculously expensive gun and ridiculously expensive bullets.

Expensive is only one aspect, and rim-needle bullets are not as convenient and reliable compared to later generations of simple-looking center-fire ammunition (center-fire ammunition).

When fighting in Borneo, many soldiers complained that the side needles of side needle bullets were not resistant to bumps and were easily damaged by frequent bumps. Therefore, they had to carefully serve these troublesome bullets.

The logistics department also complained that due to the existence of the edge pin, it was more troublesome to transport this type of bullet in large quantities.

Compared with the latter shortcoming, the shortcomings above the edge needle bullet are just minor flaws.

The disadvantage is that this one-sided asymmetrical ammunition cannot be used on automatic weapons. This is the fatal shortcoming of edge needle ammunition.

This is also the main reason why this kind of edge-fire ammunition has gradually been eliminated and withdrawn from the mainstream stage, and can only become a toy for a small number of gun players.

Take the volcanic stone rifle in Liang Yao's hand as an example. This type of ammunition has an obstructive side pin, making it impossible to stuff multiple side pin bullets into the magazine.

This bullet can only be used on single-shot rifles such as the Walter M1851 and revolvers.

Of course, if the problem of center-fire bullets can be developed, the problem will be solved. History has proven that center-fire bullets are the optimal solution for gunpowder bullets.

As long as we develop mid-fire ammunition, we can develop reliable lever-action rifles, or even hand-cranked machine guns, war artifacts that have a fast rate of fire and can harvest lives efficiently.

However, it is not easy to develop a medium-fire bullet. It requires high-level chemical technology, metallurgical technology, and mechanical processing technology.

With California's current technological level, it might be possible for Liang Yao to make a few center-fire bullets for fun, but it would be impossible to put them into mass production and put them into service.

After all, once bullet-type consumables are put into service, cost issues need to be considered.

The Western Brigade is now very luxurious with five cents for a rim shot. For five cents, you can have a decent breakfast in California, a place with extremely high cost of living.

This is despite the fact that costs have dropped after mass production.

When edge needle bullets were first put into production in Sacramento, the purchase price was 7 cents a piece.

After Guangdong Yong experienced several battles, except for Liang Shaoqiong's direct unit Shanzi Battalion, which was still equipped with the Walter M1851 rifle with edge needle bullets, other units also chose more cost-effective weapons in the subsequent procurement of weapons. The Walter M1851E rifle with shell cartridges.

There is no other reason, except that it is too expensive.

In the early days, this thing was used by noble men for hunting and recreation, so it was naturally not something that the army could tolerate.

Since Liang Yao's own troops were equipped with Walter M1851 rifles, the soldiers' live-fire shooting training had to be reduced, and the soldiers were required to pick up the eggshells after shooting. It's all about keeping the cost of bullets down.

After all, once you send it out, it’s the cost of a meal.

If it weren't for the strict military discipline of Liang Yao's troops and the strict management of weapons, as well as the ban on the sale of Walter M1851 rifles among civilians, these big-headed soldiers would have to take out the bullets and sell them for money.

"Is this kind of gun reliable?" Liang Yao asked.

"Reliable, very reliable!" Kony said hurriedly.

"Really?" Liang Yao looked at Kony with doubts in his eyes.

Early lever-action firearms were still lever-action firearms that used caseless ammunition. You tell me they were reliable.

Kony felt a little numb when he was stared at by Liang Yao. He scratched his head and said with a smile: "These two in your hand were carefully selected by me. They are absolutely reliable!"

"That means the yield rate is not very high."

This was also expected by Liang Yao. If the volcanic stone rifle was reliable, Henry would not compromise on its power and use rimfire round-nose bullets as the ammunition for Henry's M1860 lever-action rifle.

"Yes, I asked Mr. Walter about this issue. Mr. Walter said that the yield rate of the gun is still secondary, and the main problem is the bullet.

Mr. Walter said he would try to see if he could develop a suitable ammunition for such a rapid-fire weapon.

Once this ammunition is successfully developed and put into production, the future of this rapid-fire weapon is very bright! " Kony said very excitedly.

"Come on, I don't need you to draw a pie for me." Liang Yao interrupted Kony and then asked the question he was most concerned about.

"How much does a gun like this cost?"

Kony is not completely talking about the train. The lever-action rifle is indeed more suitable for cavalry and some elite soldiers who perform special tasks.

This kind of rapid-fire weapon, which could be loaded and fired at the same time as long as the hand speed was fast enough, was very attractive to Liang Yao.

"$85 a pop," Coney replied.

"It costs US$85 a piece and the performance is not that reliable. This is a failed product, at least from a commercial perspective." Liang Yao commented.

The Springfield rifle only costs 10 US dollars a piece, and the expensive Walter rifle, which has been criticized for being counterfeited, only costs 20 to 30 US dollars a piece.

It would be crazy if there is a market for the unit price of US$85. This is almost the annual income of an average American!

"But this is a very promising product!" Kony said hurriedly.

"I can first purchase 120 for the cavalry troops to try out, and then inject $200,000 into Volcano Repeating Weapons Company in the form of capital shares to help you tide over the difficulties."

With that said, Liang Yao filled out a check for US$200,000 and handed it to Kony.

"If you can't produce a product that satisfies me in the future, I will no longer be interested in this weapon."

The order of 120 guns was far from Kony's psychological expectations. Fortunately, Liang Yao was willing to inject US$100,000 into the Volcano Repeating Weapons Company, which also solved the urgent need of the Volcano Stone Company.

However, after Liang Yao's capital injection, Kony's equity will be diluted, and he will no longer be the absolute controlling shareholder of Volcanic Stone Company. The price paid is still a bit high.

"Okay, I will ask the technicians from the Volcanic Repeating Weapons Company to ask Mr. Walter for advice and try to come up with a product that satisfies you as soon as possible." Kony said.

If the Volcano Repeating Weapons Company wants to succeed, it is very critical whether it can get a large order from Liang Yao.

Compared with other colonels and generals in the U.S. military who have no strings attached, Liang Yao is the most generous among them.

Most of the weapons that Liang Yao was unwilling to pay for were weapons with no future.

"You can't catch Mr. Walter doing it alone." Liang Yao pointed out a clear path for Kony.

"Mr. Walter has already said that bullets are the bottleneck of rapid-fire weapons. I think you can also ask Nobel for advice in this regard. Don't look at Nobel's young age. His attainments in chemistry are comparable to Mr. Walter's and even those from many universities. Chemistry professors are all good.”

"Nobel? This kid is not even older than me. Does he really know so many things?" Kony said with some disdain.

"Those who want to achieve great things must not only be informal, but also have a broad mind. I know that you and Nobel have some emotional disputes and you can't stand Nobel. But in the field of chemistry, no one in California can match him. Only he can do it." I have provided you with the greatest help in developing new bullets." Liang Yao patted Kony on the shoulder and said.

"Thank you for your teaching, I know what to do." Kony took off his hat and bowed to Liang Yao, then put on his hat and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute, are you just going to find someone empty-handed?" Liang Yao called out to Kony who had just moved away.

"I will prepare a gift for him." Kony paused and said.

"People may not like the gifts you prepare." Liang Yao said to Kony, "I brought back a few barrels of oil from Borneo. You bring two barrels to Nobel. He will like these things."