1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 349 Artillery Test

The three artillery teams completed loading one after another and fired successfully.

In the first round of test firing, although the three artillery pieces missed, the impact point of the shells was very close to the target.

You know, the target for this test was 2 miles away from the artillery.

This distance has exceeded the effective range of the Qing army's artillery of the same level, and it can maintain such high shooting accuracy at such a long distance.

Hong Mingxiang couldn't help but admire the sophistication of Western artillery and the superb artillery technology.

After correcting the parameters, the three gunners continued the bombardment.

In the second round of shelling, both rifled guns hit the wooden target, while the smoothbore cannon of the same level was not able to hit the target until the third round of shelling.

Such precise bombardment opened the eyes of Hong Mingxiang and others.

The Qing army's basic requirement for artillery was to shoot the shells out of the barrel, and the highest requirement was to hit a general area at most.

Hong Mingxiang did not expect that artillerymen could actually hit where they pointed, with such precision, which subverted Hong Mingxiang's understanding of artillery.

After the 1,000-meter target test is completed, the next step is the 1,300-meter, 1,500-meter, and the ultimate effective range test.

In the 1,300-meter shooting test, the hit rate of the smoothbore cannon was further reduced, and it became very difficult to hit the target, while the two rifled cannons were still able to maintain a relatively high hit rate.

This outcome was within Liang Yao's expectation. The maximum effective range of the 6-pound smoothbore gun produced by the Sacramento Arsenal is 1,300 meters.

Since the next test has exceeded the maximum effective range of the 6-pound smoothbore gun, the 6-pound smoothbore gun was withdrawn from the next test, and the 6-pound front-loading rifled gun and breech-loading rifled gun continued to undergo the next test.

After the test, the three gunners and the staff of the Sacramento Arsenal conducted a test summary of the three 6-pound smoothbore guns.

There is no doubt that in terms of range and accuracy, the two rifled cannons are obviously superior to the smoothbore cannons.

If we continue to compare the two rifled guns, the accuracy of the front-loading rifled gun is slightly higher than that of the breech-loading rifled gun.

Of course, smoothbore cannons are not without merit. Smoothbore cannons can cause greater damage to targets, which means they are more powerful.

In terms of power, front-loading rifled guns are also superior to breech-loading rifled guns.

The reason for this situation is that the air tightness of early breech-loading guns was poor, and the air tightness problem also affected the range.

In terms of maximum effective range, the maximum effective range of the 6-pound smoothbore gun is 1,300 meters, the maximum effective range of the 6-pound breech-loading rifled gun is 1,600 meters, and the maximum effective range of the 6-pound front-loading rifled gun is 1,700 meters.

Based on the above data and actual performance, the front-mounted rifled gun seems to be the best choice.

However, the breech-loading rifled cannon has one data that stands out, and that is its rate of fire is faster than that of the front-loading cannon.

Next to be tested were various types of 8-pounder cannons, 10-pounder cannons, and 12-pounder cannons. The huge power and recoil produced by the firing of these large-caliber cannons shocked Hong Mingxiang and his entourage.

But the tests of these artillery pieces were not the tests that Liang Yao was most concerned about. The tests that he was most concerned about were the tests of the last four Armstrong guns.

The artillery team participating in the test was full of curiosity about this new artillery that had never been seen before.

Since there are no ready-made instructions on how to use this artillery, no Amstel personnel were recruited to participate in the testing of the new artillery.

Liang Yao and the French engineers who had come into contact with the Amsterdam cannon could only tell these artillery teams how to use these new artillery based on their own experience.

After figuring out how to use these guns, the two teams began testing the two new breech-loading guns.

As for the other two breech-loading guns, they will not participate in the test for the time being.

Liang Yao currently only has these 4 6-pound Armstrong cannon prototypes, and he must prevent accidents during testing, resulting in the destruction of all foreign cannons.

Although these guns are still experimental guns, the performance of these guns is already quite impressive. The new tail bolt firing makes the Armstrong gun more airtight than the previously tested breech-loaded rifled guns.

The rate of fire has reached an astonishing 6 rounds per minute, which is one shot every 10 seconds.

Two artillery teams participating in the test even said that as long as they trained for a period of time, they could increase the rate of fire to seven rounds per minute or even higher.

It is also a breech-loading rifled gun, and it is also a 6-pounder gun. The range of the Armstrong gun is a full 500 meters higher than the 6-pound breech-loading rifled gun produced by the Sacramento Arsenal, reaching an astonishing 2,100 meters.

The artillerymen were amazed by the performance of this new artillery. They all said that this was the most superior artillery they had ever seen. There was no one like this.

Some even assert that this is a weapon that can change the balance of war.

Liang Yao listened carefully to the opinions of these artillerymen. They all hoped that this kind of artillery could be installed in the army as soon as possible.

Liang Yao was also very satisfied with the performance of this new breech-loading gun. He handed over the relevant technical drawings and four sample guns to the artillery department of the Sacramento Arsenal.

The artillery department is required to digest Armstrong's technology in the shortest possible time and produce replicas with performance that is not inferior to these prototype guns.

In the future, not only artillery will need to be equipped with such excellent breech-loading guns, but they will also need to move such breech-loading rifled guns to warships.

After feasting his eyes on the feast, Hong Mingxiang asked Liang Yao: "Brother Liang, I see that you have a very sufficient number of people for an artillery team. You use 6 people to serve one cannon. In my opinion, with the quality of Brother Liang's artillery, 3 people can definitely do a good job from now on."

One cannon, why don’t Brother Liang free up his wealthy manpower and establish more artillery squads?”

Hong Mingxiang felt that it was too wasteful to equip one artillery with 6 people. The number of people in each artillery team could be reduced.

"There are too many uncertain factors on the battlefield. If I only equip an artillery team with three people, if the soldiers are reduced due to illness or injury, wouldn't this team be useless?" Liang Yao answered Hong Mingxiang's doubts, "But what if

There are six people in a squad, and even if the squad is reduced by more than half, the artillery squad can theoretically still exert its combat effectiveness."

"I've learned a lesson. Brother Liang has thought it through." Hong Mingxiang was enlightened and expressed that he had learned a lesson.

"Hongjunmen has also seen cannons now. I wonder how many cannons Hongjunmen wants to buy?" Liang Yao asked.

"How much does a 6-pound smoothbore gun cost? Is a smoothbore gun cheaper than a rifled gun?" Hong Mingxiang began to inquire.

Liang Yao told Hong Mingxiang the prices of the 6-pound rifled cannon and the 12-pound rifled cannon, which were around US$700 and US$1,500 respectively, but did not tell Hong Mingxiang the price of the smoothbore cannon.

In Hong Mingxiang's view, the smoothbore cannon's performance was impressive enough, and it was better than all the artillery currently equipped by the Qing army.

If smoothbore cannons were cheaper, Hong Mingxiang would be more willing to buy more smoothbore cannons with a limited budget.

"The 6-pound smoothbore cannon costs US$500 each, and the 12-pound smoothbore cannon costs US$1,200 each." Liang Yao thought about it and gave the price.

(End of chapter)