1850 American Gold Tycoon

"How many muskets can the Sacramento Arsenal produce every day? And when will my 5,100 muskets and related ammunition be delivered?"

After visiting the rifle production workshop at the Sacramento Arsenal, Hong Mingxiang asked about the output of muskets and when the purchased firearms would be delivered.

"There are 120 muskets produced per day. As for the muskets purchased by Hong Junmen, all of them can be delivered after paying the money." Liang Yao gave Hong Mingxiang a clear reply.

The current production capacity of small arms at the Sacramento Arsenal is second only to Springfield Arsenal and Colt Company among American arms dealers.

This is without Liang Yao expanding the production line.

Given California’s current industrial level and the number of industrial workers. As long as Liang Yao is willing, it is not a problem to spend more money at the Sacramento Arsenal, expand a production line, recruit more workers, and double the firearms production capacity.

But there is no need for this. Currently, the warehouse of the Sacramento Arsenal has 32,500 Walter M1851E rifles in stock and 11,000 Walter M1851 rifles in stock.

These stocks are sufficient for Liang Yao's own use and export. Even if Liang Yao completes the expansion of four regiments in a short time and forms the Western Brigade, these stocks of firearms will still be more than enough.

Unless he receives subsequent large orders from the Qing Dynasty, France or other countries, Liang Yao will not consider expanding the production capacity of the Sacramento Arsenal.

The operation of the arsenal must also consider economic benefits. Blind investment is not conducive to the subsequent healthy development of the Sacramento arsenal.

Hong Mingxiang was very satisfied with the news that the batch of firearms he ordered could be delivered immediately.

This batch of guns of his was in urgent need, so he naturally hoped to deliver them as soon as possible.

After leaving the rifle production workshop, Liang Yao took Hong Mingxiang and others to visit the revolver production workshop.

Compared with the large-scale rifle production workshop, the pistol production workshop is much smaller. The production volume is also much smaller than that of a rifle.

The daily output of revolvers is 30 to 40 pieces, but these outputs are enough to meet the needs of the army.

In Liang Yao's army, only officers above non-commissioned officers are issued a free pistol. Currently, including the militia regiments in training, there are less than 300 officers above sergeants in the army.

However, the United States has a tradition of soldiers purchasing their own weapons, and many soldiers will choose to purchase a revolver at their own expense for self-defense.

The revolver produced by the Sacramento Armory was patented No. 6909 purchased from the United Kingdom, which is the patent for the Colt revolver. It was authorized by the Colt Company to produce the Sacramento version of the Colt revolver.

The revolver seems to have a relatively simple structure and principle, but the actual mass production is another matter. The locking, firing, and launching structures are also relatively complex, and there are still some technical thresholds.

Furthermore, if the United States wants to mass-produce revolvers and put them on the market, Colt is a company that cannot be bypassed.

Of course, in the field of revolvers, in addition to Colt, Liang Yao can also find Remington for cooperation.

These two companies are currently the two largest handgun manufacturers in the United States.

However, although the quality of the revolvers produced by Remington is very similar to those produced by Colt, it cannot stand up to Colt's good marketing and the fact that there is a big tree behind it to enjoy the shade.

From the private sector to the officialdom, everyone in the United States generally recognizes Colt's revolvers.

It is believed that the revolvers produced by Colt are high-end and reliable, while the revolvers produced by Remington are low-end, inferior and unreliable.

Only some experienced users who know more about pistols are willing to choose to buy Remington revolvers.

These experienced users know very well that the Remington revolver, which costs $5 less than the Colt revolver, has the same performance as the Colt revolver at the same price and is more cost-effective.

However, there are still only a few experienced users who really know the inside story. More gun buyers are still willing to follow the trend and choose the revolvers of the more famous Colt company.

Therefore, the sales of Remington's revolvers are very poor, with only a few hundred sold every year.

Far less prosperous than the British market, the American government orders, and the American private market, the Colt Company is faring better.

During the same period, the annual sales volume of revolvers produced by Colt was calculated in tens of thousands. If Remington had not also had shotguns, rifles and bullets, Remington would have gone bankrupt long ago.

After weighing the pros and cons, Liang Yao still felt that it was more cost-effective to cooperate with Colt. After all, Remington not only has patent disputes, but the licensing price is not much lower than Colt.

Fortunately, the money was not wasted. The Sacramento Arsenal has three production departments: rifle production department, pistol production department, and cannon production department.

The pistol production division is currently the only profitable production division of the three.

There are two main reasons for this. One is because the Colt revolver was popular in the United States at this time and had a good reputation among the people, especially among the western pioneers. With the help of Colt, the Sacramento version of the revolver became popular. It has also achieved good sales among the private sector.

The second is that the Colt revolver produced by the Sacramento Arsenal is made of more solid materials, more sophisticated workmanship, and has better matching bullets than the original Colt revolver. Many officers of the American Army and Navy purchased revolvers from the Sacramento Arsenal.

Rich officers cherish their lives more than soldiers at the bottom, and are very willing to spend money on buying weapons with better performance and greater reliability for themselves.

However, the Sacramento Armory did not plan to continue producing Colt revolvers under license from Colt.

Although the Sacramento version of the Colt revolver is very profitable, every time a Sacramento version of the revolver is produced, Colt has to pay a large licensing fee. In the end, the profit margin left for the Sacramento Arsenal was not large.

Under Liang Yao's instructions, the R\u0026D team of the pistol department of the Sacramento Arsenal is currently developing a double-action revolver that can bypass Colt's patent.

After visiting the pistol production workshop, Liang Yao selected 10 Sacramento version Colt revolvers packaged in wooden gift boxes as gifts to Hong Mingxiang. At the same time, he also gave Hong Mingxiang the ivory-handled carved Colt pistol he wore. .

This was a gift specially given by Colt to Liang Yao after he was promoted to brigadier general.

In addition to Hong Mingxiang, the entourage who followed also received a Sacramento version of the revolver.

Everyone was very happy, and after some test firing at the test site, they thought this was a perfect self-defense weapon.

"With such a continuous blunderbuss, even if you encounter someone with high martial arts skills, it will be difficult to get close!"

Hong Mingxiang's confidant Kang Enze was full of praise for the pistol in his hand after test-firing a cartridge.

Hong Mingxiang was also shocked by the rate of fire of the Colt revolver. This was the first time he saw a firearm that could shoot six bullets in a row.

Although Liang Yao also carried a Colt revolver when he went to Xiangshan before, he had never used this pistol in front of other people. Hong Mingxiang didn't pay much attention to Liang Yao's gun. She didn't expect that Liang Yao had this thing on his waist.

"How much does this continuous fire gun cost?"

Before Liang Yao could sell Colt revolvers to Hong Mingxiang, Hong Mingxiang had already made up his mind to buy some Colt revolvers.

"It's 16 dollars each. As per the old rules, if Hong Junmen buys enough guns, he will get 100 bullets for each gun." Liang Yao said with a smile.

The profits of Colt revolvers are very high. Depending on the quality and workmanship of the pistol, the unit manufacturing cost of Colt revolvers ranges from US$4 to US$9.

Due to the need to pay Colt licensing fees and patent fees, the Sacramento Armory cannot compete with Colt in the field of mid- to low-end revolvers.

Currently only high-quality revolvers are produced, including various fees paid to Colt. The cost of the Sacramento version of the Colt revolver reaches $11 a piece.

The price of 18 US dollars a piece is quite conscientious.

At least more conscience than Colt.

The tricks played by unscrupulous entrepreneurs in a certain country in later generations were already practiced by unscrupulous entrepreneurs in the United States.

Colt's revolvers are available in three different versions and prices.

One is the foreign trade version sold to the British government. I would like to call it the conscience version. This version is the cheapest, with a unit price of only $5. The other is a civilian version sold to the public, with a unit price of US$5. The last one is a black-hearted version provided to the federal government, priced at an astonishing $25 per unit.

However, in addition to price differences, the quality of these three versions of revolvers also differs, but it does not mean that the higher the price, the better the quality.

But the higher the price, the worse the quality.

The foreign trade models exported to the British government were of the best quality, while the revolvers provided to the federal government were of the worst quality.

With such actions, it is no exaggeration to say that Colt is the conscience of the British Empire.

Colt has also been complained and even sued for knowingly providing inferior weapons to the federal government, but has remained unscathed to this day.

The reason is naturally self-evident. Such a hugely profitable business must be indispensable for the transmission of interests. There are not a few politicians in the north and the south who accept political donations from Colt's interests.

During last year's Whig party election, Army Commander General Scott accepted political donations from Colt.

Of course, Liang Yao also accepted it himself. Since all his colleagues in the Army had accepted him, if he didn't accept it, it would appear that he was out of tune. He didn't want to make the relationship with his colleagues in the Army too tense.

"Very good, very good. Can this gun be delivered immediately like a long gun? If possible, Hong will buy a thousand of them." This time Hong Mingxiang was very generous and did not think the price of the pistol was expensive.

Of these thousand revolvers, he purchased five hundred for himself. After getting advice from Liang Yao, he sent people to Nanyang to pan for gold. He made some gold and was fairly well off. Just in time to buy some handy weapons to arm his men in the Nanyang gold rush.

After Hong Mingxiang placed the order, Hong Mingxiang's followers also expressed their intention to buy some.

In the end, a total of 1,520 Sacramento version Colt revolvers were sold, which was equivalent to clearing half of the pistol inventory.

After this trip, the employees of the Sacramento Arsenal were delighted.

Employees at all levels of the Sacramento Arsenal hold 30% of the shares of the arsenal. The better the efficiency of the arsenal, the more dividends they will receive at the end of the year.

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