African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 285 Berlin—Mauser Arsenal

Inside the Hechingen Arsenal in Berlin.

Factory director Mayne was demonstrating the performance of the two rifles to Ernst. On the table were the Prussian Dresser rifles and the Summersail rifles captured on the battlefield.

Mayne picked up the Chateau rifle and explained to Ernst: "The Chateau rifle used by the French draws on many successful practices of the Dreiser rifle. It also rotates the bolt action, fires the firing pin, and sets the paper. Loading bullets, but compared to the former, it is slightly better. For example, the locking system, the Dresser rifle has a problem, it is not airtight and leaks, which greatly affects the effectiveness of the gunpowder, and in turn affects the muzzle velocity of the bullet. .”

"The Xia Sepo rifle has been improved to address this problem. It changed Dreiser's hollow bolt to a solid one, and added a rubber sealing ring on the top of the bolt. When the bullet is fired, the high temperature generated by the gunpowder gas expands the rubber. The entire barrel of the gun is well sealed. When the sealing is improved, the muzzle velocity is increased, and the range is also increased. Another example is the primer of the bullet. The primer of the Dresser bullet is located in the middle of the bullet, and the firing pin must be very thin and long. It’s just that it’s too short to reach, and the Xasepo bullet’s primer is placed at the tail of the bullet, so the firing pin doesn’t need to be very long, and the failure rate is greatly reduced.”

"The performance of the Dresser rifle in the war has shown that it has completely fallen behind, so we originally had plans to retire a production line after the war, but all this will have to wait until Prussia confirms the release of a new rifle. Replace them completely." Main, director of the Berlin Hechingen Arsenal, said to Ernst who came to inspect.

"Well, then retire this Dresser production line! You have a new task now, which is to focus on the research and development of new firearms. This time I have contacted you as a collaborator." Ernst After listening, he said directly.

Ernst planned to directly move this outdated Dresser rifle production line to East Africa. It was backward, but there was still a market in Africa.

Mayne asked curiously: "I wonder which of our colleagues is the collaborator you are looking for, Your Highness?"

"I wonder if you have heard of the Mauser brothers from the Kingdom of Württemberg?" Ernst asked curiously.

"It turns out it's them! I actually know them, mainly because I had previous interactions with their father, Anders Mauser of the Royal Arsenal of Württemberg in Oberndorf. Anders Mauser is a famous gunmaker. But he has many children." Mayne said, "I heard that his two young sons have indeed followed the same path as their father. However, Your Highness, I don't think these two young men can achieve much. A few days ago, they It seems that he was kicked out by his partner just now, so he must have deceived you again, right?"

This matter also starts with the family of the Mauser brothers. As the Mauser brothers come from a family of firearms, according to common sense, they should have had a good life since childhood, but their family is a bit special. Old Mauser has a total of thirteen Son, so life is very tight.

As teenagers, the Mauser brothers had to work as odd jobs at the Württemberg Arsenal in Ordorf to barely make ends meet. However, the Mauser brothers really dared to think and do. As early as before the Franco-Prussian War, they tried to make some improvements to the Dresser rifle, but the Württemberg Arsenal closed down a few years ago.

The unemployed Mauser brothers were forced to work at the Norris Arsenal. In the Norris Arsenal, there is a "big shot" Samuel Norris, who is the European representative of Remington, a famous American firearms company. At the Norris Arsenal, Samuel and the Mauser brothers "met each other late". Based on the Chassepo rifle, they combined some of the Mauser brothers' improvements to the Dreiser rifle and jointly designed the "Mauser-Norris" Reese's rifle and applied for a U.S. patent. Just when the Mauser brothers finally felt that they were reaching their moment of glory, Samuel tore up the cooperation contract and kicked the Mauser brothers away. The Mauser brothers had to return to their hometown to build a handicraft workshop. .

The Americans did all kinds of bad things, but they also gave Ernst an advantage. Just when the Mauser brothers were in decline, Ernst found the location of their small workshop in Ordorf, Württemberg, through many inquiries, and The idea of ​​cooperation was raised.

Of course, the Mauser brothers had no reason to refuse the invitation from a crown prince. They agreed to cooperate with the Hechingen Arsenal, but they also wanted to retain the name of their small workshop "Mauser Arsenal". This was their last insistence.

Ernst didn't care about this. Anyway, the Hechingen Arsenal in Berlin would become the German regional firearms research and development center in the future, so it would be enough to change its name to "Berlin-Mauser Arsenal".

As for East Africa, well, there is no R\u0026D capability. To be honest, if the entire Hechingen Arsenal is moved to East Africa, it will be useless. The production line is okay, it only needs workers to operate. Without the good scientific research environment and talent pool in Europe, firearms research and development Can't play at all.

Therefore, East Africa can at best continue to operate as a processing factory. As for R\u0026D, it should still be located in Germany. Only when East African education develops in the future can the R\u0026D function be moved back to East Africa.

At the same time, Ernst could not give up the Prussian arms market, so the new "Berlin-Mauser Arsenal" would continue to produce equipment for the German army.

"Mayne, don't say that. In fact, young people always have their own ideas, and I feel pretty good about the Mauser Brothers' Mauser-Norris. Let them improve it on this basis. I think the new rifle will Very good, now we just need to give two young people a chance." Ernst said, "And we do not have the ability to develop firearms. This is a fact. The Hechingen Arsenal is just a foundry, and the two Mauser brothers have mature plan, after all, their previous results were almost adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

Before the development of the "Mauser-Norris Rifle", the improved Dresser rifle by the Mauser brothers was noticed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire's War Department, but in the end it was not adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Mayne said: "Okay! Your Highness, I don't object if you really think so, but firearms research and development is a matter that requires caution. If we go the wrong way, the market will not wait for us."

"Hahaha, don't worry! It doesn't matter if the market doesn't recognize it. The East African Kingdom can support the new rifle. Even if no other country orders it, we will place the order ourselves." Ernst said.

In fact, the reason why Ernst is confident is that the firearms design of the Mauser brothers has matured. They completed the preliminary design of the previous Mauser M1871 rifle in 1869. Now as long as there is a more advanced and complete working environment, they can Mauser M1871 rifle undergoing final improvements.

As for the performance of this gun, it is basically certain that it will not be too bad, so after it is developed, East Africa will not be disappointed when placing an order.

"In that case, I won't say anything more, but Your Highness! Do you know anything about firearms?" Mayne asked curiously.

"Of course I don't understand," Ernst said, "I'm just relying on my intuition."