Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

The accuracy of pistols and rifles is generally expressed in MOA, but this method is not suitable for comparing machine guns. After all, machine guns are not used for precise sniping; they are area-of-effect weapons that fire in bursts.

However, it is still necessary to describe the accuracy of a machine gun. Even for area-of-effect damage, the dispersion of bullets must be measured, and R50 is used for this purpose.

R50 is the dispersion radius measured from the impact points of 50% of a certain number of projectiles at a certain distance. Since there is R50, there is also R100. The former takes half, and the latter, of course, takes all impact points to measure the dispersion radius.

For example, if a machine gun fires one hundred bullets continuously, the smallest circle enclosing the fifty bullets closest to the target is drawn, and the radius of this circle is its R50 value. If all the bullets are enclosed in the smallest circle, the radius of that circle is its R100 value.

Of course, some heavy machine guns cannot fire that many bullets at once. Take the light heavy machine gun being tested now, for example. It uses a fifty-round ammunition box and can only fire fifty bullets at a time. Therefore, the radius of the circle formed by the dispersion of twenty-five bullets is measured as the R50 value.

At a range of 100 meters, the R50 value is only 0.13 meters, which means that twenty-five out of the fifty bullets just fired landed within a circle with a radius of 13 centimeters!

This accuracy is quite high! It has exceeded that of domestically produced heavy machine guns and is on par with that of American heavy machine guns!

And what about the weight? The weight of this heavy machine gun is less than twenty-five kilograms!

"Continue measuring the values at 200 meters!" Yang Zhenhua was very excited.

At sunset, the test reached a range of 600 meters, and the R50 value increased to 0.4 meters, which is also very good. According to this estimate, when reaching a range of 1000 meters, the R50 value would be around 0.6 to 0.7 meters. The average person's height is about 1.7 meters, which means that if this heavy machine gun fires a burst at 1000 meters, the bullet dispersion would completely cover that person!

"If it were our previous heavy machine gun, it wouldn't be a problem to achieve this accuracy with some improvements, but the weight would definitely not be light. This heavy machine gun, weighing less than 25 kilograms, has actually achieved this accuracy. It's really impressive. This gun is simply a perfect weapon tailored for our mountain warfare units!" Yang Zhenhua was very satisfied with the gun and spoke excitedly to Qin Yang as everyone was putting away their guns.

"Currently, we are using the Type 54 machine gun cartridge. If we develop a cartridge specifically for it, the accuracy will be even higher," Qin Yang said. "Of course, the shooting skills of our unit's testers are also very high. Everyone has worked hard! After completing all the tests, we'll treat everyone to a good drink!"

In fact, Factory 960 has earned a lot of money through military-to-civilian projects. Even if they treated these people to food and drinks every day, it wouldn't cost much, but it would sound bad. Therefore, Qin Yang didn't want to be extravagant and wasteful. It wouldn't be too late to treat them after the design was finalized.

"That's right, we have to drink some good wine then. I've long heard that your Factory 960 is engaged in foreign trade and is rolling in money," Yang Zhenhua said with a smile.

"Engineer Qin, congratulations. The test results of your heavy machine gun are too shocking," Old Wang walked over and said, "How about we have a few drinks tonight?"

"Since it's an invitation from Old Wang, then I'll accept it respectfully," Qin Yang said. "I'll cover the cost of the wine. Also, everyone else has worked hard, so let's share some with them. Leader Yang, this doesn't violate any discipline, does it?"

"Okay, then Old Yang will make an exception and let everyone have a few drinks tonight. Also, we won't collect your food stamps tonight!" Yang Zhenhua said.

The conditions at the base were very simple, and the food wasn't very good. Moreover, although it was provided for free and didn't cost money, food stamps had to be handed in! Not collecting food stamps was more important than not collecting money!

The three of them sat at a table with four dishes: a plate of peanuts, a plate of sliced canned meat, and two other dishes, one meat and one vegetable, which made Qin Yang feel a little emotional: "This dinner is too extravagant. I have to eat more."

In this era, the standard of four dishes was really not low.

"Come, come, let's start eating! Engineer Qin, I've also been thinking about what you said today about using engineering plastics on rifles. You used similar materials on your light heavy machine gun, right? Can it be used on our automatic rifles?" Old Wang asked while picking up food with his chopsticks.

"We can provide you with supporting components," Qin Yang replied. "Old Wang, this material is something we spent a lot of money researching, so please understand."

If they wanted Qin Yang to contribute the technology, that was impossible. Providing supporting components was no problem. However many Type 81 rifles they produced, they would have that many orders.

Old Wang nodded: "I understand, it's a market economy. Your Factory 960 was the first to engage in military-to-civilian conversion, taking the lead in the industry. After the prototype gun is tested, I'll send you a set of design drawings, and you can make a set for us to test."

"Okay, then let's toast to our future cooperation," Qin Yang raised his glass.

After three glasses of wine, the atmosphere was just right, and Old Wang continued: "Engineer Qin, you are also an expert in gun manufacturing. You must have also studied the issue of bullet ejection, right? Can you help us?"

"Well, I saw it today. There is a big problem with the bullet ejection of your gun. One bullet casing actually flew two meters away. If that were on the battlefield, it would expose yourself," Qin Yang thought for a moment and said, "Old Wang, I have an immature idea. What if the bullet casing was ejected upwards from the front right? Wouldn't that solve the problem more easily?"

When the Type 81 rifle was test-fired at the national shooting range, the problem of bullet ejection stumped them. Its guide rail was relatively high, and the casing had to be ejected from under the receiver guide rail. It was difficult to find an opening, and after a long time of tinkering, they decided to eject upwards from the front right, successfully solving the problem.

Looking at the four dishes on the table and seeing Qin Yang, Old Wang, Yang Zhenhua, and the others chatting and laughing, Xu Zhiqiang became increasingly angry.

Yang Zhaojun went in for taking the blame for the stolen gun, Wang Lijun was punished for the gun test accident, and Huang Xin was injured during the gun test and retired early. The people in their Technical Section of Factory 296 were terribly harmed by Qin Yang!

However, Xu Zhiqiang also knew that Qin Yang had already risen and was not someone he could afford to provoke. If he dared to play any tricks, he would be the one to suffer in the end.

He had to wait for an opportunity.

"Hey, do you guys know that young man? I heard he's very厉害!" Just as Xu Zhiqiang was thinking about how to open his mouth, the others at the same table spoke up.