Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

On the small blackboard in the meeting room, Director Duo swiftly sketched out a structural diagram. Overall, the gun resembled other bullpup rifles, but with some differences.

"The biggest feature of bullpup rifles is their ability to significantly reduce the length of the weapon. We plan to reduce the overall length of the gun to around 750 millimeters, with a barrel length of about 460 millimeters. These figures are quite outstanding," Director Duo began, highlighting the most impressive aspects.

Bullpup rifles don't lack a stock entirely; rather, the receiver is designed to function as the stock, with the magazine placed at the rear. Ordinary rifles have the magazine in front. This greatly reduces the overall length of the gun. Compare it to the Type 81 rifle, which has an overall length of 950 millimeters and a barrel length of 440 millimeters. The gun is long, yet the barrel is short.

"At the same time, during the design process, we've strived to use advanced materials and techniques to reduce the overall weight to match the empty weight of Factory 296's guns. This will greatly facilitate the soldiers' use of the weapon."

Historically, the Type 95 rifle has an overall weight of 3.25 kilograms, while the empty weight of the Type 81 rifle is 3.4 kilograms, reaching 4 kilograms with a magazine. Therefore, the new gun's weight reduction is quite significant. Less weight makes it easier for soldiers to carry and allows them to carry more ammunition, which benefits combat effectiveness.

These advantages are inherent in bullpup rifles, and Qin Yang nodded in agreement.

"Now, let's look at the most complex part, the receiver. Similar to other bullpup rifles, we've designed a special upper handguard on top..."

"This is just like the carrying handle on the M16 rifle," Qin Yang said. "Can soldiers use this handle to carry the gun when using it?"

Director Duo thought for a moment: "I suppose they could."

"Really? Are you sure? If the soldiers were to carry it by hand, it could cause major problems," Qin Yang began to offer his opinion.

The Type 95 rifle has many problems, the most serious complaint from soldiers being the lack of a bolt-hold-open device.

A bolt-hold-open device keeps the bolt carrier group locked to the rear after the last round is fired, indicating to the user that the magazine is empty, allowing soldiers in combat to realize they are out of ammunition and reload in a timely manner. The idea of a 'soldier king' who counts every bullet while fighting is rare in reality.

The Type 95 automatic rifle, lacking a bolt-hold-open function, has been heavily criticized in actual use. Not knowing when your bullets are gone can be fatal on the battlefield.

However, it wasn't that they didn't want to implement it initially, but rather that the plastic magazines at the time weren't strong enough to withstand the impact of the bolt-hold-open mechanism. This was discovered during testing, so we won't dwell on it now.

Currently, the potential flaw visible from the design drawings is this upper handguard. The saying 'a plastic carrying handle that breaks when you lift it' refers to this. However, if you look at the Type 95 rifle's manual, there isn't a component called a 'carrying handle'; instead, it's called an 'upper handguard' or 'cocking handle guard,' because there's a cocking handle underneath it, and the guard protects it. The operating manual explicitly prohibits carrying it by hand.

Why does it look like a carrying handle but isn't meant to be carried?

There are several reasons. First, it's made of plastic, which isn't very strong. Also, it has the rear sight on top. If used as a carrying handle, it could be bent out of alignment, making it inaccurate.

However, that's not the most important reason. The important reason is the bloody lesson!

The technical personnel from Institute 208 immediately changed their expressions.

They were only involved in the design. From a designer's perspective, they prioritized what seemed reasonable. They hadn't been on the battlefield and couldn't possibly consider all the specific situations!

"It seems it can't be used as a carrying handle," Director Duo said. "That could easily lead to danger. Engineer Qin is indeed the most outstanding firearms designer, spotting the problem at a glance!"

Wang Lianjie, who had been dissatisfied with Qin Yang earlier, now nodded in agreement.

If they were still unconvinced when Qin Yang offered to guide them, they were now truly convinced. Thinking about it, a designer who could invent advanced sniper rifles and excellent light heavy machine guns must have a sharp eye, able to identify design flaws at a glance.

"There are still problems with this upper handguard."

"Engineer Qin, please speak."

"This thing is a bit high, which will lead to an excessively high sight line."

"Yes, we've also noticed this problem. Our receiver directly serves as the stock, without the downward offset of previous rifle stocks. This will definitely raise the sight line somewhat, but it should still be within an acceptable range."

"Yes, it's not a problem now, but what about adding optical sights in the future? Director Duo, the equipment development of the military is very rapid. In the future, perhaps every soldier will have a sight, especially at night when night vision devices are needed. Wouldn't that make the sight line even higher?"

If it's just a bare gun, the sight line is only slightly higher, which is still acceptable. To put it in concrete terms, the distance between the Type 95's sight line and the barrel is 90 millimeters, which means that when the bullet is fired, without considering trajectory curvature, the point of impact will be 90 millimeters below the aiming point. In other words, aiming at the eyes will hit the mouth. However, if a sight is installed, that distance increases to 123 millimeters. At that point, aiming at the eyes will hit the neck.

The Type 95 rifle with a sight looks and feels awkward.

"Yes, that's a problem," Director Duo nodded.

"However, these aren't the biggest problems. Your gun's design also has an anti-human design."

Anti-human? What kind of term is that? It definitely isn't good!

"Engineer Qin, please speak," Director Duo said humbly.

"The safety is too far from the trigger. On the battlefield, if you suddenly encounter the enemy at close quarters, the safety cannot be operated with one hand. You have to hold the gun with your right hand and use your left hand to disengage the safety. In the event of a sudden encounter with the enemy, you won't be able to fire immediately and will probably be suppressed by the enemy."

"Is that important?" Wang Lianjie questioned again.

"Important, very important, extremely important!" Lin Heping, who hadn't spoken until now, opened his mouth: "Based on my experience in jungle warfare, being able to fire with one hand is too important! A second's delay can mean the difference between life and death!"

Lin Heping didn't understand firearms development; he was only executing missions and keeping a close eye on Qin Yang, which is why he came to the meeting. Hearing about the design of a new type of gun, he was quite interested. Hearing Qin Yang point out design flaws one by one, Lin Heping was genuinely impressed. What Qin Yang said was from the perspective of the military and the users, which was the most valuable thing!

As for what was being proposed now, it was exactly what the military urgently needed!

"That will probably be difficult to change," Director Duo said. "After all, the position of our receiver dictates that the safety can only be designed there."

"Adding a linkage rod can adjust the safety to be near the trigger. What's so difficult about that?" Qin Yang curled his lips.

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