Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

The atmosphere at the scene immediately tensed up.

Old Zhu sighed deeply, waving his empty sleeve, and strode forward: "I'm most familiar with this kind of handling, let me do it!"

"Old Zhu, don't go adding to the chaos." Qin Yang grabbed him: "Don't forget, you are the chief designer of the Third-Generation Tank!"

Before being appointed as the chief designer of the Third-Generation Tank, Old Zhu had always been involved in artillery manufacturing and had dealt with numerous dud malfunctions. His arm was also lost in an accident during the handling process. Now, whenever he encounters danger, he still carries the mindset of the older generation: when there's danger, he goes first!

However, he is now the chief designer of the Third-Generation Tank, how could he possibly risk himself!

Old Zhu stopped in his tracks.

"I'll go take a look!" Zhuang Shuren took a deep breath, then strode over.

He is an artillery expert, and he designed this gun. In this situation, if he doesn't go, who will?

Several technicians operating the artillery also looked at each other, unsure of the reason. Zhuang Shuren walked over and shouted loudly: "Manual breech opening!"

The shiny bottom of the cartridge case appeared, but there were several creases near the primer. The brass covering had been squeezed off, revealing the gray cartridge steel underneath.

"Loading error, it wasn't fully loaded, causing compression that led to bulging of the cartridge case near the primer, preventing the breech from closing and firing smoothly. The shell is stuck in the barrel, we need to perform an unloading operation," Zhuang Shuren said.

Actually, he didn't know whether it was a loading problem or a design or manufacturing issue with the shell. However, subconsciously, he felt that it was better not to attribute it to design or manufacturing, and defining it as a loading error was more appropriate.

A shell stuck in the barrel isn't a major problem. It's often encountered in artillery firing. There's a dedicated section in the artillery's operating manual that specifically addresses how to handle shells stuck in the barrel. Therefore, upon hearing this explanation, a leader from the unit present immediately said: "No need to unload, just change the propellant charge and fire it out."

Unloading is dangerous. If it can be fired out, it's best to fire it out directly! Generally speaking, artillerymen would choose this convenient operation.

However, Zhuang Shuren looked embarrassed: "Ours is fixed ammunition."

This accident was practically helping Factory 960. The 125mm gun developed by Factory 960 uses separate-loading ammunition, so they wouldn't be afraid of this kind of problem. The current 120mm gun is not good!

Qin Yang didn't say anything. The leaders present were all experts and would definitely know which gun was the most suitable choice.

"Then we can only unload it. Can we pull the shell out from the back?"

"It's difficult, we need to unload from the front." Zhuang Shuren said: "Prepare the unloading tool!"

It's too difficult to pull out a shell weighing dozens of kilograms from the back. You can only use a special unloading tool from the front of the barrel to push the shell out. If you're pushing an armor-piercing projectile, there's no problem. But if you're pushing a high-explosive shell, the danger is considerable.

"Everyone, do you need help?" Qin Yang couldn't help but ask.

"President Qin, we can't compare to you in making shells, but we're very skilled in unloading shells. Unloading is a technical job, you're not good at it, you should just watch from the side." A technician from Factory 447 said.

Factory 447 is a professional artillery manufacturer, and they have done this kind of thing many times. Although it is dangerous, there is no need for outsiders to help! If Qin Yang has to solve this matter, will Factory 447 still have the face to be in the military industry in the future?

"Hmph, offering kindness to an ungrateful person." Zhang Guoqiang spat heavily. Although his voice was not loud, many people heard it.

Qin Yang was a little helpless: "Uncle Zhang, it's not me criticizing you, but you have to change your habit of spitting everywhere. If it were in our factory, I would have to fine you fifty cents!"

"Alas, it's an old habit, can't change it. Every month, I have to pay dozens of yuan in fines for spitting everywhere," Zhang Guoqiang said.

This was just a small interlude, and the others were not in the mood to deal with it. Everyone focused on the unloading operation.

The barrel had been rotated to a horizontal position, about one and a half meters above the ground. Zhuang Shuren mobilized an old Liberation truck and parked it at one end of the six-meter-long cannon, with the truck bed directly below the muzzle.

Three or five people climbed onto the truck bed of the old Liberation truck, using the height of the truck bed to operate the unloading tool.

In the artillery, it is common to encounter duds suddenly, so there are standard unloading tools available, suitable for calibers from 85mm to 152mm. Field guns and anti-aircraft guns can all use them, so they are considered common equipment.

The principle of the unloading tool is also very simple, it is a long screw, which pushes the projectile by rotating, and pushes the shell out of the barrel. It is essentially the same as a screw jack.

In this way, the screw must be fixed on the barrel, so there is a special three-jaw chuck that can be directly fixed on the muzzle brake, and the screw passes through the nut in the center of the three-jaw chuck, so that it can be moved back and forth by rotating it.

At the same time, the head of the screw must be against the projectile. If you are not careful, it will just hit the fuze of the projectile, which may damage the fuze, and in severe cases, it may cause a barrel explosion. Therefore, the head of the screw that goes in also has a special rubber cover, so that it can just cover the fuze part. The rubber is soft and will not cause the shell to explode, which is the same principle as a shell landing in the mud and failing to detonate.

The technicians from Factory 447 were indeed professional, and they quickly installed everything and started to turn the screw.

Everyone's hearts were in their throats.

Generally speaking, when it comes to the dangers of peacetime, people tend to think of mine sweepers. In fact, the danger of artillerymen disarming duds is no less than that of mine sweepers, and even the charge of large-caliber shells is more than that of landmines, making it even more dangerous.

The people at the scene also put life and death aside. In front of the people from Factory 960, they must not admit defeat, and they must disarm the dud while talking and laughing!

Creak, creak, creak!

The three-jaw chuck is bent!

"Is it stuck too tightly?" Old Zhu frowned: "If it was a hot gun, maybe this kind of accident would happen, but it's been a full twenty minutes, and the barrel should have cooled down!"

Thermal expansion and contraction are basic common sense. Generally speaking, a hot gun expands, and the shell is easy to stuff in, but if it is not fired out, it will get stuck when the barrel cools down, and the unloading tool will not be able to push it. In the current situation, it is very likely that there is a problem with the shell design!

Old Zhu is an expert in making artillery, and he can see the problem at a glance.

It is not so easy to design a completely new ammunition from scratch!

"Unloading is really a technical job!" Qin Yang also exclaimed.