I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 42 MAS36 The Romance of the French
The joy of success is always fleeting.

Because the road ahead is still long, and there are many peaks waiting to be conquered.

There are still many successful joys waiting to be enjoyed.

After Chen Changzai, along with Deputy Factory Director Xu and Political Commissar He, went to the steel plant construction site to take a look.

He then returned to his post and continued his work.

The basic construction work at the steel plant is progressing relatively smoothly.

Before building the factory, Chen Changzai had written down everything he could think of.

Even if he spent every day at the steel plant, he might not do a better job than Deputy Director Xu.

Moreover, if anything happens at the steel mill, he will rush there immediately.

Everyone is extremely busy with work right now.

Everyone is racing against each other to complete their tasks.

For example, like Master Zhang's smelting and foundry.

Now, in addition to casting five more sets of beams for 150-ton forging presses,

Following Chen Changzai's technical requirements, they cast the three main beams and columns of the 500-ton forging press, as well as the hydraulic cylinder and the huge flywheel.

For Master Zhang and his team, this represents a qualitative leap in their skills.

Once this 500-ton forging press is completed, Chen Changzai will dare to develop heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft machine guns.

And his artillery plan can then be put into action.

Without artillery, there is no absolute long-range suppressive firepower.

Regardless of whether the range is five kilometers or ten kilometers, artillery is essential on the battlefield, especially on the battlefields of this era.

It plays a decisive role.

However, Chen Changzai did not dare to rush.

The larger the casting, the more difficult it is to eliminate internal stress.

Although stress relief can now be achieved through explosive methods.

But for something this big, you can only do it little by little.

This is definitely not a case of the more explosives you put in, the better.

This kind of thing is a process that requires patience and meticulous work.

However, Chen Changzai also has his own things to do now, which is to develop new rifles and submachine guns.

He not only wants to get it done, but he wants to do it even better.

As for the Type 24 rifle, it was just a reference for him. Chen Changzai is still considering what the new rifle will look like.

However, right now, a gun that wasn't as famous as the Mauser was flashing through his mind.

No rifles shone brightly on the main battlefields of World War II.

Because the owner of this rifle hadn't even had a chance to use it to its full potential.

They raised the white flag and surrendered.

This rifle is the French MAS36 bolt-action rifle, a symbol of romance.

(I would like to thank my friend with the last four digits of his ID number being 8340352. He provided me with a great inspiration, which is this gun.)

I had no idea this gun existed before.
In Chen Changzai's memory, this gun had many advantages.

First of all, the other structures are very simple, with fewer than sixty parts.

This greatly reduces the difficulty in both production processes and maintenance.

It adopts the rear-locking bolt structure from the British Enfield rifle, which allows for smooth bolt pulling and is less likely to contaminate the locking lugs in the bolt carrier.

Moreover, its downward-pointing, dog-leg-shaped handle makes it very easy to use.

Although it also has some minor weaknesses, such as the lack of a safety lock.

For example, there is no gun barrel.

But these are all minor issues that can be resolved.

In terms of its advantages, this rifle is indeed an excellent rifle.

Interestingly, the bayonet of this rifle is hidden inside the handguard below the barrel; it's a cross-shaped, needle-shaped bayonet inside a tube.

You can pull out the bayonet by simply twisting the bayonet handle. Then, turn the bayonet around, insert the handle into the bayonet tube, and twist it again to lock the bayonet in place.

This design is very interesting.

This gun also has an adjustable peep sight.

(A peep sight is simply a small, two-millimeter-wide circular hole through which you aim at the front sight.)
This allows for a more accurate aiming line than the V-shaped sights of the Type 24 rifle.

This is something that Chen Changzai wanted to include in the new rifle.

This rifle is now officially being issued to the French army.

Although it's still in small batches, there's no need for large-scale production. Because before the French army could fully acquire the guns, France had already surrendered.

The more Chen Chang thought about it with his eyes closed, the more he felt that he had used this gun as his model when he was firing the bolt-action rifle.

The more likely it is, the better, to develop a new gun suitable for the current troops.

First of all, he certainly couldn't use the French 7.5×54mm bullets.

He will definitely choose the 7.92 full-power round.

Moreover, the MAS36 rifle is only 1020mm long.

It is 80mm shorter than the standard version.

In this way, if you encounter Japanese soldiers while fighting with bayonets, you will definitely be at a disadvantage if you don't have a submachine gun.

This is something that must be changed.

Although the increased barrel length will change the gun's center of gravity, these adjustments are possible.

This was not a difficult task for Chen Changzai.

Now, a new gun is slowly taking shape in Chen Changzai's mind.

He wants the new gun to have a 7.92mm barrel.

The barrel length has been increased from 575mm to 700mm.

For every 10 centimeters increase in barrel length, the weight increases by about 0.2 to 0.3 kilograms, or about four to six ounces.

But that's nothing.

For the new gun, Chen Changzai planned to adopt the conical barrel design used in many new guns in later generations.

That is, the barrel is thickest at the high-pressure area at the base and thinnest at the low-pressure area at the muzzle.

Although this method of making gun barrels is more complex in terms of process.

However, this manufacturing process is not so advanced as to be unbearable; it can be addressed by improving machine tools and fixtures.

The advantage of doing this is that it can significantly reduce the weight of the barrel and shift the center of gravity of the entire gun to the rear.

Moreover, the longer the barrel, the higher the initial velocity of the bullet and the farther the range.

The longer the barrel, the longer the sight line, and the higher the accuracy.

The longer the barrel, the longer he can design the gun to be.

In this way, even without the protection of a submachine gun, one wouldn't be at a disadvantage when facing the bayonets of the Japanese soldiers.

As for whether the excessive length of the gun will affect its flexibility in use in confined spaces.

This is a trade-off.

In Chen Changzai's mind.

The overall length of this gun is 1170mm.

It is 70mm longer than the Type 24 pistol and 110mm shorter than the Type 38 pistol.

In such a confined space, it is not much worse than the Zhongzheng.

However, compared to the Type 38, it is much more flexible.

When the rifle was fitted with a 500mm long, triangular needle-shaped bayonet hidden beneath the gun.

It's even a bit longer than the Type 38 rifle with a bayonet attached.

If you optimize the triangular needle-type bayonet as much as possible.

Therefore, the weight of this bayonet can be kept within two pounds, or even around one and a half pounds.

The bayonet of the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle is 380mm long and weighs about 1.5 jin (approximately 750 grams).

However, its weight comes almost entirely from the rotary link mechanism and the grip.

Chen Changzai's new bayonet, however, was not so complicated.

With this in mind, Chen Chang immediately began his drawing project at his workbench.

Several hours passed while I was drawing.

Even when Wang Ling brought him food, he just said, "Just leave it there."

He continued drawing without even looking up.

It wasn't until Wang Ling lit the kerosene lamp that he realized it was almost dark.

The lunch that Wang Ling brought over had long since gone cold.

　Thank you to all my friends who have supported me.

　　My God, this new gun burned half of my brain cells.

　　New guns are coming out soon, friends, hahaha.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)