Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 19 019 Hand-made breech-loading rifle

In fact, Solovyov still faced many problems when producing rifles. He had little experience in processing operations. He was more focused on turning out some reliable content and then perfecting it. Whether it could be connected with the things he considered was a serious problem.

Therefore, he still needed suitable craftsmen to assist him in completing these designs. However, with the current processing level, if he wanted to make a gun according to his design ideas, it would be hand-made, and this gun type would also be equipped with exclusive bullets.

Such a rifle was also a cross-era or even super-era product in 1797. The Russian-made Russian line, each Russian line is equivalent to 0.1 inches, and the caliber of the Russian army's standard rifle in the range of 7 Russian lines and 8 Russian lines is a relatively standard flintlock caliber. What needs to be considered is the production capacity outside the Tula Arsenal, which is also difficult to describe in a few words.

He still considered looking for professional craftsmen, but in St. Petersburg, it was not easy to find a gunsmith who could rifle. In particular, the rifling had to meet the standards required by Soloviev. It was not only the problem of manual production, but also the water mill power or steam power had to be prepared. Otherwise, the boring machine would not be able to pass the processing.

The efficiency of engraving rifling was not high, and it was also relatively wasteful. In this era of low-quality barrels, some barrels might even be made of iron, which was scary to think about. Moreover, processing rifling was a hard job. The scrap rate of simply making a smoothbore gun was not that high, but when it came to rifled guns, there were too many failures.

This gave Soloviev a headache. For the processing of the pistol, a boring machine could quickly get a 7-Russian barrel. After the modification, even if the airtightness was poor, such a black powder revolver could still guarantee relatively reliable performance and could fire quickly. Accuracy was a secondary issue. The key was to ensure the continuity of firepower. In close-range firefights, it is often necessary to shoot at a distance that blurs the face. In this era of "line-up shooting" of infantrymen, it is always like this.

Processing failure is also common, and Solovyov actually knows that his family is not so well-off. This time, the new gun was made entirely with materials funded by the ironworks of the Yakovlev family, a Russian industrial aristocrat. If the two major projects cannot be completed before the materials are exhausted, although there will be no loss, this is introduced by the Dolgorukov brothers, and the face of these two young masters will often be used in the future.

Especially their situation is quite special. They are the confidants of Crown Prince Alexander who will become the Tsar in the future. If you want to move up in Russia, some friends are still very important. If it is just "my best friend", it only means that the relationship is relatively close. If it is "my best friend is very capable", it can also show his ability.

Fortunately, there is no abacus in Petersburg, otherwise the sound of his abacus beads hitting can be heard in Siberia.

Moreover, the time for this collection was limited. He brought a ready-made pistol with him and prepared to go to the woods for target shooting.

The Danish gunsmith invited was actually a little dissatisfied with Solovyov's approach. With this scrap rate, it would be better to directly copy the French rifle.

If you know the history of the Tula Arsenal, you should know that this is what they did in the end, but Solovyov still wanted to stand out. You have to know that with his family's property, if he was just a landlord, with his father's expenses, if he had a few more sons, he would soon become a pauper. If it was a daughter, it would be difficult to even get a dowry.

Whether it is time travel or reincarnation, it is a metaphysical technical job. It seems that his family is not bad, but the property of the four Solovyov brothers has been diluted a lot by now, not to mention that their family only inherited some manors in the country. With this little income, if they don't manage it well, they will soon go bankrupt.

His motivation was not to make a big news like some people did, to attack the Corsicans, but to make money and accumulate some wealth, at least not to end up here.

Speaking of the Corsicans, General Bonaparte has already defeated Austria and gained a great reputation. The Austrian army is more likely to give away heads, just like the gourd baby saving his grandfather, sending a group of old men, and all of them failed in the end. However, the combat effectiveness of the Austrian army at this time is not bad, and it is not an opponent that can be easily defeated. Don't be confused by the war report of General Napoleon Bonaparte. If he really fights every battle like his communiqué, it is unlikely to happen. After all, he can always win on the battlefield.

Now, Solovyov is shooting at an iron target in the woods. The sound of continuous shooting, accompanied by the white smoke of burning black powder, blocks some of the sight, but the sound of lead bullets hitting the iron plate is still very crisp. He hears it very clearly. Such shooting accuracy is enough in actual combat. As long as the gunman is not too bad, he can always use it well.

If people were allowed to choose their own weapons in a duel, the number of people dying together in duels would probably increase dramatically. However, this would not affect the enthusiasm of gentlemen for duels. Dueling was still very popular around 1800, as it was a matter of honor.

The pistols were fine, but there were too many processing wastes from the rifles, which caused the hired Danish gunsmith to doubt himself: "Der m vre noget galt med rvarerne!" (There must be something wrong with the raw materials!)

Although some things should not be said, in 1704 during the reign of Peter the Great, when the Alapayevsk Metallurgical Plant had not yet been owned by the Yakovlev family, their experience in making cannons was very unsuccessful, and later became a private enterprise. Before Izhevsk was destroyed by Pugachev, it was privately owned and then state-owned.

Sometimes, it makes people feel abstract.

But there must be no problem with the supply of raw materials, and this involves weapons to be presented to the Tsar. Obviously, the Yakovlev family will not neglect this kind of face-saving work.

In short, with the consumption of raw materials and a lot of them, as Solovyov expected, a caliber 7-caliber rifle was completed, and the Danish gunsmith also struck while the iron was hot and completed the production of the second rifle, which was regarded as fulfilling his design.

This also made Solovyov firm in his belief that it would be faster to modify a finished rifle than to make a new rifle that was thankless and laborious!

However, this approach can also bring a benefit, that is, in the production process, the unnecessary processes are abandoned, but technical reserves are also needed. The technology that is useless or even hinders the development of technology today may not be unsuccessful in the future as technology advances.

As for the second option, it is actually what we have considered before, which is to modify the existing rifle, but this is limited by the quality of the original rifle. If it is really to be made, the catastrophic tolerance must be taken into account, especially in Russia during the Tsarist period. This standard is indeed difficult to determine. Even the flintlock and rifled rifles used by the Russian army themselves have extremely complicated sources.

During the reign of Empress Catherine II, she was quite indulgent towards the nobles. Although the Russian Empire won battles one after another and its territory was expanding, the increase in territory and wealth seemed to be used for squandering or building magnificent churches, just like Spain, which was far away and had huge wealth. You should know that the Slavs converted to Orthodoxy because they disliked other religions that were not so shocking and luxurious. The Orthodox Church relied on Constantinople at that time, and the rituals of the Eastern Roman Empire were still very solemn.

In terms of industrial investment, it was more about mining. Count Bobulinsky had a coal mine near his estate. Today's Russia is "heavy industry" and agriculture, and these serf owners can't do it well. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, it was already far behind, and the current processing level is also quite difficult.

If Tsar Paul wanted to implement a new policy, it would be quite difficult. On the contrary, the resistance to reform in the army was not so great. The old men of the Catherine II era, headed by Suvorov, said that the emperor was wrong, but when they were asked to go home to retire, they actually had no complaints. Some young officers were the ones who were looking for trouble in this regard, and some people were quickly promoted, which actually weakened this kind of influence and went smoothly.

The final time for Solovyov to submit the plan was actually still some distance away. When these two rifles were completed, compared with those Russian rifles with large tolerances, the deviation was relatively small. At least when Peter Dolgorukov told him about the Danish gunsmith, he said that he could be employed in the arsenal of Izhevsk or Tula after the matter was completed. This was quite tempting for craftsmen from some small European countries.

All summer, Solovyov was in a farm on the outskirts of Petersburg. He was not interested in social activities. Mrs. Lebrun and her daughter have been promoting the established "brand" of cosmetic pencils. Julie is actually one year older than Soloviev, but this French girl is very lively and will automatically subtract some of her age, youthful and energetic, because her mother is a great painter, and often has to undertake various portrait and theme painting orders. Now she does not have much time to communicate with these customers outside Petersburg or even nearby. As for business matters, she often asks her daughter to write for her.

But this girl always writes about her recent experience in Petersburg when writing letters. She always regards Soloviev as a friend, and even talks about some personal views, asking him to keep it secret from her mother.

Mrs. Lebrun has always wanted to arrange a good marriage for her daughter. She is a court painter, and this status is actually a servant of the monarch. No matter how charming and glamorous Julie is, she is only the daughter of a painter after all. It is more appropriate for her to find a young man from a civilian family with equal status to marry.

Mrs. Lebrun wanted her to marry a promising young painter, who was a few years older than her. Soloviev had heard from her wife before that the painter, Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, was not in St. Petersburg. Judging from his future achievements, it was actually a good match.

Here, Soloviev received a letter from Julie, which mentioned that Mr. Gatan Bertrand Nigris, the secretary of the director of the St. Petersburg Theater, was very knowledgeable in appreciating art and encouraged her to create.

Soloviev was not good at anything else. From the words, it could be seen that Julie did not realize what kind of person he was. He had heard about the chaotic relationships in the theater in the serf theater in the countryside.

He thought he should figure out the situation of this man. After all, when he was in Moscow and the country estate, his superior and benefactor Prince Dmitry Volkonsky had told the young adjutant some rules in the upper class of Petersburg and Moscow.

The prince gave him some advice in his spare time because he was down-to-earth, not a "traditional adjutant" who flattered others, was good at business, and was relatively smart. The master still sneered at things in the theater, especially the young officers in Petersburg, who were sometimes outrageous and always harassed the female actors. Fortunately, his beloved nephew was not among them.

However, he couldn't tell Julie. Perhaps because of the lack of fatherly love, Mr. Le Brun was in Paris and was even imprisoned in 1793. This did not bring any benefits to the artistic family serving the French court. Instead, it brought disasters repeatedly before 1795 and made him lose his position in the family.

Soloviev also knew that as an adjutant and staff officer, it was important to collect and organize intelligence.

He soon began to investigate the secretary of the director of the Imperial Theater and learned that Mr. Gatan Bertrand Nigris was a Venetian and his father had served as the secretary of the Venetian ambassador. He didn't know much about the specific situation, but an Italian in his thirties facing a 17-year-old French girl who was just beginning to fall in love, this matter didn't sound right.

Solovyov probably still thinks about things in the same way as he did before being hit by a brick or a flower pot. Although Julie treats him as a brother, his mental state is like Julie's uncle.

Julie will continue to write to him, talking about things. In addition to communicating with Solovyov on behalf of her mother, there are also some personal ideas about the future.

In this case, Solovyov probably figured out the context. The secretary of the Imperial Director seems to be pursuing her, but there is no chance to succeed yet. From the cause, it is known that it was probably the noble ladies of the Saltykov family who took Mrs. Lebrun and Julie to the theater. The more troublesome part is that Julie asked "Brother Michael" to keep her secret and not let outsiders know.

To complete this rifle, when the time is right, it will go to St. Petersburg and present it to Tsar Paul. At that time, Solovyov will talk to Julie.