Two days after the enlarged plenary meeting, Iron Axe once again received an order to test-fire a new weapon. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Due to the possibility of being attacked by evil beasts at any time in the northwest, the new shooting range was set up on the other side of the Chishui River, and when the Iron Axe arrived, the prince's personal guards had already fenced the clearing around the clearing with hemp rope and red flags, and set up checkpoints at both ends of the steel bridge to prohibit unrelated people from passing.

Obviously, His Highness attaches great importance to this weapon test.

Walking briskly through the different shades of snow, looking at the friendly gazes of the guards at him, the Iron Axe couldn't help but think of the first time he participated in the test firing of the musket. At that time, he was just a little-known alien sand people, and the people of Grey Castle always showed suspicion and vigilance towards him, even if he had lived in the town for five years and impressed the surrounding hunters with his superb archery skills, but no one would look at him more than he left the old district.

He originally thought that he would always live in seclusion in this barren land as a hunter, either dying of old age in his bed, or dying under the claws of evil beasts or prey, but he did not expect that His Highness would take a fancy to himself as a sand people, and let himself see the power of heavenly fire and thunder. The next changes were dizzying, from the formation of a militia to fight against the evil beasts, to the establishment of the First Army in the border town, and he rose from the captain of the Orion team to the commander-in-chief of the First Army. What's even more surprising is that because of His Highness's attitude towards witches, he also met the heir of the Osa clan again, Lord Drow Silvermoon, in the town, making up for the biggest regret of his life. For this trust and appreciation, as well as compensation for his fate, Iron Axe has long sworn in his heart to dedicate everything he has to this new master.

Approaching the center of the test ground, Iron Axe saw the figure of His Highness Roland, and to his surprise, in addition to His Highness and the Chief Knight, there were also several Sleeping Island witches.

"Your Highness, the Iron Axe reports to you!" he took two steps forward and saluted the prince.

The latter nodded, "Now that everyone is here, we can begin." He handed two spears to Iron Axe and Carter, "This is one of my new weapons, and it's still in the prototype stage, so let's try it in turn." ”

The Iron Axe took a closer look at the new gun in his hand - it was very similar in appearance to the revolver rifle, except for the reload: the new gun had no nests.

He was stunned, could it be that this gun, like the earliest flintlock pistols, needed to be reloaded from the front of the barrel?

"Its name is the bolt-action rifle," explained His Highness quickly, "and the bullet is based on the latest smokeless dual-base launch* charge, with a caliber of 8 mm, which is less powerful than the 12 mm revolver. "The ammunition is inserted from the front of the trigger, and each magazine can fit five rounds, but it can't be fired continuously like a revolver rifle and needs to be manually unshelled and loaded." ”

Following His Royal Highness's demonstration, Iron Axe quickly understood how to operate the new rifle, and raised his gun to test a clip of bullets - the new gun was so powerful that every time he pulled the trigger, he could feel the butt of the rifle against the shoulder, and the sound was much louder than that of the revolver.

After firing five shots, he noticed that there was almost no smoke in front of the muzzle, and if he had changed to an old rifle, the smoke from the five rounds would be enough to obscure his vision. This is probably the credit of His Highness's so-called "smokeless ammunition", but the guns themselves are not unique, compared to the huge gap between revolvers and flintlock pistols, the new rifle is not to say that there is no progress, and the iron axe even thinks that it is inferior to the revolver. The most obvious thing is that the rate of fire has slowed down.

Although much faster than a flintlock pistol, the new rifle was far less effective than a revolver when it broke out in a close-range encounter on a street corner or inside a house during the clearing of the rebel nobles in the Changge Fortress.

After Iron Axe 1510 expressed his feelings about the test launch, Carter expressed the same opinion.

The prince nodded, "It's true that it's not as convenient as the revolver, but the advantages are obvious. Andrea, you demonstrate," he handed a rifle to the witch, "remember to shoot with abilities." ”

"Uh-huh," the blonde witch took the gun and loaded it expertly, seeing that it wasn't her first time touching the weapon, "look at it!"

With three deafening gunshots, the axe was surprised to find that the three wooden targets placed in the farthest part of the target had fallen one after the other—the bullet had not only hit a target the size of a fingernail, but also a pole under the target.

You must know that they are at least four hundred meters away from the target!

"Your Highness, this is ......" Carter said in disbelief.

"Andrea's branching ability allows her to hit her target with precision, whether the weapon is a bow or a spear," the prince laughs, "but it doesn't act directly on a crossbow or bullet, but on an accurate grasp of the weapon's performance - in other words, if you throw a stone on your own, you can only hit a target about ten meters away, and if you throw a bird, you probably won't hit anything." ”

"What do you mean...... Ordinary people can reach this level as long as they are trained?"

"That's right, that's the biggest advantage of bolt-action rifles, because they don't leak air through the gap between the nest and the barrel, which greatly increases the range and accuracy. Roland nodded, "When paired with a scope, even in the hands of ordinary soldiers, it can accurately kill an enemy of about four or five hundred meters, while the accurate shooting distance of the revolver is less than a hundred meters." ”

The Iron Axe immediately understood the horror of this weapon, most people would not be wary of a sneak attack at this distance, as long as they hid in a house or high ground, they could easily take the lives of important targets, and if it was held by Lord Nightingale, almost no one could guard against bullets fired from corners.

"Your Highness, you said you would give me a handful when the mass production comes," Andrea said.

"Of course," Roland said, retracting the two rifles and stepping to the other side, uncovering a bulging piece of cloth, "Actually, bolt-action rifles are just an appetizer before the test, and this thing is the focus of today's test shot." ”

When the weapon hidden under the sackcloth was revealed, the Iron Axe instantly liked it - compared to the rifle made of wooden handles and iron pipes, the new musket was pitch black, as if it were made of metal all over its body, and it was much larger, and with the triangular bracket below, it was almost half a man tall. The long barrel was half the thickness of a wrist, and the shiny bullets hung densely on a cloth belt, connected to the wide barrel, and were completely different from the previous weapons in terms of appearance and posture. (To be continued.) )