Chapter 474 Killing Machine

Two days after the enlarged plenary meeting, Iron Ax once again received an order to test-fire new weapons.

Since the northwest may be attacked by evil beasts at any time, the new shooting range was set up on the other side of the Chishui River. When Iron Ax arrived, the prince's personal guards had already surrounded the open space with hemp ropes and red flags, and set up a bridge on the steel bridge. Checkpoints were set up at both ends to prohibit unauthorized persons from passing through.

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

Walking quickly in the snow of different shades, looking at the friendly eyes cast by the guards, Iron Ax couldn't help but think of the first time he participated in a musket test. At that time, he was just a little-known alien sandman, and the people of Graycastle always looked at him with suspicion and wariness, even though he had lived in the town for five years and impressed the surrounding hunters with his superb archery skills. , but outside the old area, no one would give him a second glance.

He originally thought that he would live in seclusion in this barren land as a hunter, either dying in bed or dying from the claws of evil beasts or prey. Unexpectedly, His Highness would take a fancy to himself as a sand citizen and still Let yourself see the power of sky fire and thunder. The changes that followed were so fast that he couldn't bear to see them. From the formation of a militia to fight against the evil beasts, to the establishment of the First Army in Border Town, he jumped 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 met the heir of the Aosha clan again in the town, Lord Drow Silveryue, which made up for his biggest regret in life. For this trust and appreciation, as well as the compensation for his fate, Iron Ax had already sworn in his heart to dedicate everything to this new master.

Approaching the center of the testing ground, Iron Ax saw His Highness Roland. What surprised him was that in addition to His Highness and the Chief Knight, there were also several Sleeping Island witches.

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

The latter nodded, "Now that everyone is here, we can start." He sent two long guns to Iron Ax and Carter. "This is one of my newly developed weapons. It is still in the prototype trial production stage. Quantity is limited, take turns to try.”

Iron Ax carefully looked at the new gun in his hand - its appearance was very similar to a revolver rifle, the only difference was in the loading part: the new gun did not have a magazine.

He was stunned. Could it be that this gun, like the earliest flintlock guns, needed to be loaded from the front of the barrel?

"Its name is a bolt-action rifle," Fortunately, His Highness quickly explained, "The bullet uses the latest smokeless double-base propellant, with a caliber of 8 mm. Although it is lower than the 10 mm revolver rifle, it is more powerful. Bigger." He turned the gun over. "The ammunition is inserted from the front of the trigger. Each bullet clip can hold five rounds of bullets. However, it cannot fire continuously like a revolver rifle and needs to be manually unloaded and loaded."

Following His Highness the Prince's demonstration, Iron Ax quickly understood how to operate the new rifle, and he raised the gun to test-fire a clip of bullets - the new gun was quite powerful, and he could feel the butt of the gun against each other every time he pulled the trigger. The impact on the shoulder, and the sound was much louder than the revolver.

After firing five shots, he noticed that there was almost no smoke in front of the muzzle. If it were an old-fashioned rifle, the smoke from the five bullets would be enough to completely obscure his sight. This is probably the result of His Highness’s so-called “smokeless ammunition”. However, there is nothing unique about the gun itself. Compared with the huge gap between revolvers and flintlock guns, the new rifle is not an improvement, and Iron Ax even feels It's not as good as a revolver. The most obvious thing is that the rate of fire has slowed down.

Compared with the former, which can be fired continuously after aiming at the target, the new gun is extremely inconvenient when standing and shooting. After manually loading the gun, you have to re-aim when you raise the gun body. Although this process is much faster than the flintlock gun, it takes a short time. To suppress the enemy - for example, when clearing out the rebel nobles in Longsong Fortress, a close encounter breaks out on a street corner or in a house, the new rifle is far less useful than the revolver.

After Iron Ax 1510 expressed his feelings about the test, Carter also expressed the same view.

The prince nodded and said, "It is true that it is not as convenient as the revolver, but the advantages are also very obvious. Andrea, please demonstrate it." He handed a rifle to the witch, "Remember to use the ability to shoot."

"Hmm," the blonde witch took the gun and skillfully pulled the bolt to load it. It could be seen that this was not the first time she had come into contact with this weapon, "Watch it!"

With three deafening gunshots, Iron Ax was surprised to find that the three wooden targets placed at the farthest end fell one after another - the bullets not only hit a target the size of a fingernail, but also hit the target below. of pole.

You must know that the distance between them and the target is at least 400 meters!

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

"Andrea's branch ability allows her to hit the target accurately, no matter whether the weapon in her hand is a bow or a gun," the prince said with a smile, "but it does not directly affect the crossbow bolts or bullets, but accurately affects the performance of the weapon. Mastery - in other words, if you throw a stone by yourself, it is estimated that you can only hit a target about ten meters away, but if you throw a bird, you will probably not hit anything."

"You mean... ordinary people can reach this level as long as they are trained?"

"Yes, this is the biggest advantage of the bolt-action rifle. It will not leak air due to the gap between the bullet cylinder and the barrel, thus greatly improving the range and accuracy." Roland nodded, "When paired with a scope, , even in the hands of ordinary soldiers, they can accurately kill enemies at a distance of about four to five hundred meters, while the accurate shooting distance of a revolver is less than a hundred meters."

Iron Ax immediately understood the terrifying nature of this weapon. Most people would not be wary of sneak attacks launched at this distance. As long as they hide in residential buildings or highlands, they can easily take away the lives of important targets. If it is Nightingale If held by an adult, almost no one can protect against bullets fired from around corners.

"Your Highness, you promised to give me a handful when mass production begins," Andrea covered her mouth.

"Of course." Roland retracted the two rifles, walked to the other side, and uncovered a bulging piece of cloth. "In fact, the bolt-action rifle is just an appetizer before the test. This thing is the focus of today's test firing."

When the weapon hidden under the linen cloth was revealed, Iron Ax instantly fell in love with it - compared to the rifle made of wooden handles and iron pipes, this new musket was completely black, as if the whole body was made of metal. It is also much larger, and with the tripod underneath, it is almost half a person tall. The long barrel is half as thick as a wrist. The shiny bullets are densely hung on a cloth belt and connected to the wide gun body. Both its appearance and posture are completely different from the previous weapons. (To be continued.)