Chapter 2274: The Tiger King’s Belly (Part 2)

Chapter 2279 The Belly of the Tiger King (Part 2)

"Hey, I heard you were looking for me, so I dropped the cannonball right away. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Malashenko was fiddling with the breech block at hand when a familiar voice came from the turret hatch above his head that had never been closed, and a familiar face squatted on the turret and was facing Malashenko in the car. Ke looked over. Google search reading

"It's pretty fast. I thought it would take you an hour to get here."

Needless to say, the only person who could appear outside the turret at this moment was Iushkin. Malashenko looked up at the turret hatch and waved.

"Come in, there's something we need to study together."

"Studying stuff? That's not common. What's in the car? The Kraut's blonde girl."

puff--

Iushkin, who was muttering nonsense nonsense in his mouth, squatted on the edge of the hatch cover and jumped into the turret, did not expect to win the surprise prize. Before his feet even had time to hit the ground, there was a soft "Pfft" sound. I really wanted to step into the mud. The soft touch felt like stepping into a pot of minced meat, which was really uncomfortable.

"Sukka, you idiot is disgusting even after you die! It's really unlucky!"

Pulling the boots out of the "meat" was accompanied by a vicious curse. Malashenko, who had no time to chat with Iushkin, quickly picked up the conversation and pointed at the gun breech next to him. Then he spoke.

"Stop talking nonsense and take a look at this first. I've never seen anything like this before."

Looking in the direction of Malashenko's finger, Iushkin, who was not taking it seriously at first, soon changed his eyes. From not taking it seriously at the beginning, he turned to staring intently at the thing in front of him. As if possessed, he blinked for a moment and then blurted out the unbelievable words.

"What the hell is this? The breechblock the Germans gave them

It can surprise even an old gunner like Iushkin. This is enough to prove that the Tiger King main gun in front of him has a 88-inch breech block. At the bottom of the rear, there is a huge metal object rigidly connected to the breech block.

It was said to be an object because Iushkin had no idea what it was used for.

Not to mention that there is no such design on the tank guns of the Red Army, nor on any German tanks that have been captured in the past. This is the first time I have seen it in this life, and it was so sudden and unprepared. .

"I don't know, there's no instruction manual for this thing. I just looked through the storage box in the car and couldn't find anything like an instruction manual.

"But according to the description of comrades who have fought with this thing, this Tiger King, the iron coffin we are in now, this thing fired three shots in succession with a burst rate of fire of one round every five seconds in actual combat, and the fourth shot We were already reloading, and our 122 gun finally fired. Then we fired one shot at the animal. Fortunately, the body of the animal was left behind and was not blown up directly. "

"If you ask me, I guess the secret of the Tiger King's explosive rate of fire lies in this thing. This thing looks like, um, like a magazine for a revolver. Don't you think it looks similar?"

Just as Malashenko said, the large metal object hanging in front of the rear and lower part of the long 88 gun breech block has sharp edges and corners. From the appearance alone, this thing can at least have the function of storing multiple ammunition.

The long 88 fixed shells stored in this thing are like loading bullets into the cylinder of a revolver. They are installed and fixed in a circular surrounding layout in an orderly manner.

A closer look revealed that there are a total of 8 ammunition storage compartments on this thing. Theoretically speaking, the full load state has a total of 8 shells.

Malashenko, who paid close attention to the details, stood up again and counted how many squares contained shells and how many squares were empty.

After some inventory, it was found that there were still 5 shells left in the bomb nest, which just corresponded to the battle details of "three shots were fired in a row, and the fourth shot has been loaded" reported by the previous battalion commander Victor. In this way If so, it seems that the answer can be found as to why the dead Tiger King fired at such an outrageous rate.

"It does look like the cylinder of a revolver, but if the Germans use this thing to load cannonballs, how does it work? This thing doesn't look like it can be automated after firing one round. ”

Iushkin basically agreed with Malashenko's analysis. The design function of this thing should be a fast-loading ammunition device, but he was confused and curious about the working principle and operating process of this thing.

"Here, look here, over here. There's a hand crank here, let's try cranking it now, and lo and behold, this thing spins."

As Malashenko said, the addition of an external hand crank to the ammunition carrier is one of the key components that controls the movement of this thing.

It should be said that it is quite fortunate that this thing was not damaged in the explosion. As soon as Malashenko shook his hand, he saw that the ammunition equipment began to rise at a speed visible to the naked eye. The ammunition storage compartment of the equipment itself ejected the caliber. Aim straight at the rear of the breech block and straighten it to exactly a line.

"Then, I guess it should be like this"

Wow——

Holding a small vertical grip just above the ammunition storage compartment, Malashenko found the point of force and instantly exerted force with his right arm and pushed forward with one hand. The movable feeding bottom support connected to the bottom of the vertical grip supported the shell primer of the shell. With just one force, the kinetic energy and inertia followed the smooth metal storage compartment and sent the entire fixed-load shell into the open breech block.

Well, the fourth shell of the German was indeed in the process of loading and could not be loaded. This can also be confirmed.

Otherwise, the whole car would not have died suddenly in the state of the breech block being wide open waiting for the chamber. No one would always leave the breech block open and leaking air if they have nothing to do, right?

"Okay, now close the breech block, lower the cylinder by hand, away from the recoil stroke, and you can fire. The loading is complete."

"This crank controls the lifting and lowering, and this hand wheel should control the rotation. Let's try it. Well, it seems that my guess is right."

One crank is responsible for the horizontal lifting and lowering of the cylinder, and the other is responsible for the rotation of the cylinder to achieve continuous and rapid feeding.

It looks quite simple and not complicated, and it is a design that can be understood after watching it once. However, after watching Malashenko's demonstration process, Ivushkin still has a question that has not been answered.

"It looks fine, but isn't the speed a bit slow? Judging from this situation, I estimate that even if the hand speed is fast, it will take more than ten seconds. Is there something wrong? Did you say one shot every five seconds?"