Chapter 416 (1/2)
The structure of mortar shells is similar to that of shrapnel used in the catapult, but there are differences in caliber and charge.
At the beginning, in order to make mortars hit further, all mortars used non flooded powder as propellant. The warhead is not filled with dangerous bitter non acid explosive, but continues to use black powder as explosive.
However, the difference between 55mm mortar shell and barrel grenade is that the propellant of mortar shell is integrated with the projectile body, which is in the propellant tube under the projectile body, rather than separated from the combat part like barrel grenade.
Since the propellant is separated from the combat part, its manufacture is naturally much simpler. And to combine the two, the production difficulty is increased many times.
The four alchemists developed mortars a long time ago, but the real mortar shells were developed more than a month ago.
After all, the combination of propellant and warhead, the cap at the bottom of the propellant tube, the propellant, the explosive in the warhead, the primary explosive at the top of the warhead, and the impact pin cap should all be integrated into a projectile body, plus the four balance tails at the tail. With the level of processing technology in this era, the difficulty of production can be imagined.
So now the mortar shells used by the explosive bear brigade are almost all handmade.
Hundreds of craftsmen worked hard for more than a month to produce just over 300 qualified mortar shells. In the previous experiments and training of eye skipping method, 100 shells were consumed.
In other words, although the explosive bear brigade has brought out all 20 55mm mortars this time, it really needs to be used. One mortar can shoot ten shells at most
But even ten shells are absolutely invincible in this era.
The charge of the warhead of 55mm mortar shell is twice as large as that of the grenade used for the catapult, reaching 400g.
Four hundred grams of black powder plus a handful of iron sand, its explosive power is extremely terrible. At the beginning of the test, if such a mortar shell exploded on the flat ground, then the killing radius could reach 12 meters! This kind of power is twice as powerful as the catapult!
The most important thing is that the longest effective range of the 55mm catapult is not only 6700 meters, but 2600 meters!
What does that mean? It's very simple. If you give enough ammunition to the mortar, in principle, a 55mm mortar can defeat the whole catapult force. If you can't hit others with your catapult, you will be blind no matter how many of them are. However, the mortar of others can rely on four times more effective range. Flying a kite alone can kill the catapult force with a range of only 670m
It's no exaggeration to say that this 55mm mortar made by stone bear with four alchemists is absolutely the top military level of this era!
This mortar shell, which is a collection of more than 200 years' memory and experience of the stone bear and the hard work of four alchemists for several months, was put into the barrel by the loader from the muzzle. The loader immediately flashed aside, then squatted down with his back to the muzzle, and his head dropped down. This posture can protect the eardrum of the loading hand and prevent the eardrum from being damaged by the explosion of sound when launching.
And the aiming hand and ammunition hand are squatting in the same position, but they also need to hold the mortar bracket to prevent the muzzle from jumping at the moment of firing.
The shell slides down the gun barrel. When the fire cap at the bottom of the gun barrel hits the bulge at the bottom of the gun barrel, the fire cap is instantly activated, and then the non flooded powder in the gun barrel is ignited.