Chapter 534: A Hunter's Wonder Weapon
Inside the lavish royal workshop at Versailles, Louis XVI carefully removed a rifle resembling the Charleville Model 1776 from a wooden rack on the wall. Handing it to his son, he sighed with a mix of pride and weariness:
"Take a look. The machining for this was incredibly difficult—it's like installing dozens of tiny clock mechanisms inside the barrel. It took me nearly a year to complete. But I dare say, there are no more than three craftsmen in all of Europe who could make this as quickly as I did!"
Joseph thought to himself, If it weren't for the elaborate birdcage hairpiece you made for Mother's birthday, this would've been done back in early October...
Carefully taking the rifle, he peered into the barrel. Inside, he saw four meticulously grooved spiral riflings, their craftsmanship flawless.
His father's skill was truly extraordinary. In the late 18th century, rifling grooves were carved by hand, using a long rod with a hooked cutting tool attached. The rod was fixed to a slightly tilted frame, and the grooves were painstakingly scraped out one layer at a time.
The process relied entirely on the craftsman's skill and touch. If the spacing between the grooves was even slightly off, the barrel was ruined. Only veteran gunsmiths with over a decade of experience dared take on such work.
This made rifled firearms exorbitantly expensive—easily ten times the cost of smoothbore muskets—and their production took an excruciatingly long time.
For secrecy's sake, Joseph had entrusted the development of the new firearm to his father, who, true to his reputation as the finest craftsman in France, had completed the project in under a year—even as a beginner.
"You truly have the most dexterous hands in France, my dear father, and the sharpest mind to match."
Louis XVI beamed at the compliment. Pointing to the rifle, he eagerly asked, "So, how will this drastically increase the firing rate?"
"With the iron spike you installed in the chamber," Joseph replied with a sly smile.
Taking a caliper from a nearby table, he measured the muzzle diameter and called to a craftsman standing by the door:
"Emmerich, could you make a lead cylinder with a diameter of 17.8 millimeters and a length of 35 millimeters, rounded at one end?"
"As you command, Your Highness," the craftsman said with a bow.
Louis XVI raised an eyebrow. "What do you need a lead cylinder for?"
"To use as ammunition," Joseph said, turning to glance at the other firearms displayed on the walls. "Father, do you have any rifled firearms here?"
"Of course," Louis XVI replied with a proud wave at the collection. "These are all my prized possessions.
"That one there is a rifled version of the 1763 Charleville, modified by the factory's chief gunsmith.
"Over there is the Bavarian Augsburg Model 1720—eight rifling grooves!
"And that peculiar one is the Ferguson rifle from England. I paid 1,000 pounds to a smuggler for it..."
"Your collection could rival a museum exhibit," Joseph remarked as he took down the German-made rifle.
Due to the high demand among affluent hunters, the German states produced some of Europe's finest rifled firearms. The Augsburg Model 1720, for example, had a smaller caliber of 15 millimeters, yet it surpassed the range and accuracy of the .72 caliber (18-millimeter) smoothbore muskets used by British and French armies.
Of course, this performance came at the cost of exorbitant production expenses and challenging maintenance.
Joseph picked up a spherical lead bullet from a pouch nearby, holding it up for comparison as he said:
"The biggest flaw of rifled firearms, aside from their manufacturing difficulty, is how tedious and slow they are to load."
Louis XVI nodded in agreement.
To make the bullet engage with the rifling grooves and generate spin, it had to be slightly larger than the barrel's diameter. Soldiers would use a hammer and a ramrod to force the oversized bullet into the barrel.
The bullet then had to pass through a smaller-diameter chamber at the base of the barrel, where gunpowder was loaded. This added an extra step to the process.
Setting down the oversized 16-millimeter bullet, Joseph picked up a standard smoothbore musket ball and continued:
"If we could use undersized bullets, rifled firearms' firing rates could be doubled."
An "undersized" bullet, or sub-caliber bullet, was smaller than the barrel's diameter. Conversely, a "supersized" bullet was slightly larger than the barrel.
Louis XVI frowned. "But an undersized bullet wouldn't engage with the rifling grooves, so it couldn't spin."
Joseph smiled knowingly. "We could change our approach. What if the undersized bullet expanded after being loaded into the barrel?"
"How is that possible?" Louis XVI asked, skeptical but intrigued—his son had surprised him with ingenious ideas before.
"It's actually quite simple."
Joseph inserted the sub-caliber bullet into the Augsburg Model 1720, then used a hammer and ramrod to pound it down the barrel.
"See? Now the bullet is larger than the barrel diameter," he said with a grin.
Louis XVI chuckled. "If you flatten the bullet like that, its range and accuracy will be ruined."
"You're absolutely right," Joseph admitted with a nod. "But you have to admit, it would spin when fired."
Before his father could respond, he quickly added, "That's why we need your iron spike."
Louis XVI's eyes widened as the realization dawned. "Ah, I see! When struck, the iron spike in the chamber would pierce the base of the cylindrical bullet, expanding its diameter.
"Once fired, the bullet's expanded base would engage with the rifling grooves, creating spin!"
"Exactly," Joseph confirmed with enthusiasm. He gave his father a conspiratorial wink and declared,
"This is the weapon we developed together—the Auguste Model 1790 Rifle! It will revolutionize skirmishers and reshape battlefields across Europe!"
He nearly called it the Tige Carbine, the historical weapon that had become the precursor to the Minie ball and transformed infantry tactics in the 19th century.
Originally, Joseph had considered skipping straight to the Minie ball, the pinnacle of muzzle-loaded rifled firearms.
But while he understood its basic principles, he lacked precise details about its structure, like the dimensions of its hollow base. Designing and testing it would take years, especially to ensure compatibility with existing firearms.
Thus, he opted for the simpler Tige system.
Its cylindrical bullets were straightforward to produce, even in the field. Existing rifled firearms required only a minor modification—the addition of the iron spike in the chamber.
Though it wasn't the pinnacle of rifled firearm technology, it was a practical and transformative solution for its time.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 40 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/johanssen10