Chapter 456 The Feeling of Being Valued

Ciel was waiting for Dominic to ask a question, but Dominic was hesitant, sometimes playing with the shotgun and sometimes looking at Ciel, looking like he was hesitant to speak but he just didn't ask.

"Please, Dominic." Charles held the coffee and gave a wry smile: "You are completely different now than when you were shooting."

"Well, that's different, General." Dominic replied, with a slight embarrassment on his face: "I can only feel confident when I hold a gun in my hand."

"You're holding the gun now." Charles held up the coffee cup and raised it towards the shotgun in Dominic's hand: "And it's a powerful shotgun."

"I, I mean target shooting." Dominic scratched his head: "Or when designing firearms."

"Why?" Charles asked doubtfully.

Dominic shook his head slightly, turned his eyes to the shotgun in his hand, and said thoughtfully: "I don't know, maybe, there is nothing I like or am good at except guns, so I am always isolated..."

"This is enough." Charles said with certainty: "Now is the war period, and you have designed such an excellent submachine gun. That surprises me."

"Yes, really?" Dominic chuckled, feeling a little embarrassed by the praise.

"Of course." Charles replied: "Did you hear that FN has a Browning?"

Dominic nodded heavily: "Yes, General. Of course I know. No one in the military industry doesn't know him. He is a genius firearms designer. Winchester obviously did not realize this. It missed a major development. opportunity.”

Ciel understood what Dominic meant.

Browning was originally from Winchester in the United States, but at this time American capitalists generally lacked strategic vision. They had a falling out with Browning because of the contract.

Browning wanted to independently own the "industrial property rights" to the firearms, while Winchester wanted to buy them out.

Just kidding, the money you can earn by developing a firearm is enough to pay yourself a lifetime salary, but Winchester hopes to use part of it to buy it out, and buy out all of Browning's inventions.

Only a fool would do this.

So Browning resigned and hoped to switch to Remington. Unfortunately, the owner of Remington passed away during that time.

In the end, Browning traveled thousands of miles to Belgium to become FN's chief firearms designer.

It is said that FN was about to go bankrupt at that time because it could not compete with the German Mauser. It planned to completely abandon the military industry and switch to bicycle production.

The arrival of Browning allowed FN to rise rapidly and occupy a place in the military industry market.

Dominic is referring to the process by which Winchester missed Browning.

(The picture above shows a motorcycle produced by FN in 1914. Belgian FN was originally a motorcycle company that also produced cars. It entered the military industry by imitating German Mauser rifles)

Charles nodded towards Dominic and said word for word: "You are no worse than Browning, Dominic. I hope you can become the Browning of Saint-Etienne."

Dominic was startled: "No, no, General. I, I am too far behind him. You don't understand, like this gun."

Dominic held the shotgun and said: "This is Browning's design. It is very suitable for civilian hunting..."

"Think about your own design." Charles interrupted: "'Saint Etienne 2', and this submachine gun."

"But they are." Dominic blushed: "They are actually your designs."

"To be precise, it's my ideas, or my needs." Charles corrected: "It was you who turned them into reality. Am I right?"

Dominic thought for a while and then nodded slightly.

If there is any problem, it is that the requirements and ideas given by Charles are too detailed and clear. It has almost drawn things up in Dominic's mind. To be precise, it has completed most of the design. Dominic Just make it happen.

Ciel asserted: "There are still many things waiting for us to design, and you will even surpass him, do you understand?"

Ciel used "we" instead of "I", meaning that Dominic was a part of it.

Charles does not mind sharing some "industrial property rights" with Dominica, such as PPD submachine guns, and Dominica has a lot of credit.

This is a way to win over his subordinates and make them work wholeheartedly for Charles. It is also Charles' plan for future cooperation with "Saint Etienne":

Charles believed that Dominique should be the heir of "Saint-Etienne" instead of his brother Layome.

"Yes, General." Dominic understood. He nodded heavily and looked at Charles gratefully.

Then Dominic added: "Thank you, General, and not just for that reason."

Dominic didn't care about "industrial property rights". He didn't even care about "Saint-Etienne". What he needed was the feeling of being valued and respected.

Ciel smiled and nodded to show his understanding.

Then he put the coffee cup on the table and raised his head towards the shotgun to encourage Dominic: "Tell me, what do you think is wrong with this gun?"

"It's fine, General." Dominic replied: "But I think it's only suitable for hunting, not suitable for battlefield use. Its range is too close, only about 40 meters. If the enemy holds a rifle in his hand, Before we could get close enough to pull the trigger, we were already falling to the enemy's gun."

"What else?" Charles asked.

"It spreads over a large area, and many of them are ineffective." Dominic said while gesturing:

"We can imagine that its projectiles are fired from the muzzle in the shape of a ball of cotton. Then the ball of cotton spreads out in a radial pattern, getting bigger and bigger. By the time it reaches 40 meters, the gap between the projectiles is large enough to accommodate several people. ”

"What I mean is that even if we aim accurately, the enemy is within range."

"But there's still a chance we won't be able to knock it down, or one or two pellets may not be fatal."

Charles nodded. Dominic was worthy of being a gun tester, and his analysis of the shotgun was very accurate.

The issue of range and projectile dispersion has always been an unavoidable problem for shotguns. It is only useful in special environments such as trenches and street fighting.

But what about other times?

If in a relatively open place, can a soldier holding a shotgun just stare or wait to die?

"What if I tell you that I have a solution to these problems?" Charles said, "Or a partial solution."

Dominic laughed:

"That's impossible, General."

"If these issues can be fixed, it won't be a shotgun."

But seeing Ciel's serious expression, Dominic couldn't help but be stunned.

"You, you don't really have a solution, do you?"