Reincarnated as Napoleon II-Chapter 47: Weapon Testing Part 2

Hearing that from him made Napoleon I eager to see more of the futuristic weapons. He could already imagine coalition armies getting fell one by one from a distance while they were marching in a line.

In fact, he was already drawing out plans in his mind to adopt the rifle as soon as possible and equip the army with it. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Napoleon II continued with his test firing experiment. The officer who had previously handed him the bolt-action rifle returned not with a weapon, but with a small wooden crate.

"Thank you," Napoleon II said as he opened the chest.

Inside was a pistol. It didn’t look like a traditional pistol musket, this one was out of this era like the bolt-action rifle earlier. It wasn’t a revolver configuration, it was a semi-automatic.

Napoleon II lifted it out and held it up at chest level.

"This," he said, "is the Model 1829 Service Pistol."

A few officers leaned forward without realizing it.

Napoleon I narrowed his eyes, he was unfamiliar with the design of the pistol.

He turned the weapon slightly so the side was visible.

"Breech-loaded. Semi-automatic operation. Recoil-driven." He paused. "Each shot chambers the next round automatically."

Murmurs again. Louder this time.

Napoleon II pressed a small lever. The magazine dropped cleanly into his palm.

"Seven rounds," he said. "Standard issue. One in the chamber." He slid it back in with a firm push. "Eight shots before reload. So as you fire eight rounds before running out of ammunition. In a musket pistol, you’d get to shoot once and remember, a pistol is a last-ditch weapon when you are cornered or you couldn’t reload your rifle in time. Sometimes, they miss, and when they do, it’s your time. But with this weapon, you get another seven chances."

Napoleon I’s gaze stayed fixed on the weapon.

"And the range?" he asked.

"Effective at fifty meters," Napoleon II replied. "Accurate enough beyond that. It’s not meant to replace a rifle. It’s meant to keep an officer alive when formations collapse."

He stepped up to the firing line.

The range officer raised a target at twenty-five meters.

Napoleon II didn’t take his time. He didn’t pose. He brought the pistol up, aligned the sights, and fired.

The sound was sharp, louder than expected for something so compact. No smoke followed. The target snapped back.

He fired again. And again.

The shots came in quick succession, controlled, deliberate. The pistol barely shifted in his hand, recoil absorbed and returned smoothly. When the slide locked open, the target had eight clean impacts clustered near the center.

Napoleon II lowered the pistol.

"That," he said calmly, "is what replaces the musket pistol. Now how easy is it to reload? Well compared to the musket pistol where you’ll have to..."

Napoleon II didn’t finish the sentence.

Instead, he let the pistol speak for itself.

He reached down to the table beside the firing line and picked up a fresh magazine. Brass cartridges sat neatly inside, uniform and clean. He held it up briefly so everyone could see it.

"With the old pistol," he said, "you measure powder. You seat the ball. You ram it down. You prime. All while your hands are shaking and someone is trying to kill you."

He brought the pistol back up, thumb pressing the magazine release.

The empty magazine dropped free.

"In that time," he continued, "you would already be dead."

He slid the fresh magazine into the grip. It seated with a solid click. He racked the slide once, sharply.

The entire motion took less than two seconds.

Napoleon I’s eyes widened despite himself.

"That’s it?" he asked.

"That’s it," Napoleon II replied.

He raised the pistol again and fired.

The report cracked across the range, and the target dummy hit point splintered.

Napoleon II lowered the weapon and set it on the table.

"Reload time," he said, "is the difference between an officer dying with orders unfinished, and an officer living long enough to adapt."

No one spoke.

Napoleon I took a step forward, then another, eyes still on the pistol as if it might move on its own.

"You’ve removed hesitation," he said slowly. "The moment between decision and action."

"That’s the goal," Napoleon II said. "Modern warfare punishes delay."

Napoleon I looked up at him.

"And reliability?" he asked. "Mud. Rain. Snow."

Napoleon II nodded once, as if he had expected the question.

"It is as tough as it can get. And if it does fail," he added, "it fails safe. No explosion. No shattered hand."

Napoleon I nodded his head, he loved what he was hearing from him.

"Of course, this is where it will not end, there’s still two weapons I want to show you all," Napoleon II said, and then flicked his finger.

The movement drew everyone’s attention.

At Napoleon II’s signal, canvas covers were pulled back farther down the range. What had looked like stacked crates resolved into something heavier, mounted low to the ground. A thick steel barrel sat inside a rectangular housing, connected to a water jacket and a belt feed draped loosely across a tray. The mount was solid, wide-legged, dug slightly into the packed earth.

Napoleon I looked at the weapon with curiosity, it didn’t look like a proper weapon at all.

"What is that?"

He stepped aside so the observers could see it fully.

"This is the Model 1829 Sustained Fire Gun," he said. "Crew-operated. Fully automatic."

"One pull of the trigger," Napoleon II continued, "fires continuously. As long as ammunition is fed and the barrel is cooled."

He gestured to the water jacket.

"Heat management," he said. "This weapon doesn’t fire in bursts. It fires until the enemy stops advancing. And get this, it fires at a rate of 400 to 600 rounds per minute."

Napoleon’s eyes widened the moment he heard those numbers.

"600 rounds per minute?!"

"That’s right, 600 rounds per minute."

Before the weight of that could settle, the ground trembled.

Farther back, a field piece was being rolled into position. Slim barrel. Long recoil housing. Steel shield. The crew moved quickly, efficiently, no wasted motion.

Napoleon II turned toward it.

"And this," he said, "is the Model 1829 Rapid Field Gun."

He placed a hand on the shield.

"Seventy-five millimeter. Quick-firing. Hydraulic recoil system. The gun stays in place after firing. We are going to demonstrate the sustained fire gun, or what I call the machine gun."