Chapter 503: A Big And Powerful Gun
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The old man nodded. "We noticed a lot of things and I"d be happy to share them with you." He touched the muzzle and said, "I said that this is a shotgun, but that"s not specific enough. This is not a traditional shotgun—this is a double rifle.
"This gun has a coordinative structure and a smooth bore barrel. I mean, look at the structure of the barrel. It"s parallel—isn"t it beautiful? It uses solid bullets with copper coating.
"Not just the barrel, but every part of the gun is well-made. Look at its breech—it"s very strong. I would say that the breech is more than half-an-inch thick. Isn"t it amazing?"
Li Du nodded when he saw that Hans was nodding. He had no idea what Maurice was talking about. When it came to guns, Li Du knew nothing about the subject.
"After studying the gun with my a.s.sistant, we believe that the steel structure of the gun consists of both hardened and tempered steel. The taper between the barrel and the muzzle is one-quarter inch.
"This design can absorb maximum shock pressure energy. I must admit, I"ve never seen a gun with a thick barrel like this. I might need to do more research on it."
Li Du asked, "What does it mean if it has a thick barrel?"
Maurice glanced at him and replied, "It means that it has a great power endurance. With this kind of thickness and material, it can endure more than 31,000 pounds of pressure, which means 14 tons!"
"This is a tough fella indeed," said an impressed Hans. "Look at this—I bet after someone reloads it, looking at these metals makes him believe that this gun is as safe and strong as a house!"
"No," said Maurice"s a.s.sistant, Lynch. "As safe as a fallout shelter!"
After hearing their explanations, Li Du gasped, "Oh, my G.o.d, the barrel has to withstand that much of pressure? No wonder the barrel is so thick."
Maurice grabbed a bullet—which looked like a small cannonball—and said, "This is a bullet for .750 Nitro Express rifle. If you want to use this bullet, you must have a bore like this. If not it would be like a giant f*cking a human—they"d be torn to pieces!"
The metaphor Maurice used was pretty crude and distasteful. Hans and the others laughed while Li Du forced a smile.
After the introduction, both parties began to negotiate the price. Hans asked, "From the way you spoke of it, I can tell you would like to collect it. You hope to have a tough fella like this in your collection."
Maurice nodded in agreement. "Why wouldn"t I? If I had a tough fella like this, I could kill an alien or a zombie with one shot!"
He was not exaggerating. The .75 caliber bullet was the largest bullet designed by humans. It could hurt a bear or an antelope, but also a rhinoceros or an elephant badly.
This gun could even hurt a small whale if it were shot at point-blank range.
Lynch said, "But this gun has no practical value. It"s just for show and collection purposes."
Li Du knew that he was trying to bargain, so he remained silent and let Hans do his work.
Before Hans could refute, Lynch continued, "You wouldn"t bring such a gun hunting, would you? I admit that the bullet is powerful, but it is too slow. The maximum speed is only a few hundred feet per second ."
Hunting required bullets with high penetrating power. For big animals, the bullets should be able to penetrate their thick skin and damage their internal organs, so that the hunters could bring them down immediately.
This gun didn"t meet that requirement. Even if it could launch the ammunition, its slow speed and the distance could decrease its penetrating power.
If they shot at point-blank range, this bullet could blow off half an animal"s body. If that was the case, hunting was no longer fun!
"The .75 caliber bullet is not practical. This gun doesn"t have any other use either. Look at the bullet"s curved flight trajectory, the slow speed, the huge recoil, the weight and the costly expenses ..."
Lynch started to shake his head. "This gun is either for collection or for use in a very niche area. I bet the market is small—99.9 percent of hunters wouldn"t want to be that kind of shooter."
"Yes, you"re right," Hans said. "Hunters wouldn"t want to use a gun like this. But they would definitely like to add it to their collection."
"So the market is really small," Lynch said.
"Why don"t you sell it to the government?" interrupted Li Du. "Like the military or police force. They could use it under special circ.u.mstances. They encounter extreme cases too, right?"
Maurice laughed when he heard this. "That"s impossible because it"s too slow. Even if it shot in time, the bullet would break a person into pieces. A gun like this could break armor as though it were aluminum foil.
"Also, the bullet would not only shoot through the body of a criminal, but it would go another half a mile forward, which might hit and kill an innocent person."
"Yes, the bullet is too powerful," Hans softly explained to Li. "If a three-pound bullet moves a few hundred feet per second, it would destroy any engine, penetrate walls and kill people. Its power is equivalent to a 20mm cannon."
Li Du understood. This gun was not practical. Its great power was unnecessary and it might hurt innocent people.
He was not an expert, so he stayed quiet and let Hans take charge.
Hans was not easy to deal with for Maurice. He could tell that Maurice loved this gun, so he insisted on selling it at a good price and refused to back down.
However, Lynch was Maurice"s good a.s.sistant and also an expert negotiator. When both men faced each other, it was a fierce battle!
The price ended up being fixed at 200,000 dollars.
Lynch threw them a tough question. "If this were a practical gun we"d be willing to pay 200,000 dollars for it. But it"s not practical. Sorry, we will only pay 20,000 as it"s practically a showcase model to us."
When he heard what Lynch said, Li Du asked, "The gun is so big, the recoil must be big as well. How could it be practical? "
"See! You also know it"s not practical," Lynch laughed. "So why are you selling it at such a high price?"
G.o.dzilla, who had been quietly listening the whole time, stood up and said, "I"ll test it!"