Chapter 82: Mass Produced
Dominic considered how he could accelerate the manufacturing process. If he didn’t do a wooden gun butt, and used a metallic shell with a leather back pad, it would save him at least fifteen minutes per rifle.
That was a good start.
They also had premade rifle barrels, forged and machine milled with standardized rifling and an octagonal exterior. If he cast the receiver, and used the provided pressure canisters, he could save another fifteen minutes.
At that point, he would be rushing through the whole thing in an hour, with no sense of finesse. Just enough time to check tolerances and file things roughly flat, the way he had for the first batch.
They were not works of art, but they had been produced on a very limited timeline. Of course, so were these ones, as the attack had most likely already started. The faster they sent rifles to the training grounds and front lines, the more lives they could save.
Dominic got to work heating metal and bending tubing for the pressure release and charging mechanisms.
He took a bit more time than usual with the trim pieces, and at least brought the exteriors to a smooth surface before stamping a dragon in flight on both sides of the metal butt shell to hide the imperfections.
Making them in all metal left Dominic with a bit more surface to alter, so for the first rifle, he added a checkered pattern to the guard under the barrel, making it easier to grip when wet.
They even had sights premade for the rifles, a standard front post and sliding rear sight style. Much prettier than the notched plate version that the original design had called for, and adjustable for distance.