Chapter 61: The Mauser Pocket Pistol

With the equipment being less than ideal, having to constantly adjust the cutting tool rather than the steel bar itself was simply unavoidable.

Doing so was quite troublesome and required a certain degree of experience, but Qin Jun had plenty of experience and was not afraid of trouble.

Next, he needed smaller springs, which demanded even more delicate operations.

Fortunately, his tactile sense was good and his experience was extensive, allowing him to quickly lathe two qualified small springs.

After testing them, he realized his operation was secondary; the primary factor was the exceptional quality of the steel. Otherwise, with such crude equipment, he would never have been able to produce such decent springs.

Fitting the two steel tubes together again and testing them, he found the fit to be absolute perfection.

Now came the technical part. Qin Jun retrieved a set of lead-acid batteries directly from a small wooden box at the head of his bed.

These were naturally borrowed from Qin Xia; otherwise, where else would he find batteries?

Since he had borrowed the battery pack, he naturally had not forgotten the other necessary items—such as wires, pliers, and a few 2.5-millimeter welding rods.

Connecting the wires to the pliers and hooking them up to the battery, while attaching another wire to a small piece of iron, completed the positive and negative terminals.

Placing the iron piece on the steel tube and gripping the welding rod with the pliers, he successfully assembled a makeshift welding machine.

An electric welder was actually a very simple device.

It utilized the large current generated by a short circuit between the positive and negative poles, creating a high-temperature electric arc at the point of contact to melt the filler material on the welding rod along with the materials being joined.

Ultimately, this fused the base materials together to achieve the purpose of welding.

Electric welders were generally categorized into two types based on their output power source: AC welders and DC welders.

Both types operated on the principle of utilizing a high current from a short circuit to melt the metal at the contact point.

By leveraging the massive current produced during a short circuit of the positive and negative poles, an arc was formed to melt the filler material on the welding rod, fusing them together at the atomic level.

Now, with the two power cords connected to the positive and negative terminals of the battery, a short circuit would occur the moment the welding rod touched the steel tube.

Everything depended on whether the current stored inside the battery was strong enough.

If it was insufficient and failed to smoothly melt the 2.5-millimeter welding rod, it would be unusable.

If it was sufficient, it would naturally melt both the rod and the steel tube, making it possible to weld anything.

Qin Jun took a small piece of iron and placed it against the steel tube.

Then, using the pliers to grip the welding rod, he tapped the junction between the steel tube and the iron piece.

Sparks flew, and he felt the welding rod in his hand stick slightly to the steel tube.

This was a good sign, indicating that the welding rod had melted.

Certain that it was operational, Qin Jun proceeded directly to perform a fish-scale weld.

Moving the welding rod quickly and evenly in a circle around the junction of the steel tube and the iron piece, he completed the pass in no time.

By this point, the iron piece was firmly welded to the steel tube.

Upon completion, he tested it and felt that it was reasonably sturdy.

Tapping it carefully, he found no visible seams, and the joint was remarkably solid.

However, it was not finished yet.

Qin Jun retrieved another slightly thicker and longer steel tube and welded two small ears onto it.

Next, he switched to a drill bit to make holes in it, and afterward, drilled corresponding holes into the thin iron piece he had just welded onto the smaller steel tube.

The four holes aligned perfectly to accommodate two springs.

At this stage, the main body of the contraption he was building was nearly complete.

Removing the drill bit, he attached a pre-prepared cutting disc with a diameter of over fifteen centimeters.

Needless to say, this item had also been cast.

It was just that subsequent forging, filing, and shaping had given it serrated teeth.

A circular saw blade produced in this manner had to rely entirely on the inherent strength of the steel to cut through other metals.

He had made quite a few tools like these blades and saws, scattered about and mostly untested.

Making this little gadget presented a perfect opportunity to test them all.

For instance, the various-sized drill bits he made earlier handled ordinary steel with effortless ease.

As the high-carbon steel saw blade spun rapidly, its thin teeth swiftly sliced through the steel tube.

Since the steel tube was merely low-carbon steel—possessing excess flexibility but insufficient hardness—even his foot-pedal transmission system could successfully generate a long trail of sparks while cutting.

Qin Jun had secured the steel tube within a separate clamp; otherwise, he truly would not have been able to control the sheer power.

Soon, a narrow crack appeared in the steel tube.

By now, the main body of his large-tube-within-a-small-tube toy was basically finished.

With two springs providing tension, pulling out the internal steel tube allowed it to snap right back into place with ease.

"Let's skip the wheels and just weld a gun carriage directly."

Employing the makeshift welding torch once more with a few deft movements, he welded several thin steel bars onto the barrel.

Indeed, what Qin Jun had built was a most rudimentary artillery piece.

Naturally, it did not fire shells; it fired firecrackers.

He had learned this trick on the Douyin platform.

It consisted of two nested barrels: pulling out the inner barrel, placing a small firecracker inside, and aligning the gap in the thin steel tube so the firecracker's fuse remained exposed for easy ignition.

Once lit, the firecracker would explode inside the barrel, expelling debris from the muzzle.

It was essentially a trick to amuse children, serving as a mere toy.

Yet, in this era, such a novelty should easily capture the public's attention.

A part of making this was certainly to delight his two nephews.

Another reason was to conduct a test and break in his self-made tools.

"My hands haven't lost their touch; I'm still this good!"

Qin Jun searched out a string of small red firecrackers his second older brother had bought and tested the device to find it performed decently.

Those two-to-three-centimeter-long, one-hundred-count strings of small red crackers had sold brilliantly over the years.

They cost twenty or thirty cents a string back then, regardless of the exact price.

Normally, people wouldn't buy them until New Year's, when parents would buy a string or two for the children.

After all, it was the New Year, and everyone wanted to add some festive cheer.

After testing it, it looked remarkably authentic.

All one had to do was light a small red firecracker and slide it down the barrel.

With the explosion of the firecracker, accompanied by a sharp bang, debris shot out from the muzzle, creating an effect strikingly similar to firing a real cannon.

After firing several rounds, he inspected the barrel, the springs, and the small welded iron pieces, finding no issues and no signs of desoldering.

Qin Jun placed the miniature cannon directly onto the windowsill.

When the New Year approached and his two nephews and niece returned home, this toy would come in handy.

However, a single small cannon wouldn't be enough; he needed at least three.

Since the materials were readily available, Qin Jun didn't mind making a few more, especially since it served as good practice for tooling.

Naturally, the multitude of tools Qin Jun prepared were certainly not intended just for building toy cannons, but rather for crafting a more refined handgun.

His desire to make a handgun stemmed from his plan to travel, and to travel a long distance at that.

Well, not exceptionally far—just a trip to the county seat.

Specifically, Qin Jun wanted to visit the county's largest black market.

After all, what time-traveler returning to this era wouldn't harbor thoughts of checking out the black market?

When Qin Jun used to read novels in his past life, they usually depicted pigeon markets in the city.

Strictly speaking, those were not black markets, nor could they even be considered genuine ghost markets.

Real black markets were truly dark and dangerous!

Ever since his return to 1979, Qin Jun had never considered visiting the minor black markets around the commune.

The transactions in the black market nowadays involved either grain or other contraband such as precious metals.

Such activities were strictly illegal and targeted heavily by the state; there was absolutely no such thing as turning a blind eye.

In fact, crackdowns by law enforcement agencies were not even the most significant threat.

The greatest peril in visiting the black market was the danger of being double-crossed or ambushed and robbed by criminals.

During this period, and over the following decade or two, there were entire villages operating as thieves, and entire communities engaging in organized robbery.

Otherwise, why would the specific term "highway bandits" exist for this era?

Traveling afar during this time was no easy feat and could rightfully be described as perilous.

Of course, if someone was dirt poor in a uniquely impoverished way, there wouldn't be much danger.

However, the moment you entered or exited the black market, others would instantly know you possessed either money or goods.

If they didn't rob a fat sheep like that, whose mutton would they take?

If Qin Jun had to venture to the black market entirely alone, he certainly wouldn't be willing.

However, with the addition of his second older brother Qin Feng, along with Zhao Erwa and the others, Qin Jun felt completely unburdened.

Even with bodyguards, though, he still needed to prepare a few things of his own.

For instance, the famous Mauser pistol. The reason he wanted to replicate it was simply because he had managed to acquire a substantial quantity of 9x20mm handgun cartridges from Qin Zheng.

The quantity was by no means small—a full several hundred rounds.

These supplies had been piled up in the warehouse for God knew how many years.

It remained a mystery why their village possessed such ammunition in the first place.

After all, the village's weapon storage room didn't contain a single handgun, let alone a Mauser.