Korean Mercenary’s Wild West - Chapter 15: MJ
Now he was asking that again, and it didn’t make sense.
As James tilted his head, Max also asked Martin, who had brought water. “You heard the question just now? If you know, I’ll give you $10 plus freedom from being a slave.”
“R-really?”
“This kid likes that.” Max chuckled and nodded.
A spark of hope came alive in Martin’s eyes. He didn’t care about Max’s tone or swearing.
“You’ll… keep your promise?”
“A slave brat dares to ask back. Anyway, the people here are witnesses. I keep my promises like a knife.”
“O-okay.”
“So do you know?”
“…..No.”
“This bastard…” As Max reached out his hand, Martin flinched and covered his face with his hands.
“Don’t be scared. Just give me the water. And don’t raise your head until you know the answer, you bastard.”
It was when Max was about to drink the water.
James quietly raised his hand. “Ahem. I think I know…”
As all eyes turned to him, James cleared his throat and continued, “What we just made, the copper coating isn’t uniform, so the accuracy of the bullet drops. That’s the drawback.”
“Wouldn’t it be more accurate than lead bullets?”
“Maybe at short distances, but considering rifle range, the copper plating we’ve done would reduce accuracy.”
Max asked with a seemingly interested face, “Then the copper bullet I suggested isn’t the solution?”
“That’s not true. If we improve the plating method, copper bullets are definitely better than lead ones.”
Clap clap.
“That’s the correct answer, James!”
James scratched his head with an embarrassed face. And people nodded their heads, mulling over his words.
“Since you got it right, I’ll give you $10.”
“Wow… You’re really giving it?” For reference, Brett’s weekly wage was $6.
He looked at James with envious eyes.
But James shook his head. “I don’t need the $10. Instead…”
James looked at Martin. He was still keeping his head down as Max had instructed.
“I’d like you to let Martin go now.”
Flash. Martin raised his head.
His eyes trembled with surprise and emotion.
It was a possible reaction in an era where jokes weren’t always just jokes.
“He’s a friend who’ll work with me from now on. Please understand, Max, for my sake.”
“Hmm.” Max looked at Martin and seemed conflicted.
Or rather, he pretended to be conflicted.
Then he nodded as if doing a favor. “Alright. If you insist.”
As soon as Max finished speaking, Martin’s lips quivered and he choked up. Then he looked at James with moist eyes.
‘He won’t act up again.’
James skillfully used the situation Max had set up. With this, the conflict with Martin was resolved.
Now it was time to get what he really wanted. Max took his eyes off Martin and refocused everyone’s attention.
Clap clap.
“Well then, shall we check if James is right?” The drawback of uneven copper plating can be known by shooting.
Four copper bullets were loaded, and four wooden blocks were set up about 20m away. Max carefully fired four shots.
But surprisingly, only one hit the target.
Hitting two coins was only because the distance was close; at long range, the accuracy of copper bullets was terrible.
“You won’t blame my shooting skills, right?”
Everyone shook their heads.
No one doubted Max’s skills.
“As you can see, this is the result. James was exactly right. So, I’m thinking of making bullets like this.”
Max started drawing something on the ground.
In an era when the concept of electroplating wasn’t widespread, uniform plating of round bullets was quite difficult.
Because of this, Max showed a Minié ball with a flat bottom. Although mainly used in rifles, it’s also effective for pistol rounds.
“There’s no need to do the bottom. But the rest needs to be plated evenly. And.” Max looked around at people and put strength in his voice. “I’ll give 10% of the patent share to whoever makes it first.”
“P-patent share!?”
Everyone opened their eyes wide in surprise.
Even in the lawless West, the concept of patents was ingrained. They also knew it could make money.
If memory serves, Smith & Wesson should have the patent for metal cartridge cases. For this reason, the famous Colt company couldn’t make metal cartridges until 1872 when the patent expired.
But that was just about the cartridge cases.
There shouldn’t be a patent for the bullet itself yet.
Of course, it wasn’t certain.
‘Maybe not.’
The important thing was to draw out people’s passion.
While he was at it, Max said, looking at George, “I’ll take 7 of the patent shares, the blacksmith shop will get 2, and the remaining 1 will go to whoever makes the copper bullet I mentioned.”
A gentle ripple appeared in George’s eyes. He expected some profit since it was made in the blacksmith shop. But patent shares were another story.
It felt like he had struck gold!
Meanwhile, Max extended his hand to Martin. It was time to work on mending relationships. “Think about it well, Martin. Let’s get along from now on.”
“M-me too. Haha…”
Seeing them shake hands, George patted James on the shoulder. George was also secretly pleased that Martin’s arrogance had been broken.
Brett and Hollen said nothing.
They were staring intently at the copper bullets, racking their brains.
‘The remaining patent share is mine!’
Desire for that 1%.
As a result, a problem arose.
They all became like Rodin in thought, not doing the work they should be doing right away.
“Don’t we have anything to make today? We should work, right?”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah, we should…”
At Max’s words, they started picking up tools one by one.
‘It wouldn’t be bad to turn this blacksmith shop into a weapons manufacturing company in the future.’
It seemed he had succeeded in becoming the center of the blacksmith shop for now.
Max talked with George about patents again, shaking his heart once more.
*
On the way home, riding horses with heavy steps.
James, who was riding beside him, spoke up, “Thanks to you, my relationship with Martin has improved.”
“It’s nothing. There’s nothing more annoying than having a terrible coworker.”
Even in his previous life, there were colleagues he wanted to kill several times a day.
The closed spaces of the military and mercenary life.
Max knew well how stressful conflicts between colleagues could be.
“About those bullets.”
“Yes.”
“You’re making them for yourself to use, right? That’s why you came to the blacksmith shop.”
“Among other reasons.”
He had brought the rude Martin down to the bottom, and snatched the souls of the blacksmith shop employees with patent shares.
And in just one day, he had become the center of the blacksmith shop.
‘If it was all intentional, it’s really meticulous.’
If he had planned it on the spot after seeing the faulty rifle and Martin, that would be even more impressive.
Suddenly, James looked at Max and said, “What’s your dream?”
“My dream?”
“I won’t be surprised, so tell me.”
“For now, my dream is to go home and eat meat.”
“I’m surprised.” James burst into laughter. He understood it as an answer meaning ‘I’ll focus on the reality in front of me.’
And he was quite excited about how grand each day created like this could become.
“The bullet you want. I’ll do my best to make it. And if you need anything else, just tell me anytime.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“It’s weird when you say what I should be saying.”
The sunset painted the plain red.
Two horses were heading home at a leisurely pace.
*
During the month staying at James’s house, apart from the copper bullets, Max trained his body in the warehouse.
He made exercise equipment with wood collected from here and there, and also made wooden dummies to hone his special warfare techniques.
In his previous life, Jo Yu-gang had been immersed in special warfare techniques in the special forces, and in practical martial arts like Systema, Krav Maga, Kali Arnis, and Silat during his time as a mercenary.
Each country has its characteristics, but the fundamental goal is effective killing, evasion, and defense.
Max spent time training these skills until they became second nature.
One day, James, who was on his way home from work, dropped by the warehouse.
“Hup! Hup!”
Watching Max slice the wooden dummy from head to toe with a knife, James shouted, “What on earth is your dream!”
“It’s to eat meat for dinner!”
Scratch, scratch.
“Why do I feel like you’re going to overthrow the country?”
“Would that be possible?” Wiping sweat from his face, Max asked. “By the way, what brings you here?”
“We finally made the bullets.”
“Who made them?”
“Everyone worked together. New Martin also played a part.”
The rude Martin had disappeared, and New Martin had returned in a more human form.
He even liked being called by that name, showing he’s clearly different from before.
“We decided to share the patent. I suggested it, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.”
Max smiled and took the pocket James handed him. It contained 30 copper-plated bullets.
“The surface is smoother than I expected.” Max replaced the existing lead bullets with copper ones, then fired at a palm-sized wooden block 20 meters away, which he usually practiced with.
Bang!
With each gunshot, the wooden block bounced away. All six shots hit the target accurately.
“This should be sufficient. When will you show it to Fort Leavenworth?”
“The commander is changing soon, they say.”
The current commander is Captain F.E. Hunt of the 4th Artillery Regiment.
As seen from his rank, he didn’t have the authority to make decisions no matter how good the bullets were.
“Instead, the commander coming in January is a colonel. George says it’s better to show it to him.”
Max nodded.
In fact, it didn’t matter much whether the military adopted this or not.
‘Still, I’m curious.’
Whether they would be enthusiastic about copper bullets, or indifferent.
It was hard to predict.
After James left, left alone in the warehouse, Max engraved initials on the front of the bullets with a sharp awl.
MJ.
This action had its own meaning too.
In the case of lead bullets, they expand inside when they hit, causing tremendous pain, but copper bullets pass through the body.
They have deterrent power against humans, but the disadvantage of full metal jackets was that they weren’t lethal. However, by making a notch on the front of the bullet like this, it becomes similar to a hollow point, a JSP (Jacketed Soft Point) bullet.
When it hits the target, the front part splits like a mushroom, capable of causing damage similar to a lead bullet.
‘We’ve made the bullet head for now.’
It’s still a partial full metal jacket bullet.
What remains is changing the cartridge case to brass and the gunpowder from black powder to smokeless powder. But he plans to proceed with that as he gauges the timing.
While some things can be made quickly with just ideas, development tends to align with the technology and situation of the era, doesn’t it?
For now, he was satisfied just with reducing gun malfunctions caused by lead bullets.
That evening.
As Max chewed on the food Mary had prepared, he thought, ‘It never changes from those five menus…’
Even combat rations have more variety, but Mary’s menu was limited to just five dishes.
The dictatorship of an unchangeable diet.
Is it because James mentioned overthrowing?
‘Suddenly, I want to eat abalone.’
He had given up on Korean food, but sometimes at times like this, the food in front of him looked like garbage.
“When are we going to town?”
“Tomorrow. Why, do you want to come too, Max?”
“If there’s a really big grocery store, let’s go together.”
“Huh, what? Are you going to cook yourself? It’s not that easy, you know?”
‘It looks super easy though…’
“Anyway, I’m curious about what’s there. I haven’t been to town yet, right?”
The next day, James’s family and Max headed to the center of Leavenworth, pulling a wagon.