From Mist and Steam by James Haddock

Author:James Haddock [Haddock, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 2_read, Steampunk, -new
ISBN: 1691435953
Amazon: B07R8KWQWF
Published: 2019-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

I was sitting at my desk sketching, "What are you working on?" Abi asked.

"I had an idea about a larger capacity magazine for the rifles."

she looked at my sketches, "how much larger?"

"It will hold twenty-five rounds. I got the idea looking at a keg of nails. A spring will keep pushing the bullets to feed, like a big clock spring. After you load the keg, you wind up the loading spring."

"Vicki," Abi called. "Come look at this." Vicki came over and looked at my sketches.

"It looks like a drum full of bullets for our rifles,'' She said smiling.

I nodded, "holds twenty-five rounds, I like that name, 'Drum magazine' that is what it looks like."

"I love it," Vicki said, "let's make one and test it." We took a week to build, test, and modify the "drum-mag" as we called it. We finally got it right and tested. It worked great. We gave it to Mr. Hientz, told him to make ten.

Over supper Miss. Amanda said, "I have something I'd like to do." We all looked at her. "Men are returning from the war with no money and no way to make a living, especially farmers. I want to take five hundred acres, divide it into fifty acre farms. Then build a three-bedroom house, and barn on it. We could then let them share crop the land for a sixty-five, thirty-five splits. We'd get them started with seed, mule, and farm implements." She waited to see what I'd say.

"I'm all for it." I said. "It will help them and their families. The land will make us money." Abi and Vicki were all for it too.

"Good, I'll get the surveyors out to lay the markers for 50 acres plots. We can get the carpenters started building the farmhouses and barns as soon as the markers are in."

I added horses and cattle to our estate and hired men to care for them. I was also having a bunk house built to house our new hands. The audits on all the Sweeny businesses were complete. The two Presidents of the banks went to jail, and the Vice Presidents moved up to take over as the new Presidents.

Aaron and his brother had moved into the bigger office on main street and opened my business office there. Our businesses were doing well. We still had not found a business manager to watch over all our business, but we were still looking.

Two months later we received an order from the Army for one thousand auto-rifles, five hundred auto-pistols, with one extra mag per gun, and one hundred drum mags. They paid for them in advance. Not long behind them the Navy ordered the same thing they also paid in cash.

We added a line of 12ga. auto-shotguns to our arms manufacturing. We based the design on the auto-action of our other guns; the magazine held five shells. We made a long-barreled model for hunting. We also made a short-barreled one we called "the Store Keeper" for shop owners. It didn't have a full stock but more of a straight pistol handle.

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