I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 224: Weaver Stance Pistol Shooting

Schneider Armory office, James was leisurely sitting in front of the fireplace, sipping wine.

Just now, he had reached an agreement with Wentier to double the price of special steel, and this was just the beginning. Soon, it would increase to twice or three times, and it could go even higher depending on the situation.

The reason was simple: scarcity breeds preciousness!

During wartime, France urgently needed steel, and with the German Army occupying 68% of France’s steel industry, the supply was unable to meet the demand. Therefore, price hikes were only normal.

Especially special steel, which was originally used to make battleship armor, now had another use: tank armor.

Before this, James hadn’t realized the importance of special steel for tanks, until he heard about the Battle of Cape Town where German tanks used ordinary steel.

(Note: German A7V tanks used ordinary steel; the 15MM thick side and rear armor was roughly equivalent to 11MM of special armor.)

James sensitively realized that, although tanks didn’t need a lot of special steel, it was particularly crucial.

Without special steel, it meant that to achieve the same defensive strength, thicker steel plates would be required.

Thicker steel plates would result in greater weight.

And greater weight would consume more engine power and affect the tank’s mobility!

Shire didn’t have a steel plant or the forging technology for special steel, which was his weakness.

Therefore, as long as the price of special steel was increased, Shire’s tanks, even with military orders, wouldn’t have much profit margin.

Profit was secondary; more importantly...

Schneider could mimic the "Shire A1" tank by bypassing the patents to achieve similar performance, but at a much lower cost than the "Shire A1".

With similar tanks at a lower cost, which one should the military choose?

Thinking of this, James took a sip of wine while watching the flaming fire, his mouth revealing a smug smile.

However, Paulina silently stood by James’ side and softly called, "Sir!"

James turned his head towards Paulina in confusion, knowing that Paulina’s tone usually indicated bad news.

Sure enough, Paulina reported, "Shire has signed a contract with the United States. He authorized the U.S. military to produce the ’Shire A1’ and the U.S. military will provide Shire with special steel at a standard price..."

James raised his hand to stop Paulina from continuing, his face turning pale.

As soon as he heard "United States," he realized what had happened. Shire had used his technological advantage to secure overseas resources. This plan to strangle Shire with materials had fallen through, and it wouldn’t work in the future either.

Seeing the troubled James, Paulina wanted to advise him to give up.

There was no hope. Since the appearance of the "Shire A1" tank, everyone else was left far behind; no one could compete with Shire in tank development, including Schneider.

Who was this Shire who could leave Schneider helpless!

However, Paulina knew James wouldn’t give up easily.

Because giving up would mean acknowledging Shire’s rise: Shire could survive on tank orders alone, no matter how Schneider oppressed him.

As expected, the next second, James said, "Call Ogen. We need to discuss the new tank further!"

If other methods don’t work, we’ll have to break through head-on!

....

"Bang bang bang!"

"Bang bang!"

At the police training base’s indoor shooting range, Shire held a revolver, shooting at half-body targets.

This was in preparation for adulthood and going to the battlefield. If he couldn’t even handle a revolver then, it wouldn’t just be a matter of dignity; his life might be in danger.

Shire chose the indoor range because he worried his poor marksmanship would tarnish the brilliant image of Shire.

Prestige comes with a name, and carrying a reputation doesn’t offer much freedom.

"Let your arm hang naturally, keep your eyes on the front sight!" Dominic observed from behind Shire and then commanded, "Fire!"

"Bang!" Still couldn’t hit the target.

Couldn’t hit the target from twenty meters away?

Dominic found the problem: "Colonel, try to maintain a smooth pull on the trigger, otherwise it tends to shake at the moment of firing."

"Got it," Shire replied.

But it wasn’t Shire’s fault, the trigger was a bit heavy.

This was the characteristic of a revolver: pulling the trigger not only moves the hammer but also rotates the cylinder, making the trigger pull long and heavy, which wasn’t friendly to Shire, who was still a minor.

Reloading the revolver, an image flashed in Shire’s mind: in movies he often saw police shooting with both hands, would that suit him better?

Thinking this, Shire steadied the gun with his left hand on his right hand and pulled the trigger at the target.

"Bang bang, bang!"

Found the groove, two bullets hit the target.

After firing a few more rounds and emptying the remaining bullets, three hit the target, with one hitting the bullseye.

Shire felt a sense of continuity with this rapid shooting; if the first shot missed or was off, he subconsciously made a slight adjustment, as long as he didn’t chaotically squeeze the trigger like a machine gun, there was a feeling of controlling the rhythm.

Dominic, standing on the side, was quite astonished. After a while, he exclaimed, "Why, Colonel... why do you use such a shooting style?"

"Is there something wrong?" Shire asked, thinking his posture might be incorrect.

"No no, nothing wrong," Dominic replied. "It’s just that this method... it’s very novel. I’ve never seen this shooting posture before. Did you come up with it yourself?"

Then Shire understood that this era didn’t have this two-handed pistol shooting style; all they used was single-handed, Western cowboy style shooting.

(Note: The "Weaver stance" for two-handed pistol shooting emerged in 1959. A sheriff in California created this shooting stance to win a shooting competition, utterly outperforming those who hit targets out of sheer faith.)

"Sort of!" Shire felt a little guilty, adding, "It was a spur of the moment thing."

Dominic swallowed hard, looking at Shire with a strange glint in his eyes.

He was a gun tester, spent his entire life dealing with guns, and could see at once that this shooting posture had the advantages of small exposure, fast positioning, good stability, and great pointing accuracy.

This was especially suitable for the battlefield, where speed often meant survival.

And this, was unintentionally invented by Shire?

So far, he had only practiced for over half an hour, and had never shot a gun before!

Ironically, Dominic never thought of changing his stance all these years, always following the standard shooting posture, repeating over and over... frёeωebɳovel.com

Dominic felt baffled, wondering if he was too stupid or Shire too smart?

(The picture shows Weaver in the competition)

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