Mercury recoil reducers?

NavyShooter

NavyShooter

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Goodday all,

Came across a shop here that had a little pile of mercury recoil reducers....I decided to grab one. $40.... seemed like a good idea to me at the time.

Who has experience with them, and how best to set them up in a bolt-gun?

Should I mill out a slot in the fore-end and insert it there? Or should it reside in the butt-stock?

It's a 13 ounce one.

Thanks,

NS
 
Got a buddy who put two mercury comps in his Ruger 45-70 lever gun and it significantly reduced the felt recoil. The gunsmith installed them in the butt stock of the rifle. I thought it was BS till I tried it before and after.
 
They are used mostly on trap guns....whenever I pick up a gun with one and put it up to my shoulder I can feel the mercury sloshing around!
 
NavyShooter said:
Goodday all,

Came across a shop here that had a little pile of mercury recoil reducers....I decided to grab one. $40.... seemed like a good idea to me at the time.

Who has experience with them, and how best to set them up in a bolt-gun?

Should I mill out a slot in the fore-end and insert it there? Or should it reside in the butt-stock?

It's a 13 ounce one.

Thanks,

NS
Click to expand...

The biggest advantage to them is the 13 ounces of weight they add... where to place it ? ... where to you want 13 ounces added for balance? Where ever you place it, it has to be held solidly so there is absolutely no movement.
 
NavyShooter said:
Goodday all,

Came across a shop here that had a little pile of mercury recoil reducers....I decided to grab one. $40.... seemed like a good idea to me at the time.

Who has experience with them, and how best to set them up in a bolt-gun?

Should I mill out a slot in the fore-end and insert it there? Or should it reside in the butt-stock?

It's a 13 ounce one.

Thanks,

NS
Click to expand...

Gord Ogg has played with them for a couple seasons... he might have some comments...
 
I have them in several rifles. The seem to take about 35% of the recoil away from the shoulder.
I have had my gun maker place them inside the buttstock on all of mine. Interestingly where they are located will make a HUGE difference in how the rifle feels and points, most of mine are located low in the stock to help balance out for the big scopes I tend to use. Also having them mounted as far to the right side as possible seems to help me keep my rifle from canting on quick shots. I still depend on my scope level for shots where I have set up time.
Nicest thing about them is the rifle does not get noisier, like a brake does, just heavier.
KK
 
So what's more effective at reducing recoil? A 13 Oz mercury reducer, or just 13Oz of lead poured into the butt of the stock?
 
I got one in my 375 RUM and it has really helped with the felt recoil. mine is stuffed into the butt stock of the african contour HS Precision stock I had built
 
prosper said:
So what's more effective at reducing recoil? A 13 Oz mercury reducer, or just 13Oz of lead poured into the butt of the stock?
Click to expand...

Not much difference...the weight is a big part of it... but the movement of the mercury within the designed reducer takes a little of the bite out of it... plus the effect it has on the shooters mind.
 
I have tried it both with just weight and the mercury filled suppressors, and find the mercury filled suppressors work better for recoil reduction, the mercury moves forward under recoil, the weight just moves with the gun.
KK
 
... 'Had one installed in a Remington 870 that I was shooting heavily , with SSGs . Helped a bit, recoil didn't seem to be as "sharp" . .. on the 870 it was an easy installation, just undo the butt pad and jam it in ! ... David K.
 
Very interesting replies.

I'm definitely not an expert in this area but I believe that when most people talk about recoil, they talk about felt recoil. There are two important components to recoil with one being the recoil energy in ft-lb and the recoil velocity or probably more correctly the recoil acceleraton.

What is usually felt by shooters is the recoil velocity/acceleration.

There are basic functions that will calculate both of these components and one of the more important factor is the weight of the firearm. In recoil, the energy has to be absorbed by something wether it be your shoulder, accelerating the mass of your rifle, compressing a spring in a semi-automatic gun, etc. And, with all things being equal, if we can reduce the recoil energy we will at the same time reduce the recoil velocity.

This brings us to the question as to whether mercury does absorb recoil energy and by doing so will reduce recoil velocity. Just the weight of the mercury will definitely reduce recoil energy but will it reduce it further by packaging it in a container not quite full. I believe that what might take place is that the weight of the mercury is a delayed recoil absorber by moving relative to the gun during the initial phase of the recoil and becoming a factor later on - we would be talking here about milliseconds at the most. This would spread the energy and by doing this would reduce the felt recoil.

My humble assessment,

Duke1

PS. A lot of background information on this subject can be found on the internet including: http://www.john-ross.net/recoil.htm and http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm
 
Last edited:
prosper said:
So what's more effective at reducing recoil? A 13 Oz mercury reducer, or just 13Oz of lead poured into the butt of the stock?
Click to expand...


As point of interest ... Lead floats in Mercury.

NormB
 
prosper said:
Actually, I think lead dissolves in mercury
Click to expand...
It does but it takes a long time.I equate the mercury reducers to similarities in semi autos. The moving parts eat up some of the recoil the same as the moving mercury. I installed a 13 oz one in the forestock of my rifle but I haven't tried it out yet.
 
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