The powder burning pushes the bullet forward and the rifle backwards. Sir Newton made sure of that, can't have one without the other. When the still expanding gases reach the atmosphere there is a brief instant when the gases are trying to push the atmosphere out of the way and there is another recoil impulse from the rocket effect. This can harnessed be rapidly stopping the gases with a moderator or forcing them to turn an abrupt corner in a muzzle brake. If Newton was still around and was a shooter he'd have another law about brakes turning gunpowder into noise.
What causes recoil
- Thread starter St Pauli
- Start date
Keep in mind guys that weight in the recoil calculation must include the bullet weight plus the powder weight, and technically the weight of the primer compound as well if you want to be precise.
You could technically compare twice as much low energy powder to the recoil of half as much powder with twice the energy, and the low energy powder would have more recoil because the powder itself is heavier, even though the velocity of the bullet in both cases would be identical.
You could technically compare twice as much low energy powder to the recoil of half as much powder with twice the energy, and the low energy powder would have more recoil because the powder itself is heavier, even though the velocity of the bullet in both cases would be identical.
New Camper
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lurking in the woods near SFRC.
Most likely my guess is wrong and I probably was vague with what I was alluding to. Yes, primer compound and powder can all be weighed but during the chemical process in burning these masses they turn into a flaming fireball of hot, expanding gas. If it were possible to recapture those gases as they existed as the bullet precisely leaves the barrel, weigh them will those gases weigh the same as the original powder and primer mixture. That situation would be the maximum recoil but not all the gases leave the barrel with the bullet thus contributing to the peak felt recoil... all gases leaving after peak would be plenty but with the most recoil culminating at bullet departure anything after while still technically recoil is during a decrescendo and cannot possibly contribute to the peak felt recoil.
Also the weight of the air occupying bore capacity in front of the bullet is being accelerated. It's very complicated this... and probably akin to the greek past time of debating how many spirits can stand on the tip of a pin.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Ha! I am quite sure this phenomenon has been measured and metered to the nth degree in Ballistic labs like Sierra and others - but really - just plain experience says that a 50 grain powder charge behind a 150 grain 7mm bullet (in a 7x57 Mauser) is going to have much less recoil than a 72 grain powder charge behind a 250 grain bullet (338 Win Mag). Recoil being a rear-ward force - getting your face smashed all to hell by a rising comb, getting your ear drums blown out by the "report", is not "recoil" - that is poor fit, poor equipment - but some many folk talk about how vicious the recoil is from their 30/30, or their 303 British, without ever having experienced a full house 416 Rigby or a 460 Weatherby.
