Would it be practical?

Where is the recoil going?

What caliber?

.22? Already no recoil.

.223/5.56 NATO? Again, other options are available.

5.7? Already covered.

Now, something like 7.62x51 and higher...you might be getting somewhere

In that caliber, I do not see it being used in any military or police role. But there are not many niches left to fill in either of those groups. For hunting, I would love a more compact rifle for maneuvering, so I could definitely see that as a viable option if the design worked.

Competition-wise, I don't see it gaining popularity. The AR owns 3-gun competition, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

To maximize the effectiveness and practicality of the design, in my opinion the prototype should be based around a platform where normally the high recoil would make it a more prohibitive weapon. As Allaroundhunter pointed out, it wouldn't be a particularly innovative .22.

A practically recoil-less .308+ ... now you have my attention.

Already been done. I'll try to find the weapon I am remembering (can't remember the name or where the hell it was invented, damn old age). Basic design was based around a 7.62x51 NATO. The recoil was absorbed through a linkage system that had an "elbow" sort of contraption where the magazine normally would be. It absorbs a great amount of recoil and with the "elbow" focusing the recoil energy downward, it reduced muzzle rise a significant amount.

I remember seeing it on that Future Weapons T.V. show I believe. Saw the guy hit full auto on it and it looked like it was just as easy to handle as an M4. I was pretty darn impressed as I have handled a few 7.62's on full fun time and even a man of my size and strength found it very difficult to maintain control. I'll hit my T.V. show website and see if they have the Future Weapons online and see if I can track it down tomorrow. Burning DVD's for the Grandbaby and Daughter (Daughters B-Day is Monday but having her little party tomorrow) so I don't have resource to do video and conversion at the moment. I'll get on it in the morning for you though as I am curious now too (damnit)

Edit: Curiosity got the best of me. The one I saw on Future Weapons was the Kriss Sub Machine Gun in .45ACP. I saw another one VERY similar to the Kriss that was chambered in 7.62 NATO but I can't for the life of me remember what I saw it on. The design was almost identical.

The Skorpion pistol also uses an angular linkage to help reduce recoil.

It might have reduced "felt" recoil, but, boys, you can't beat physics. If there are gasses and a bullet coming out the front end, bounce it around all you want inside, but there'll be some recoil out the back.

caveat; I suppose you might have enough parts deflecting around to lose some of the recoil energy to friction, but that would mean, ultimately, a weapon that became pretty warm when you shot it. Energy is conserved.

You can use up energy with all kinds of extra motion inside the gun, but if the bullet and gases go straight out the front, the exact amount of momentum is going to move the gun straight back. Mass times velocity of the bullet, etc., equals the mass times velocity of the gun. You can’t fight old Isaac.

BronsonPage said:

You can use up energy with all kinds of extra motion inside the gun, but if the bullet and gases go straight out the front, the exact amount of momentum is going to move the gun straight back. Mass times velocity of the bullet, etc., equals the mass times velocity of the gun. You can’t fight old Isaac.

Click to expand...

Yes, but it can be dispersed to the point that it isn't felt very much. Trying to do it with a .308 caliber rifle could lead to quite a cumbersome design, but I suppose it is possible.

Is the trigger going to suck?

Sounds like the KRISS action, which redirects recoil in a different direction.

http://www.kriss-tdi.com/products/technology-overview.html

http://www.kriss-tdi.com/products/kriss-smg-45-acp.html

rc

And just for sake of throwing it out there, the Nikonov AN-94 assault rifle has the whole action slide backwards inside an outer shell during burst-fire.