I was out recently firing a friend's Sig 556. I forget what type of muzzle brake it had, but it wasn't factory standard. And it worked amazingly well.
Compared to other rifles chambered for 5.56 of .223, it had almost no kick. It almost felt like a .22LR. So I'm confused now.
As I understand it, recoil is just the conservation of linear momentum. In other words, the mass of all ejecta x the velocity of all ejecta = the mass of the firearm x its rearward acceleration during the recoil impulse.
Doesn't the bullet constitute the overwhelming majority of the mass of the ejecta? How could redirecting gases reduce recoil so much? If I remember my physics, the mass of the escaping gas must be equal to the substance that sublimates into that gas -- the mass of the powder equals the mass of the gas it produces when ignited. How much could the gas possibly weigh? The same phenomenon exists with some other weapons I can think of off the top of my head. Not that I've fired one personally, but I'm told that some .50BMG rifles recoil less than a 12 gauge shotgun because of the muzzle brake.
Also: I learned in a THR discussion not too long ago that the recoil impulse begins the moment the bullet is pushed forward by the ignition of the powder, and the only reason that recoil appears to start only once the bullet has left the muzzle is that the bullet leaves the barrel rather quickly. Now I'm reading that the escaping gas pushes the gun rearward. That seems to make sense, but again -- shouldn't that rearward push by only slight, because the gases have so little mass?
Help me out here.
Compared to other rifles chambered for 5.56 of .223, it had almost no kick. It almost felt like a .22LR. So I'm confused now.
As I understand it, recoil is just the conservation of linear momentum. In other words, the mass of all ejecta x the velocity of all ejecta = the mass of the firearm x its rearward acceleration during the recoil impulse.
Doesn't the bullet constitute the overwhelming majority of the mass of the ejecta? How could redirecting gases reduce recoil so much? If I remember my physics, the mass of the escaping gas must be equal to the substance that sublimates into that gas -- the mass of the powder equals the mass of the gas it produces when ignited. How much could the gas possibly weigh? The same phenomenon exists with some other weapons I can think of off the top of my head. Not that I've fired one personally, but I'm told that some .50BMG rifles recoil less than a 12 gauge shotgun because of the muzzle brake.
Also: I learned in a THR discussion not too long ago that the recoil impulse begins the moment the bullet is pushed forward by the ignition of the powder, and the only reason that recoil appears to start only once the bullet has left the muzzle is that the bullet leaves the barrel rather quickly. Now I'm reading that the escaping gas pushes the gun rearward. That seems to make sense, but again -- shouldn't that rearward push by only slight, because the gases have so little mass?
Help me out here.