barnbwt
member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2011
- Messages
- 7,340
It seems there's a lot of folks out there who don't quite understand how a bump stock works. More importantly, many of them seem to mistakenly believe they can be differentiated from auto-loading firearms. This is a dangerous misunderstanding, considering the nation appears set on recklessly banning bump fire by any means possible.
Bump-firing devices, from stocks, to belt-loops, to your own fat gut, are all recoil operated devices. That is to say, they use some portion of the projectile's momentum to reset the action back into the firing condition. If this sounds familiar, that's because it is; practically all semi-automatic handguns operate on a very similar principle.
Upon ignition, the bullet accelerates rapidly down the barrel. Action being met by opposite reaction, the whole firearm begins moving in the opposite direction at a much slower rate. However, human flesh, wrists, shoulders, and torsos are not perfectly rigid objects. Thus, the firearm is able to shift to the rear under recoil. This is the first portion of the bump fire 'cycle.'
Provided the trigger travel is light and short enough (i.e. not a big bag of garbage dragged down a gravel road) the distance the firearm recoils into the shooter exceeds that needed to reset the trigger sear. Provided the moving parts of the firearm cycle faster than the shooter's body rocks back and forth (they all do), the bolt will return to battery with the next cartridge before the shooter returns to their starting location. These two facts combine to enable bump fire, which is simply the bolt carrier returning forward faster than the much-heavier gun bouncing off the shooter while their finger is held stationary.
Shot fires, gun moves back along with trigger far enough that the sear resets as the gun cycles. Gun bounces off the shooter, right smack into their trigger finger, still held in the flexed position. A second shot fires. Bounce and repeat.
Clearly, the system as a whole resembles a machine gun since no additional logical decision is necessary to stop the gun from firing (a dude with rigor-mortis could bump fire if someone jostles the gun to get the process rolling). But here's the thing; there's a person as the critical component of that machine gun; you are the auto sear. Same as any other time you've used a repeating firearm, or frankly, any firearm at all including a muzzle loader. In those cases, you are simply taking on an additional number of mechanical roles to perform intentional repeating fire.
That's how 'basic' bump fire operates, and here's where the bump stock comes in. As you may imagine, we all have different body weight, size, muscle tone, tendon strength, etc. These are just the human factors that all impact the dynamics of bump fire. A bump stock normalizes but does not bypass or negate these factors by simply allowing the firearm to recoil freely a short distance relative to the shooter. It's basically a loose buttstock and pistol grip. However, the small amount of free movement means the initial portion of the recoil cycle that takes the trigger off the shooter's finger is more consistent and predictable. If you flex your pectoral muscle, it won't change the rate of fire or chance of successful repetition nearly as much as if you are doing basic bump fire.
A bump stock is performing the same function as a lighter, crisper trigger; removing some portion of difficult technique from a shot so imperfect form will not be as disruptive. Moreover, any semi-auto that operates on recoil (all autoloaders are powered by expanding powder gasses in the bore) can be bump fired, unless the trigger is unusually heavy or has extremely long travel. There is no way to irreversibly slow operation of the bolt carrier enough for the firearm to bounce back onto the shooter's finger, and allow a bump fire.
A ban on bump-fire is a ban on all semi-auto actions. This should honestly not be all that surprising, considering the widespread calls for the banning of all semi-auto firearms in the wake of the recent shooting.
Bump-firing devices, from stocks, to belt-loops, to your own fat gut, are all recoil operated devices. That is to say, they use some portion of the projectile's momentum to reset the action back into the firing condition. If this sounds familiar, that's because it is; practically all semi-automatic handguns operate on a very similar principle.
Upon ignition, the bullet accelerates rapidly down the barrel. Action being met by opposite reaction, the whole firearm begins moving in the opposite direction at a much slower rate. However, human flesh, wrists, shoulders, and torsos are not perfectly rigid objects. Thus, the firearm is able to shift to the rear under recoil. This is the first portion of the bump fire 'cycle.'
Provided the trigger travel is light and short enough (i.e. not a big bag of garbage dragged down a gravel road) the distance the firearm recoils into the shooter exceeds that needed to reset the trigger sear. Provided the moving parts of the firearm cycle faster than the shooter's body rocks back and forth (they all do), the bolt will return to battery with the next cartridge before the shooter returns to their starting location. These two facts combine to enable bump fire, which is simply the bolt carrier returning forward faster than the much-heavier gun bouncing off the shooter while their finger is held stationary.
Shot fires, gun moves back along with trigger far enough that the sear resets as the gun cycles. Gun bounces off the shooter, right smack into their trigger finger, still held in the flexed position. A second shot fires. Bounce and repeat.
Clearly, the system as a whole resembles a machine gun since no additional logical decision is necessary to stop the gun from firing (a dude with rigor-mortis could bump fire if someone jostles the gun to get the process rolling). But here's the thing; there's a person as the critical component of that machine gun; you are the auto sear. Same as any other time you've used a repeating firearm, or frankly, any firearm at all including a muzzle loader. In those cases, you are simply taking on an additional number of mechanical roles to perform intentional repeating fire.
That's how 'basic' bump fire operates, and here's where the bump stock comes in. As you may imagine, we all have different body weight, size, muscle tone, tendon strength, etc. These are just the human factors that all impact the dynamics of bump fire. A bump stock normalizes but does not bypass or negate these factors by simply allowing the firearm to recoil freely a short distance relative to the shooter. It's basically a loose buttstock and pistol grip. However, the small amount of free movement means the initial portion of the recoil cycle that takes the trigger off the shooter's finger is more consistent and predictable. If you flex your pectoral muscle, it won't change the rate of fire or chance of successful repetition nearly as much as if you are doing basic bump fire.
A bump stock is performing the same function as a lighter, crisper trigger; removing some portion of difficult technique from a shot so imperfect form will not be as disruptive. Moreover, any semi-auto that operates on recoil (all autoloaders are powered by expanding powder gasses in the bore) can be bump fired, unless the trigger is unusually heavy or has extremely long travel. There is no way to irreversibly slow operation of the bolt carrier enough for the firearm to bounce back onto the shooter's finger, and allow a bump fire.
A ban on bump-fire is a ban on all semi-auto actions. This should honestly not be all that surprising, considering the widespread calls for the banning of all semi-auto firearms in the wake of the recent shooting.
