doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How to calculate felt recoil

Because it is my belief that peak recoil force (and not total recoil energy) is the most important factor in determining how much a shot hurts. And since the bullet accelerating (decelerating) into the plate happens so much faster than the acceleration of the bullet out of the barrel, the peak recoil force will be much more.


I in part believe this as a result of skimming a bunch of articles on the effects of padding in injury prevention. Where you find statements like these.
from
Kyu-Jung Kim, Ali M. Alian, William S. Morris, and Young-Hwa Lee
"Shock Attenuation of Various Protective Devices for Prevention of Fall-Related Injuries of the Forearm/Hand Complex"
Am. J. Sports Med., Apr 2006; 34: 637 - 643.

I have a bunch of such articles marked, now that my semester is over I hope to be able to get to them (except that it is hunting season, so maybe it will really not be until summer.) I cannot state confidently until I read some more, but I think that the literature shows that soft tissue damage in impact injuries involves thresholds of peak impact force. So as long as the peak impact is kept under a certain amount the total energy is less of an issue. This is why even very small changes in peak force(near threshold points) might result in a markedly different experience for the person receiving the impact....

In the Larry Nailon article I was more interested in the second page where he talks about things that cause variation in felt recoil. I thought some of the info about pressure, shot deformation, and so on could use some proof reading and clarification.

He mentions grip as a factor. The extreme might be a hip shooter taking all of the recoil with hands and arms. The exhibition shooter demo'ing the Xtrema II at Beretta's site holds it upside down over his head to shoot clays, and holds it with just one hand to shoot clays. I am curious if or how any of that could be factored into 'normal' shooting w/o causing other problems. Tightening the grip too much too soon is kind of like flinching.

I will agree that a tight grip with the forward hand, exerting pressure toward the muzzle, does decrease the impact on the shoulder. However, it is very unnatural and probably not the best way to control the gun. I tried it, accepted that it works, then abandoned the idea.