Hi Chuck:
Your theory about the recoiling shotgun barrels brings me to something that I saw in the 50's. Winchester gave away small books with a large amount of charts, pictures, and other forms of visual medial free via gun dealers. One thing that I remember well was the article about recoil. They posted high speed photos of how guns recoiled upon firing. The test was done with a model 94 if I am correct. The pictures showed that there was NO muzzle movement until after the projectile LEFT THE BARREL!
I was too young at the time to understand why this was happening, but I took their word that it was true. After all, there were the photos to prove it was true. If this were true back then, then it still must be true today! Since then I have seen more photos, that supported this idea.
I had it expained by an "expert" that recoil was caused by the air rushing back into the barrel to fill the space vacated by the burning powder and the bulllet. This "expert" also claimed that this was the reason that muzzles became bell shaped after many round had been fired. It was caused by the erosive effect of the air reentering the gun.I did not accept this at the time and still do not. How does one become a gun "expert"?
In any case, Have a great Holiday Season.
Franchi
