The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Is the impact of being hit by a bullet the same as the recoil felt by the shooter?

the_pragmaticist · December 17, 2009, 02:09 PM

and re: Chris in VA:

Torque is a measure of rotational force, so it's not quite the right term here. However, blocking a firearm such that it's unable to move would be the equivilent of making its weight infinite. There is a diminishing return in raising the weight of a firearm as most of the energy of the blast is transferred to the bullet anyway due to the large ratio.

In the above example, of 21 fractions of the total energy of the system, 20 went to the bullet and 1 went to the gun. If you doubled the weight of the gun, you could raise that to 20.5 and .5. If you made the gun infinitely heavy (I.E., secured it to a wall), you could transfer all 21 units to the round. The momentum of the round would increase by the same percentage.

December 17, 2009, 02:09 PM	#11
the_pragmaticist Senior Member Join Date: April 29, 2008 Posts: 201	and re: Chris in VA: Torque is a measure of rotational force, so it's not quite the right term here. However, blocking a firearm such that it's unable to move would be the equivilent of making its weight infinite. There is a diminishing return in raising the weight of a firearm as most of the energy of the blast is transferred to the bullet anyway due to the large ratio. In the above example, of 21 fractions of the total energy of the system, 20 went to the bullet and 1 went to the gun. If you doubled the weight of the gun, you could raise that to 20.5 and .5. If you made the gun infinitely heavy (I.E., secured it to a wall), you could transfer all 21 units to the round. The momentum of the round would increase by the same percentage.