szihn
(.400 member)
14/09/19 01:47 AM
Re: On subject of smoothbore vs rifled felt recoil

I make and restore muzzleloaders to earn about 90% of my living and I have a few decades of experience. I also have been a barrel maker in the past and so I have some experience in both the making of barrels and the loading and shooting of them
So here are the facts:

The faster the twist is in a barrel the more resistance it is going to create between the forward movements of the ball or bullet in relation to it's powder charge.

If the rifling is very slow the difference is very slight, but you can feel some difference between two guns of the same weight with one having a twist of about 1 in 40" to one that has a very long twist,(say 1-96") or no rifling at all.

HOWEVER as a rule, smooth bore guns were made with lighter barrels.

Making a gun of the same bore diameter as another that you compare it to, but with one gun weighing a noticeable amount less is ALWAYS going to make the light gun kick more if the ball weight and powder charge is the same in both.

So the scientific fact that a rifled gun is going to develop more recoil is usually off-set by the fact that in most cases, 2 guns of the same bore size will show that the smooth bored gun is lighter.

In a smoothbore you need no extra wall thickness to cut grooves into, but also, the styling of smooth bores (Fowlers for the most part) was different then rifles in the old days so in the real world, given 2 guns of equal bore, the rifle kicks less, not more, if the power charge and projectile weight is the same in each.

In many cases the power charge of a rifle is greater then it is in a smooth bore, so the real world often shows that any rifle that kicks harder then a smooth bore is because of heavier projectile weight and/or powder charge, not so much the fact it's rifled.



Contact Us NitroExpress.com

Powered by UBB.threads™ 6.5.5


Home | Ezine | Forums | Links | Contact


Copyright 2003 to 2011 - all rights reserved