San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-09-23
SHOOTING PROBLEMS.
The Question of "Kicking" Guns,
and How the RecOii is Mea
sured.


and How the Recoii is Mea
sured.
From the Field.
To Military men, and the
mathematicians who have assisted in
their Investigations, from the days of
Tartaglia and Calico down to those
of the present generation. the world
at large is almost entirely indebted
for it's knowledge of the phenomena
connected with the passage OF the
projectiles through the air, and for
an Ineligible exposition of other
curious circumstances which result
from the employment of explosives in
firearms. Considering that the lead
ing purpose for which there arm have
been constructed has been of a mill
tary character, and that the Govern
ments of the many nations of the
earth nave Oeen striving to add to the
strength of their armies by increas-
ing the effectiveness OF their weapons,
it is Lot surprising that the expert
ments carried out have generally been
made with military arms, and that
comparatively little has been done
with tue guns used by sportsmen.
:
fled by sportsmeI offer much greater
facilities for the Investigation OF some
OF the phenomena connected with fire.
arms than do the military weapons
with which most experiments nave
been made. 1t is generally known,
OF course, that the speed of projectiles
is reduced by the resistance of the
air; but it is generally known that the
recoil of the gun is likewise greatly
Influenced by atmospheric resist lance.
1t is affected, however, in reverse
way; for the velocity of the shot falls
Oft, while the recoil OF the gun increa
SEES We have long been of opinion
that the formula framed for the esti-
nation of recoil fails to give an ade-
quate representation of the facts
The muzzle velocity and weight OF
shot are taken to represent the
amount of work in the gun; and
action reaction being equal, it is
assumed that the momentum of the
snot when 1t leaves the muzzle must
re equal to the M mentum of the gun
in the opposite direction. Any other
work which the powder may have
done, besides imparting speed to the
urojectile, is left out of consideration.
Yet such additional work is by no
means ali inapprecIa quantity. In
ordnance II may be less in proportion
lhan in small arms; but in the latter
there is commonly twice as much re-
coil as is Indicated by the formula,
and frequently a still larger amount.
The great difficulty we found at first
was 70 measure the actual force of the
recCil in q satisfactory way; out that
end we believe to have been fully
attained, so far as small arms are con-
cerned, by means OF mechanical rest
from which the gun is fired. Or
dinarily the gun, with the apparatus
to which it is affixed, recoil horizon
tally power to their sombined weight
but if there is any doubt as to the
proper action of the spring, the re-
g rds thus made can be checked by
others taken with the apparatus in u
vertical position. The spring being
then detached, the machine Is us
pended some distance a0ove ground
and the shot fired downward, when
me gun recoils against the force of
gravity: and he Vernier scale on Il 9
machine measuring the extent of IL 9
movement to fractions of an inch, tie
weight lifted and height of lift will
indicate the amount of work done.
; he results of experiments seem con-
clusively to show that the ordinary
estimates of recoil, framed without
regard to frictionol and atmospheric
resIs lance, are nearly as misleading
AS calculations of velocity of ascend
ing and descending shots, in which
the resistance of the air is left out of
consideration.