Recoil test project

700bdl870exp · 03-20-2006, 07:52 PM

hey for an upcoming science fair i was thinking of doing an experiment on felt recoil in slugs. i have decided id go with all remington slugs for the test at least to begin so that they are in a nut shell the same tho different types. im going to use regular rifled, high vel. rifled, and reduced rifled. but my question is does anyone really know a good way of testing the difference? What i have come up with so far is to take a piece of styrofoam and place it between my shoulder and the gun butt. will this work or do i need to change it? and if so either way what are different ways to do it and/or improve it? i think in the begining ill only stick to one brand but if i get it to work well and the shoulder can take it i may try federals or win or someothers. any comments or ideas very much appreciated!

bigbulls · 03-20-2006, 08:03 PM

Forget about the slugs as all of them will kick fairly hard.

If you have a 3" or 3.5" shotgun I would suggest starting out with something like 7/8ths ounce skeet loads then a standard field load, heavy field load, turkey load, 3" turkey load and then a 3.5" turkey load. This will give you a very wide spectrum of the recoil pulses from lightest to the heaviest.

Then you could calculate the actual free recoil energy with the various loads and place the recoil number with the corrosponding imprints of the butt of the gun. I would also place the foam, clay or what ever against a hard immovable surface like a wall. It will give much better imprints.

mauser06 · 03-20-2006, 09:54 PM

good idea!! i like bigbulls recomendation......to show people that though its all from a 12ga 20ga whatever you shot....that diffrent shells produce diffrent recoil......and you can explain why pretttttty easily......or to save money......do it with a couple diffrent guns instead of diffrent shells from the same gun.....like a deer rifle.....shot gun with a field load and a slug....a 22lr...a medium caliber....a BIG caliber if you can get your hands on one ect......depends on what you have to work with......depending on the foam....but hard packing foam probably wouldnt be THAT good to use....maybe some medium foam that will leave an imprint...i can see a packing foam block just shattering with a 12ga slug recoil.....or you can even forget the recoil.....and test something easy.....like muzzle velocity if you can find a conograph easily.....and i agree with bigbulls....if doing the recoil thing, id suggest something other then your shoulder.....maybe you know someone with a shooting sled type thing or something.....loooots of possibilities.......and you can explain it fairly easily...or someone here will be willing to help im sure.......if i can help explain or come up with ideas let me know......thats a GOOD project IMO...endless possibilities with a gun project.......also maybe a penetration test......man i wish i thought of this when i was in science fairs....but i was also in 5th and 6th grade i think......good luck!

JeffS · 03-20-2006, 10:24 PM

If you could come up with a pressure transducer you could actually record the recoil of each shell. You can find them fairly cheap and hook them up to a little digital display.

fornra@yahoo.com · 03-21-2006, 08:22 PM

Have you ever heard of a broken stock! Put it aganst a tree or a wall and you'll most likely have one; big no-no

bigbulls · 03-21-2006, 09:02 PM

Not if you place a piece of crushable foam or some other "stuff" between the stock and hard surface so the stock imprints it like he wants.

I would use a stock with a hard plastic butt plate or remove the recoil pad if the stock is solid (wood) and place it against the foam. This will leave a very defined imprint.

I would also use the fake flower green foam that you get from hobby stores. This stuff crushes well and the stock will cut good clean lines in it. Just make sure you get it pretty thick.

700bdl870exp · 03-22-2006, 09:57 PM

hey guys first off thanks for the advice. i refined my strategy a bit and made a rest from 2x6's andgot a box of potters type clay instead of stryofoam. (I guess i never thought of the flower foam,I'll get some and try it also.) This year i was going for the idea of felt recoil. last year i did velocity with a chrony and all the things to go with it and found that what they put on the box of shells isnt always very true. i know there are some variable in that too but some still kind of amaze me. i am still working on ideas for my felt recoil test but if you have any other ideas...they would be helpful. my science teacher is amazed that every year since 3rd grade ive been able to come up with a hunting/gun related project. o well i guess ill keep her guessing for next year eh. lol thanks again