Originally posted by Meia Gisborn:
Not quite true.
When the powder in the chambered cartridge is ignited, the
expanding gases push equally in all directions. The
projectile is pushed into the rifling and begins its journey down
the barrel bore. At this point, the expanding gases are pushing
equally against the
breechface and the base of
the advancing projectile (which is still physically in contact with
the barrel). Both forces cancel each other out and the firearm
remains immobile.
Thus, there is no felt recoil as the projectile is being propelled
down the barrel. [b]Recoil only begins at the point the projectile
exits the barrel. When the projectile leaves the barrel,
two things happen:
1. The projectile no longer exerts a forward drag on the barrel to
counter the force of the gases pushing back against the breechface,
and
2. The expanding gases are vented forcefully out the front of the
barrel.
On a semi-auto pistol, the entire slide now starts moving rearward
against the pressure of the recoil spring to begin the recoil
cycle. The spent case is extracted from the chamber, hits the
ejector and is thrown clear; the slide hits the rear stop in the
frame and the compressed recoil spring expands to push the slide
forward into battery, stripping the topmost cartridge from the
magazine and chambering it in the process. This completes the
recoil cycle and the pistol is once again ready to be fired.
There is some high-speed footage shot by a German researcher
illustrating what I've written above. I'll try to locate and post a
link to it later today.
MG
[/b]
Very clear and detailed explanation! Thanks! Would love to see
the footage.