Supposedly the merc. accelerates slower than the rifle under recoil, absorbing some of the recoil impulse. I like them, others don't.

How do mercury supressors work? From a physics perspective I can't figure out how they are better than just adding an equal amount of weight to a rifle.

In order for them to work properly, should the mercury be in the front or back of the tube?

Followup question: What happens to the benefit when you shoot uphill/downhill and the mercury changes position?

Rick.

I dislike them as they add weight to the gun, a pound or more, and they also weaken the stock by having to drill it IMO...but the worst thing is they throw the rifle out of balance and balance is very important to me..I like a muzzle heavy rifle or off hand shooting.

As far as I am concerned the only logical way to control recoil is with a muzzle brake..they are not particularly pretty and they are loud, but big bore rifles are loud and with or without a brake they will deminish your hearing to one degree or another, unless you use ear protection...

I only have one rifle with a brake and I only use the brake at the range when testing (a 338 Win.) and it came that way, but it sure is nice to shoot...

I am not particularly recoil sensitive until you get to the 458 Lott or 470 and up and I can cope with any of them if I have to, just don't enjoy it. There are days that I cannot tollerate it.

Go to C&H Research - Mercury Recoil Reducers and check them out for yourself. I use them in all of my rifles from .340 Weatherby up to .450 Rigby. Why, because they work, PERIOD. Doesn't matter what angle you are shooting at either. The added weight is only 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound. In rifles like the Ruger M77 Magnum, which are actually barrel heavy, it makes them balance a whole lot better(I have three of them(.375 H&H, .416 Rigby and .450 Rigby)). They work so well that most professional trap, skeet and sporting shooters use them. And you can�t beat the price. Lawdog

Quote:

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The liquid mercury is stationary when the trigger is pulled. The rifle will recoil rearwards some distance (maybe an inch) when the end of the mercury tube will slam against the stationary mercury liquid. The stationary mercury liquid, about a pound and a half of it in this case, has inertia which must be overcome by the movement of the rifle. Overcoming the inertial of the mercury uses up some of the recoil energy of the rifle, decreasing felt recoil

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Just like that 1.5 pound slug of lead you placed in the buttstock has inertia that the rifle's recoil must overcome!

Remember the old saying about a fool and his money. Lead shot is far cheaper and less toxic than mercury. Sorry, but this one ranks up there with cryogenic heat treating SAE4140 steel rifle barrels!

Suppose we vented a little gas from the barrel just under the forward tip of the forend, and had it drive a 3500 grain (8 OZ) "piston" aft at a peak velocity of 300 fps. According to Sir Issac Newton, this would completely cancel out the recoil of a 350 gr slug exiting the muzzle at 3000 fps. The piston could be returned to the forward position by a dampened spring after the piston has been slowed by compressed air that vents. This could take even LESS gas than a typical semi-auto because the piston would only have to move about an inch to accelerate to 300 fps.

If the piston is .500 inches in diameter, it would take only the energy of 0.40 grains of typical propellant to net the 70 ft-lbs of kinetic energy necessary to get 300 fps from a 3500 gr "projectile". Although the kinetic energy is less than a 22 short, the momentum of the 3500 gr piston is huge. Note that the 70 ft-lbs of negative kinetic energy matches up pretty well with the 70 ft-lbs one might expect from a pretty hard kicking rifle.The bbl lug or lugs just need to work in both directions.

However, I think your scope might be demolished. But for a DG rifle with iron sights, its no problem.

I would like to hear more on this subject. Are there differences in brands? Installation considerations? Where do you recommend to buy them?

Sabot,

Your "system" is VASTLY different than the mercury recoil reducer. By the way, many machine guns have similar recoil damping systems from their operating mechanisms. The issue with your system is that there is a time lag between the bullet's recoil and the counter-recoil device you have described. Because of this phenomena, you still feel a bullet "kick" then you feel a damping (drawn out deceleration of the bullet's "kick") from the cyclinder, and finally you get pushed again by the return spring (commonly referred to as a recoil spring in a machine gun) pushing the cylinder home.

ASS_CLOWN