Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
If the weapons have the same muzzle energy, they will also have the same amount of recoil. The recoil might be different through, normal firearms have a really high peak in the beginning, with a railgun you could get the same acceleration (g-force) through the whole length of the barrel and not get this peak. A railgun could have an more even, more stretched out recoil that makes it feel weaker and puts less strain on the body.(The same recoil, but less 'kick')
edited 1st Oct '13 2:10:58 AM by m8e
Crazy Kiwi
The expelled gases from the burning powder add a little to the recoil of a conventional gun but not so much that its lack would make the railgun significantly lower in recoil. Most of the kick is the expelling of the projectile at speed.
So I could tone down the force a bit in addition to the more drown out recoil. To compensate for the slight loss of force i could also use flechette style rounds for my shells. That should still have some effective stopping power right? I might have it set up so the level of force can be adjusted since it's magnets and not gunpowder. Reinforce the fist of the gauntlet with an exoskeleton to absorb impact, and then he could take out two guys at once by using a backwards firing shot as propulsion for his fist.
Anyone have any thoughts for whether i should use a gun with a joint or one with multiple barrels?
I know that the force isn't applied the same way on both ends, or else every time a gun was fired the shooter would feel the force of being shot. It's true that the butt of the gun spreads out the impact, but I do not think thats enough for equal force on both ends to be effective. If the butt of a gun traveled at the same velocity of a bullet and hit you, I'd think it would do more damage than a rifle butt actually does.
Now I'm confusing myself.
Crazy Kiwi
The gun is way heavier than the projectile, so it doesn't kick back at anywhere near the same speed as the bullet departs.
The bullet's force is concentrated on a small cross-section and it is travelling at a tremendous clip. The rifle stock has a larger cross-section and it's not going anything close to the speed of the bullet.
Also, when you're holding the weapon, you've got it properly braced (if you know what's good for you) so its force is being applied to you in a way that transfers fluidly to your body, causing it to recoil appropriately.
The bullet smashes into the target suddenly.
If you held a .308 rifle about a quarter-inch from your shoulder and pulled the trigger, your experience would be a lot more painful and potentially damaging than if you had it properly braced against your shoulder.
Says the guy whose collarbone is permanently deformed as a result of failing to properly shoulder a .30-30 lever action (nowhere near as powerful as a .308).
edited 1st Oct '13 5:02:33 AM by Wolf1066
I'll take what you and m8e said into consideration. Though i think i may have found a more sound idea.
Ok there are a few things I want to check the physics on. In my sci-fi world rail guns have been miniaturized. They certainly don't have the bullet velocity of one of the giant railguns we see today on experimental ships and what not, but they do excel at bullet velocity a bit better than regular conventional fire arms. While the problem of electricity has been solved via Minovski Particle, I'm wondering what the recoil would be like on a miniaturized rail gun.
My friend tells me the recoil should be next to nothing since it's a rail gun, but I'm not sure thats the case, if it is, I am wondering if that would make the concept of a shotgun gauntlet more plausible. But wait, before you say "just use a gun" there's more.
The shotgun gauntlet would, in concept, either have a joint, or have multiple barrels so that it could not only fire forward (out towards where-ever the fist is facing), but also backwards, sideways, or somewhere in between these areas. This isn't exactly practical I know, but this is a personalized piece of technology for my character who has control of a pocket dimension from which he can pull out objects and equipment. The concept is that in a CQC battle, the character would equip the gauntlets (2) from his pocket dimension and then grab a knife, or a sword or something and begin swinging. If they missed they could fire the barrel facing the appropriate angle and shoot the target with a shotgun blast.
This is where the railgun's supposed low recoil comes in, it would supposedly prevent the gauntlet from breaking the characters arm. Any thoughts on this? I'm trying to decide exactly how plausible the idea is in a sci-fi setting. Would rail gun technology reduce the recoil? If so, would it be better to have a barrel with a joint that could quickly point the correct angle for a shot, or would it be better to have multiple barrels pointing at different angles?