Does recoil perform a necessary function (beyond recoil-operated actions, obviously).
My question: If we were to take a dozen .50 BMG rifles and weld them into a steel frame, and that steel frame is bolted rigidly to a concrete floor, and there is no system in place designed to absorb or otherwise take issue with recoil, when we fire off all of the rifles in unison, will the machine break?
Thanks,
Kerodin
III
Assuming your mechanical engineer builds it strong enough there will some minor flexing of the mount, some sheering forces on the concrete bolts. In actual fact nothing should break and the momentum is transferred to the earth. Where the earth will pretty much ignore it.
ReplyDeletebob
The idea sounds similar to a weapon called Metal Storm. A gun I believe is solid mounted. The rate of fire is unbelievable and creates a wall of projectiles.
ReplyDeleteRedWulf
Thanks Erin.
ReplyDeleteK
How does a recoilless rifle work? I've seen pictures and they seem to vent the propellant gasses and pressure to the rear, eliminating most of the recoil.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Recoilless_Rifle.png
Couldn't the same concept be applied to your evil and racist multi-barreled .50 cal.?
ReplyDeleteHere's an exapmle of the math question: If a BMG has a muzzle energy of 12,000 pound-feet, and a muzzle velocity of 2400 fps, the conversion to pound feet of energy is 9591, so the cradle would need to withstand the torque energy times 12, plus 15% for the safety factor, which is 122,364.08
Here are some useful links for this question:
http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/50-bmg-ultimate-big-bore/
http://thefiringline.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-428529.html
http://reloadammo.com/footpound2.htm
If you put the frame on a rolling chassis, that would give the energy transfer a less felt path to travel, but a solid mount would probably need to be the size of a full size truck to handle this.
As long as none of the structural parts exceed their elastic limit, the structure will flex then spring back to it's original shape. Fatigue is a factor (think bending a paper clip until it breaks) and is dependent on the material. Aluminum, for instance, constantly fatigues and that is a limiting factor in the service life of an aluminum aircraft. You have to design for the number of expected stress cycles and the long term effect on the useable strength of the material after that many stress cycles. That's one reason why steel is used for things like bridges that take repeated cyclic loads - the limiting fatigue strength declines to a set value, unlike the example of aluminum which continues to lose strength as it cycles. If you build it strong enough the useful life of the structure can be infinite, for all practical purposes. If size and weight aren't a factor, just build it hell for stout and it will never be an issue.
ReplyDeleteVJ
the mechanism and mount designed to handle a dozen .50 BMG rounds would of course be possible. A dozen .50's would not generate the same recoil as say a 155 howitzer. there is a of a mechanism that can handle that recoil, so it is quite feasible a mechanism for a dozen 50's could be fabricated. Erinyes is dead on in his assertions.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is would it be practical? What's the benefit. Example, what could a dozen .50's do that an 81mm mortar could not.
There are many possibilities that could evolve now that I have an answer to the basic question. What could such a rig do that a mortar could not? Well, for instance, a gun company could legally build a multi-barrel magazine(s) fed, remotely targeted and triggered weapon system that could throw a wall of jacketed lead down range that would make things go away...just as an example.
ReplyDeleteUnleash the imagination, mount such a rig on a few Panhard VBLs from our friendly Swiss merchants, and we could roll out to help our friends in St Maries or Coeur d'Alene, if needed.
Think of a very serious shotgun...
K
Just the quad fifties on deuce and a halfs in Vietnam would take care of much more than foliage.
ReplyDelete