Steve,I should have said,"excessive head space is a possible cause for excessive recoil."
In answer to your question; I would refer you to the, "Gun Book,"by Gough Thomas, pages 243 --247.The chapter is entitled ,"shotgun head space and excessive recoil." Thomas states that the maximum clearance between the head surface of the shell and the breech face of a British gun shoud not exceed.016 inches. Higher amounts lead to increased recoil due to the release of kinetic energy as the shell moves to contact the breech face; this resultant force translates into an increase in recoil.The article details a simple experiment,that eliminated the excessive recoil on a problem gun. Aluminum foil was glued to the heads of 10 cartridges to reduce head clearance to the allowed limit.These shells were test fired in the problem gun.The result being; recoil reduced to acceptable levels.
Last edited by Roy Hebbes; 02/20/11 09:14 PM.
