The problem continues to be multiple uses of a word--"peak", "maximum", take your pick--that have the same meaning. And it's easy enough to convey precisely what one means, and precisely what the shooter wants to know, without using words that are synonymous--and therefore potentially confusing. Like this: "This load produces a peak pressure of 8,542 psi at 1.06 inches from the breech. At 6 inches, the pressure has decreased to 6,342 psi, and it has further decreased to 5,063 psi at 12 inches." Because all the shooter is interested in is the highest pressure at each of those points down the bore, it's UNDERSTOOD that those readings are "local peaks", if you will. Well, if he is interested in the "highest pressure" at a given location, I will accept use of "location peak", "location maximum," and/or "location highest pressure." We need to designate one as we need a term. "UNDERSTOOD?" I wasn't aware that all shooters had a common understand of this topic and a common need. But if you say that they're local peaks or maximums, then the reader may visualize that the pressure is rising again to reach those peaks, rather than steadily declining--which is what pressure does, in every graph I've ever seen. You go up to a peak and you come down from it. If you repeat peak or maximum, then the image you are projecting is like a range of mountains rather than the descending slope of a single mountain: coming down, then going back up, then coming down, then back up, etc.
A range of mountains, each peak slightly lower than the previous one, can look like that. Pressure within a gun barrel cannot. It's one continuous descent, from one peak. The rate of descent can certainly vary, but it's always headed in only one direction. If I place a strain gauge at any location ahead of the chamber, it will show a sudden pressure rise to barrel pressure as the wad passes and then a decline. The trace would show a clear peak and decline. So, one must make it very clear what part of the overall trace one is focusing on. What statement/term clarifys the difference between the overall trace and a location trace?
