Two phenomena that go hand in hand in shooting are gun recoil and accuracy. Finding the balance point to get the best results is hard work, which demands knowledge and lots of tests.
According to the conclusions of our engineering and development department, the recoil of spring and piston weapons, which makes their control more difficult and consequently their accuracy, results from the stiffness rate, in the case of coil springs, and the pressure curve, in the case of gas springs (Gas Ram).
GAS RAM
As for the gas ram, the pressure curve determines the effort to cock the airgun, as well as the energy generated by the gas piston and the recoil of the gun, and the crucial point to obtain the best performance from the airgun is to determine its application beforehand, i.e., whether for long-range shooting, where the higher energy is required or for mid-range shooting where accuracy and not the high energy is the shooter’s priotity.
The pressure curve defines the type of use of the airgun, so a steeper pressure curve results in more energy and a flatter pressure curve results in less recoil, but also with less energy and more effort to cock the airgun.
As an example, an air rifle equipped with a 40 kgf (approx. 88 lbf) Gas Ram that generates 10 Joules (7.37 ft-lb) of energy has less recoil than an rifle equipped with a 35 kgf (approx. 77 lbf) Gas Ram that also generates 10 Joules of energy. This occurs because to generate the same energy as 10 Joules (7.37 ft-lb), the Gas Ram of 40 kgf has a flatter pressure curve.
However, when the objective is to generate more energy, the pressure curve needs to be more accentuated, so, for example, it is possible to manufacture a Gas Ram of 40 kgf (88 lbf) that generates 14 or 16 Joules (10 or 12 ft-lb), but it will produce greater recoil than the Gas Ram of 40 kgf that generates only 10 Joules (7.37 ft-lb). Therefore, the conclusion is that the recoil is a result of the greater energy generated by the airgun. In these cases, we have airguns in the rapid compression and slow compression system, also classified as blowpipe and rapid expansion (popgun).
COIL SPRING
These phenomena occur in the same way in airguns equipped with a coil spring. The difference is that in this case, the airgun’s behavior depends on the spring stiffness rate, which should not be confused with the modulus of elasticity, as they are different factors.
So, in the case of the coil spring, the higher stiffness ratio also causes faster decompression and thus greater recoil, while the lower stiffness ratio results in less recoil of the airgun.
Therefore, it is necessary to apply the appropriate engineering knowledge to design and manufacture coil springs that meet the different conditions of use of the airgun, because, as we have already said, airguns for long-range shoooting where energy is the priority, act differently from from those airguns for target shooting at short or medium ranges, where minimal recoil is expected in order to facilitate the gun control by the shooter and so improving accuracy.
However, for high power airguns, to make the cocking effort more comfortable, we should choose a coil spring with a higher rate of stiffness or a Gas Ram with a higher pressure curve, which will result in some recoil, but with less effort to cock the airgun.
At QuickShot we are able to develop the Gas Ram or Coil Spring system that best suits the shooting conditions that each shooter is looking for.