More thoughts...
Why did my new HW90 give me recoil shock when I first got to using it? I mean, I was greatly tempted to flinch and I thought I was past those days -- haha!
It was that strong it actually hurt my shoulder sometimes. Why? So glad you asked! The whole gun weighs about 9lbs, 7oz, not 8 pounds something as in the ads. Others will confirm this. 6.5 lbs in the action and about 3 lbs in the stock. Now, when you have a stock which has a somewhat loose front to rear fit, it acts more like a light car getting rear-ending by a much heavier car. Imagine your heavy Lexus LS400 slamming into a stopped Kia at half its weight. What happens is the Kia will be launched like a still baseball being hit by the bat. The initial rearward recoil I felt was due to this phenomenon. Remember the old newtonian principle that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and how we used to see the demonstration in school of those 5 hanging ball bearings to prove the point. The initial recoil of the 6.5lb action slams into the motionless 3lb stock and it, in turn, whacks the heck out of my shoulder. Now, after glass bedding the action to the stock, when the initial rearward jolt is launched by the forward piston release, the 3lb stock no longer acts like a separate thing. It is rather like having the baseball glued to the bat -- no whack, just added weight to slow down the action and reduce it's impact into your shoulder by spreading out the impact over time since it is moving slower, thus making more time. I can't yet prove it, but I think this slower rearward movement of the "glued" 3lb stock and 6.5lb action allows enough time that the opposite deceleration-induced shock of the piston slamming into the front of the receiver, which quickly reverses rearward shock to an instantaneous stop and then a strong forward jump, happens or starts WHILE the combined stock/action is still slowly moving rearwards, stopping most of the felt impact before it has time to impact your shoulder. So, two benefits to reducing recoil by glass bedding the action on a springer -- adding the weight of the stock to the action which slows it, giving the forward slam time to "catch-up" to the rearward recoiling stock/action glued combo AND in place of the stock acting like the baseball hit by the bat to then sting your glove (shoulder, in this case), it slows the whole thing down to feel less impactful. And in the case of the HW90, there is a serious gap just behind the receiver which allows the receiver to move rearward which is also why every single screw on my gun came loose and even loctite blue hardly worked, not at 26 bar pressure anyway. Now, I am very pleased with how the HW90 feels and it's giving me 24 ft lbs at the muzzle with the new Vortek piston seal. Still sounds a bit like a howitzer, however, so I wear ear protection when shooting indoors. I forgot one evening and only shot maybe 10 pellets, but my ears rang all night! Charles
Why did my new HW90 give me recoil shock when I first got to using it? I mean, I was greatly tempted to flinch and I thought I was past those days -- haha!
It was that strong it actually hurt my shoulder sometimes. Why? So glad you asked! The whole gun weighs about 9lbs, 7oz, not 8 pounds something as in the ads. Others will confirm this. 6.5 lbs in the action and about 3 lbs in the stock. Now, when you have a stock which has a somewhat loose front to rear fit, it acts more like a light car getting rear-ending by a much heavier car. Imagine your heavy Lexus LS400 slamming into a stopped Kia at half its weight. What happens is the Kia will be launched like a still baseball being hit by the bat. The initial rearward recoil I felt was due to this phenomenon. Remember the old newtonian principle that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and how we used to see the demonstration in school of those 5 hanging ball bearings to prove the point. The initial recoil of the 6.5lb action slams into the motionless 3lb stock and it, in turn, whacks the heck out of my shoulder. Now, after glass bedding the action to the stock, when the initial rearward jolt is launched by the forward piston release, the 3lb stock no longer acts like a separate thing. It is rather like having the baseball glued to the bat -- no whack, just added weight to slow down the action and reduce it's impact into your shoulder by spreading out the impact over time since it is moving slower, thus making more time. I can't yet prove it, but I think this slower rearward movement of the "glued" 3lb stock and 6.5lb action allows enough time that the opposite deceleration-induced shock of the piston slamming into the front of the receiver, which quickly reverses rearward shock to an instantaneous stop and then a strong forward jump, happens or starts WHILE the combined stock/action is still slowly moving rearwards, stopping most of the felt impact before it has time to impact your shoulder. So, two benefits to reducing recoil by glass bedding the action on a springer -- adding the weight of the stock to the action which slows it, giving the forward slam time to "catch-up" to the rearward recoiling stock/action glued combo AND in place of the stock acting like the baseball hit by the bat to then sting your glove (shoulder, in this case), it slows the whole thing down to feel less impactful. And in the case of the HW90, there is a serious gap just behind the receiver which allows the receiver to move rearward which is also why every single screw on my gun came loose and even loctite blue hardly worked, not at 26 bar pressure anyway. Now, I am very pleased with how the HW90 feels and it's giving me 24 ft lbs at the muzzle with the new Vortek piston seal. Still sounds a bit like a howitzer, however, so I wear ear protection when shooting indoors. I forgot one evening and only shot maybe 10 pellets, but my ears rang all night! Charles
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