QUANTIFYING HANDGUN RECOIL WITH HIGH SPEED VIDEO

In principle, handgun recoil is predictable using conservation of momentum and known mechanical laws. In practice, recoil is often considered subjective. The current study employed high speed video recording at 10,000 frames per second to quantify recoil of 11 different pistol loads representing a range of bullet weights and velocities in three different cartridges (9mm NATO, .40 S&W, and .357 SIG) fired from the same Sig P229 auto-loading pistol with the appropriate caliber barrel. Kinematic variables quantified by analyzing the video included: slide velocity, frame velocity, frame angular velocity, slide acceleration, frame acceleration, and frame angular acceleration. The correlation of these quantities with bullet momentum estimates suggests that the video method is reliable for quantifying handgun recoil and shows promise for testing models purporting to predict handgun recoil from mechanical laws. Future work should be able to test effects of recoil reducing devices and determine which kinematic variables are the best predictors of ergonomic effects such as accuracy and shot-to-shot time intervals.