Malay contract L2A1

[nzl1a1collector]

Sorry for the delay replying, I had trouble finding the photos I wanted. Here's what the 'Recoil Reducer' looks like.

Version A






Version B (not sure who these photos belong to?)





Merry Christmas

[browningautorifle]

Not sure that I'd have cut the tip off the safety sear

Our gov't went one further and prohibited them outright in the rifle. A washer had to be welded in there...so if you have the wrong plunger...

[Peter Laidler]

Thanks for those photos of the recoil reducer KtK - and have a good Christmas while we're here...... No doubt that it is in effect a muzzle brake with refinements! Loking from the photos the only differences I can see between the two are the means of adjusting the plug. Either a spanner or a 'C' spanner. I wonder why some of the screws are tack welded in place. Anyway, would love to let some students ponder their views.......

If I was writing a technical paper for an EMER I'd word it thus: But this is based purely on photos and guesswork so don't be too harsh on the slagging off!
Technical description. The RR consists of two main components and several locking screws plus the usual odds and sods. The main body is a substantial machined casting that reflects the energy that it is capable of withstanding ands is screwed and locked to the muzzle of the rifle in the usual way. Internally it consists of a chamber, the lead into which is conically concave to reflect the venturi effect of the expanding gas that enters it from the barrel. Around the larger circumference are 12 (?) threaded holes (presumably to take grub screws, the quantity of which will lessen or increase the felt effect of the RR?) plus an additional locking screw.

Screwed into the main internal body of the RR is a plug. The inner end of this plug is machined convex to match the concave section of the main body. The plug is threaded to enable it to be screwed into the main body at a pre-set (or adjustable?) depth. A section of this thread has been machined to form a flat platform onto which the locking screw seats and secures it. The plug is screwed in to the set depth?/pre-set depth?/depth set for the comfort of the firer? by using a XY spanner on the muzzle end.

Operation. The bullet travels up the bore and exits the barrel aperture in the body of the RR in the normal way, as does the gas at the accepted venturi standard norm of 29 degrees. While this action is taking place the rifle is recoiling. Within a millisecond the bullet has passed between the small gap between the concave and convex shapes of the main RR body and the plug as detailed in the technical description.

This violent and powerful blast of expanding propellant gas acts upon the convex area of the plug and as it does so it pushes the plug forwards. It is this forward angled force that will act to neutralise the recoil rearward recoil, not by eliminating it, which it cannot do - but by counteracting the energy imparted into the actual weapon.

The firer will still feel 'recoil' per-se and nothing can prevent this. However, because the energy imparted into the actual weapon by the pure recoil has been reduced by the action of the RR the firer will now encounter to a greater degree what is referred to erroneously as 'secondary recoil'. This is the energy of the breech block carrier and breech block assembly (the BBCBB) striking the rear of the trigger mechanism housing. This 'secondary recoil' is not (or hardly) noticeable during the normal action of the rifle.

Depending on the greater or lesser amount of grub screws within the outer circumference of the main body and the depth into which the plug is screwed and locked, the amount of gas used to push the RR (and therefore the rifle) forwards would seem to permit a greater or lesser amount of propellant gas to escape. On that basis, the further out the plug is and the less screws around the circumference, the less effective the RR is and the harsher the recoil. Whereas the more screws and deeper the plug, the lighter the recoil.

While in theory and in practice this RR will work, quite HOW well or efficiently it will work is a matter of bench testing in a laboratory or range. I would suggest that any short-arsed soldiers who cannot handle a service rifle be taken from the rifle sections and given safe jobs in the kitchen, Company office or as storemen