Mercury Reducer

[BucknRut]

I've just heard about Mercury Reducers and I am looking to find out more info on these. t-w-t enlightened me a little bit and now I just can't help but wonder...

How do they work (mechanically and literally speaking)? How are they installed? Where are they installed? What do they cost? How do they compare with a Limbsaver (shoulder saving ability)?

Thanks a ton...hopefully this thread will help me and others.

Joshua

[Blink]

I had a 458Lott that I bought off Paul H, that was made on an enfield action. I had a kevlar stock made with a mercury recoil reducer mounted in the butt.

It was great. the rifle was somewhere around 8 lbs and my 338 recoiled alot worse than the Lott. It cost me an extra hundred to have it installed.

Mine was noisy though. When I was walking through the woods when I would move the rifle it sounded like water sloshing around.

As for how they work, way to scientific for me. maybe murphy can expound on it alittle. All I know is that it counteracts the rearword movement of the rifle.

[Murphy]

Mercury (Hg)....

Why do I get all the hard ones?

It is a car....it is a Planet...it is an Element .....no it's Quick Silver...

Well, it is heavy, with an atomic number of about 200, like lead. A pound of it will take up a volume of about 1/4 of a cup, it is liquid.

About 1# of it is put in a stock, enclosed in a tube of hard plastic, (glass in the old days) of about 1" in diameter. It fills this tube about half full and the ends are sealed closed. The stock is bored with a large bit slightly larger than the tube, the tube of Mercury is epoxied into the stock.

When the rifle is fired, the rifle recoils rearward. The Mercury, being in liguid form and heavy, tends to stay still and the stock recoils around it. (It just sloshes in the tube) Then when the front of the tube slams back enough the mercury slams into the front of the tube, which is solid in the stock, it serves as a counter action against the recoiling tube (stock). It is a small volume but very heavy and this pound of weight thrown against the recoiling stock, dampens the recoil. It works quite well and, of course, the added pound of weight in the stock helps dampen recoil, too. It can cut felt recoil in half, and it is quiet, unlike a muzzle brake.

Mercury is used in Barometric Manometers. 29.92 inches of mercury ("Hg)is standard atmospheric barometric pressure. It is used in (commercial grade) Sphygmomanometers (blood pressure cuffs) in hospital. (They are usually mounted on the wall behind the bed). The volume vs weight is predictable and that allows its use in thermometers. Lots of fun this mercury stuff.....

[BrownBear]

A friend has a Ruger #1 375 H&H and had both Magnaported and the mercury reducer installed. It's the only 375 I've ever shot where you can actually see bullet impact through the scope. Kinda spooky really, but a stone joy to shoot. We shoot it alongside his Ruger #1 in 30-06, and the overall recoil sensation is less with the 375 than with the )6. And oh by the way------ You can't see bullet impact through the scope of the 06!

[TBLOOMA]

simple physics

the mecury reducer works on simple physics. for every action, there is an equal opposite reaction. Benelli has a mercury reducer for some of thier shot guns. I have one in my Nova, and the wife loves to shoot it, along with my super black eagle. The SBE has an enertial system for working the bolt. Most reliable gun I have owned! She doesn't like the winchester pump I have as it beats her up. Its a lighter gun, and there is nothing to absorb the recoil.
hope this helps. Murphy does an excellent job of explainations!!!

[Brian Gilbert]

KDF

I had Kdf put a mercury reducer in a Kleinguenther [375] instead of a break and I love it. In fact they called me and said leave off the break and put the reducer in. Not a sheep rifle because of the weight but one hole at a 100 yds with a-frames and the push of a 30-06.

[BucknRut]

Thanks Fellas

Murph - you are a gentleman and a scholar! Very comical and informative post. I guess I had the basics down...just thought that it would take a lot of mercury to slow the kick. A pound, hmmm...I will have to think on that a bit (or shoot a few times and see how bad the .300 beats up my shoulder.

Thanks for the info
bnr