Technical Sciences

381

THE INFLUENCE OF MUZZLE DEVICES

OVER BENDING VIBRATIONS OF AN
AUTOMATIC RIFLE BARREL
IoanLiviuPITICARI*

liviupiticari@gmail.com

MarcPIRLOT**

marc.pirlot@dymasec.be

AlinConstantinSAVA*
asava@mta.ro

AlainVANHOVE**

alain.vanhove@dymasec.be
* Military Technical Academy, Bucharest, Romania
** Royal Military Academy, Brussels, Belgium

ABSTRACT
This paper presents an experimental study of the influence of
muzzle devices over bending vibrations of an automatic rifle barrel.
Starting from what is theoretically known, that muzzle devices exert a
reaction force over the barrel in the post ejection period, we have
used a very performant high speed camera to record and analyse how
do a 5.56 mm automatic rifle barrel vibrates in the muzzle section,
first without any muzzle device than with three different muzzle
devices mounted on the barrel.
The compared results show that the influence of muzzle devices
can be very important.

KEYWORDS: bending vibrations, muzzle device, amplitude

1. Introduction
The vibrations of a firearm barrel
along with other initial perturbing factors of
the projectile influence the kinematics of
the projectile when it leaves the muzzle.
One of the most important factors is barrel
vibrations, particularly the bending vibrations
[1, 2]. The oscillation phase when the bullet
leaves the barrel is passed on to the bullet,

causing it to leave the bore at a specific

angle up against the original axis of the
bore (ballistic jump), also with a vertical
velocity and a vertical acceleration, therefor
influencing the trajectory and the point of
impact on the target.
The differential equation of a constant
cross section barrel bending vibration is [3]:

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EI

where:
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Technical Sciences

w4 y
w2 y

m
wx 4
wt 2

S
D4  d 4
64

F (t )

(1)

is the moment of
inertia for the barrel cross section;
m is the ratio between the mass and
the length of the barrel;
y = y(x) is the vertical deflection of
barrel axis from its initial position, as a
function of x-coordinate;
F(t) is the acting force, varying in
time after a certain low.
When shooting a firearm, in the
moment when the bullet leaves the barrel, it
take place a very fast decompression of hot
gases due to their flow from the barrel to
the environment. This final decompression
at very high velocities (twice the velocity of
the bullet) gives birth to a reaction force
against the barrel [4]:
*
k  1 Gg a
Rg

kg
k
g
(2)
where:
a* is the critical velocity of the
flowing current at bullet expulsion
Gg is the gravimetric rate of flow,
k is the adiabatic coefficient,
kg is the reactivity coefficient.
In order to control this reaction force
against the barrel and other effects of hot
pressurized gases (firearm vertical rotation,
muzzle flash, noise), different types of
muzzle devices have been created.
In the presence of such muzzle
device, the flowing gases produce a
reaction force:
Rgt

Rg e

 tb

(3)
where:
Rg is the reaction force at muzzle in
the moment when the bullet leaves the
barrel;

( E  0,5) Z v g

g S pg
where is the intermediary ballistics gas
coefficient.
In these conditions, the resulting
reaction force against barrel becomes:
'R D Rgt  Rgt (D  1) Rgt (4)
where is the geometrical impulse
characteristic of the muzzle device.

Figure no. 1 The reaction force acting

against a barrel with muzzle device
The resulting reaction force generates
a rotational moment of the whole firearm in
the vertical plane, one of the main reasons
of bending vibrations. For the muzzle
devices with asymmetrical wholes there is
also a transversal (usually vertical)
component of the reaction force that
influences directly the bending vibrations of
the barrel.
2. Description of measuring
procedure
In order to understand the magnitude
of the influence of muzzle devices over
barrel vibrations we have set up a recording
chain comprising the items shown in Figure
no. 2 and we have recorded the vertical
displacement of an area very close to the
muzzle.
The record frequency was set at
10000 frames/second and the scale was of
0.177 mm/pixel.

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Figure no. 2 Measuring chain for vertical displacement of the muzzle

The weapon used for test, a 5.56 mm
FN FNC assault rifle, was fixed in a
ruggedizing support before firing, in order
to reduce as much as possible external
influence over barrel vibrations. The body of
the firearm was firmly held both in front and
rear sides, by two pairs of screwing sabots.

The records were processed with Motion

Tools, a software specialized in generating
numerical values for the displacement in
time of a graphically selected area that
remains in the frame of the film.
3. Results of measurements
In figures no. 4, 5 and in Table no. 1
are presented the comparing results for
single fire in two set ups, first the weapon
without a muzzle device than the weapon
with muzzle device no 1.
(a)

(1)

(2)

(b)

(3)

Figure no. 3 Muzzle devices used for firing

with the 5.56 mm FN FNC assault rifle
The weapon was first fired in single
fire mode than in burst mode with a pair of
cartridges.
All records and measurements were
made in the laboratory of the Department of
Weapon Systems and Ballistics (ABAL)
from the Royal Military Academy in Brussels.

Figure no. 4 Plane trajectory of the muzzle

of a 5.56 mm FN FNC assault rifle single
fire without muzzle device (a) and with
muzzle device no 1 (b) recorded with
Motion Tools

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Figure no. 5 Comparison between the vertical displacement of the muzzle of a 5.56 mm FN FNC
assault rifle at single fire without muzzle device (red line) and with muzzle device no 1 (blue line)
The first five natural frequencies for each of the two analysed structures are displayed
in Table no. 1.
Table no. 1
First five natural frequencies recorded for the 5.56mm FN FNC assault rifle (single fire)
5.56 mm FN FNC assault rifle
no muzzle device [Hz]
6.10
26.85
34.18
40.28
46.38

Natural frequencies
f1
f2
f3
f4
f5

5.56 mm FN FNC assault rifle with

muzzle device no. 1 [Hz]
6.10
9.76
26.85
32.95
46.38

In figures no. 6, 7 and Table no. 2 are presented the results for 2 cartridges burst fire in
four set-ups, meaning the weapon without a muzzle device and with each of muzzle devices
no. 1 to 3.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure no. 6 Plane trajectory of the muzzle of a 5.56 mm FN FNC assault rifle,
2 cartridges burst fire, without muzzle device (a), with muzzle device no 1 (b), 2 (c)
and 3 (d) recorded with Motion Tools
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Table no. 2
First five natural frequencies recorded for the 5.56 mm FN FNC assault rifle
(2 cartridges burst fire)

5.56 mm FN
Natural
FNC assault rifle
frequencies
no muzzle
device [Hz]
f1
7.32
f2
17.09
f3
26.85
f4
41.50
f5
51.27

5.56 mm FN
FNC assault rifle
with muzzle
device no 1 [Hz]
7.32
14.32
29.29
39.06
156.25

5.56 mm FN FNC 5.56 mm FN FNC

assault rifle with
assault rifle with
muzzle device no muzzle device no
2 [Hz]
3 [Hz]
7.32
12.20
12.20
29.29
29.29
41.50
36.62
53.71
139.16
153.81

Figure no. 7 Comparison between the vertical displacement of the muzzle

of a 5.56 mm FN FNC assault rifle without muzzle device and with muzzle devices no 1, 2
and 3 2 cartridges burst fire
4. Conclusions
4.1. Single fire mode
The two curves of vertical displacement
versus time have similar profiles.
The bending vibration of the barrel in
the muzzle section for the firearm with
muzzle device has a maximum (positive) of
2.5 mm, compared to a maximum (negative)

of 3.7 mm for the firearm without muzzle

device, 1.5 smaller in absolute value.
Maximum and minimum values are
almost equal in module for the barrel with
muzzle device no 1, while for the barrel
without muzzle device there is a 1.8 ratio
between those values, indicating that the
muzzle device balances the system.

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0.2 s after the bullet leaves the barrel,

the two curves become similar, with a
difference in phase of around 0.2 mm.
The natural frequencies calculated
with Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) are
small, comparable to the natural frequencies
of the human body, although the weapon
was fired from a firing bench.
Oscillation periods calculated from
these frequencies are at least one order higher
than the time spent by the moving bullet
inside the barrel, so there is no chance to
have resonance until bullet exit time.
Although differences are small, there
is a tendency for the natural frequencies to
have some higher values when there is a
muzzle device attached to the barrel,
although the assembly is getting longer.
At 0.5 s after bullet exit time (the total
duration of the record was around 0.5 s, due
to the necessary hard memory), vertical
bending vibrations are not completely
dumped, but, by extrapolation we can
appreciate that they will be completely
dumped after at most 1 to 2 second from the
initiation of the fire, which means that the
influence of vibrations over the shooter in
the process of remaking the sighting is very
limited in time.
4.2. Two cartridges burst mode
As we can see in figure no. 7,
immediately after the bullet leaves the
barrel, there is a downward movement of
the muzzle.
The approximated minima for the
four set-ups are:
no muzzle device 3,9 mm;
with muzzle device no. 1 2,6 mm;
with muzzle device no. 2 1 mm;
with muzzle device no. 3 2,1 mm.
The differences are relatively big. The
minimum for the barrel without muzzle
device is at least 1.5 higher in absolute
value than all other minima. For the barrel

with muzzle device no 2 the minimum is 4

times smaller in absolute value.
On the next interval of around 10ms,
the muzzle in all four set-ups has a
movement up-ward. The maxima for the
barrel without muzzle device, as for the
muzzle with the devices no 1 and 3 are
around the value of 2mm. The barrel with
muzzle device no 2 has again the lowest
value, less than 1mm.
Over the rest of time until second
cartridge initiation (around 55ms), the four
curves tend to equalise, values getting very
close to each other, although we can still
observe that the barrel without muzzle
device has the largest amplitudes.
At the time when the second bullet
leaves the barrel, phase for all oscillations is
between 0 and 1 mm. After that moment we
can see almost repeating the steps identified
after the first bullet leaves the barrel, with a
difference in phase of around 1 mm for all
signals.
So we can conclude that, in general,
attaching a muzzle device to the barrel
brings attenuation, more or less significant,
of the vertical bending vibrations of the
barrel, in the muzzle section.
There is no big difference in phase for
the four set-ups in the moment when the
second bullet exits the barrel, but we have
to take into consideration that weapon was
clamped in a bench and that, for the case of
a shooter, amplitudes are most probably a
lot bigger, so phase variation too.
Analysing frequencies, we can take
the same conclusions as for singular fire. In
addition, we can observe that firing frequency
(around 14 Hz) is very close to the first two
natural frequencies of the set-ups, generating
inquiries over the possibility of having
resonance. Fortunately, those frequencies
correspond to large amplitudes and they
occur for a very limited time.

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Acknowledgment:
This paper has been financially supported within the project entitled Horizon 2020 Doctoral
and Postdoctoral Studies: Promoting the National Interest through Excellence, Competitiveness and
Responsibility in the Field of Romanian Fundamental and Applied Scientific Research, contract
number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/140106. This project is co-financed by European Social Fund through
Sectoral Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007-2013. Investing in people!

REFERENCES

1. *** Rheinmetall Handbook on Weaponry (Dusseldorf, 1982).

2. Roca Aurel, Armament automat Vibraia rezultant a evii. Influena asupra
preciziei tragerii, (Bucharest: Editura Academiei Tehnice Militare, 2002).
3. Piersol Allan and Paez Thomas, Harris Shock and vibration Handbook, 6th edition,
(New York: McGraw Hill Handbooks, 2009).
4. Roca Aurel et. al., Armament automat principii de calcul i construcie (Bucharest:
Editura Academiei Tehnice Militare, 2007).
BIBLIOGRAPHY

*** Rheinmetall Handbook on Weaponry (Dusseldorf, 1982).

Roca Aurel, Armament automat Vibraia rezultant a evii. Influena asupra preciziei
tragerii. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Tehnice Militare, 2002.
Piersol Allan and Paez Thomas, Harris Shock and vibration Handbook, 6th edition.
New York: McGraw Hill Handbooks, 2009.
Roca Aurel et. al., Armament automat principii de calcul i construcie. Bucharest:
Editura Academiei Tehnice Militare, 2007.

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