Up early and had some time on my hands, I thought it might be a good idea to touch on what is often a touchy subject pertaining to the function of the locked breech, short recoil operated pistol...of which the 1911 are one.
There seems to be a misunderstanding in play over just what "recoil operated" means...and what recoil actually is. There are a few lost souls who believe that the barrel recoils and drives the slide backward, while others recognize and understand that it's the slide that recoils and hauls the barrel backward with it.
I've long maintained that the differences between locked breech/recoil operated and straight blowback are very few and that they essentially operate the same way...and that the only real difference is the method used for delaying the breech opening. This has caused quite a few heated arguments.
About a year ago, my good friend Walter Kulek enhanced the patents to make them easier to read, and he sent me a copy. I read though it for the first time in over 40 years, and...having forgotten much of what I'd read...I stumbled onto a few points that will clear this question up.
So...in order to put the misunderstandings to rest, I thought it might be good to hear it from the man who designed the pistol in his own words as dictated to the patent office scribes who then translated it all into patentspeak.
First:
It is essential for the proper operation of
firearms of this class that the breech-bolt
and the parts connected and moving with it
should be made as heavy as practicable, so
that it may store a maximum amount of energy
in the short time during which on firing
the rearward pressure of the powder gases
in the barrel acts upon the breech-bolt
and initiates its recoil, and so that the
breech-bolt may continue to recoil under its
momentum alone to complete the opening of
the breech and the compression of the reaction-
spring after the gas–pressure has
ceased because relieved by the exit of the
bullet from the barrel.
Then, a little further down the line:
On firing, the breech-slide recoils
and carries the barrel rearward until the
rear end of the same, swinging rearward
and downward on the link and pivot-pins,
becomes unlocked from the breech-slide
Hope somebody finds this useful.
There seems to be a misunderstanding in play over just what "recoil operated" means...and what recoil actually is. There are a few lost souls who believe that the barrel recoils and drives the slide backward, while others recognize and understand that it's the slide that recoils and hauls the barrel backward with it.
I've long maintained that the differences between locked breech/recoil operated and straight blowback are very few and that they essentially operate the same way...and that the only real difference is the method used for delaying the breech opening. This has caused quite a few heated arguments.
About a year ago, my good friend Walter Kulek enhanced the patents to make them easier to read, and he sent me a copy. I read though it for the first time in over 40 years, and...having forgotten much of what I'd read...I stumbled onto a few points that will clear this question up.
So...in order to put the misunderstandings to rest, I thought it might be good to hear it from the man who designed the pistol in his own words as dictated to the patent office scribes who then translated it all into patentspeak.
First:
It is essential for the proper operation of
firearms of this class that the breech-bolt
and the parts connected and moving with it
should be made as heavy as practicable, so
that it may store a maximum amount of energy
in the short time during which on firing
the rearward pressure of the powder gases
in the barrel acts upon the breech-bolt
and initiates its recoil, and so that the
breech-bolt may continue to recoil under its
momentum alone to complete the opening of
the breech and the compression of the reaction-
spring after the gas–pressure has
ceased because relieved by the exit of the
bullet from the barrel.
Then, a little further down the line:
On firing, the breech-slide recoils
and carries the barrel rearward until the
rear end of the same, swinging rearward
and downward on the link and pivot-pins,
becomes unlocked from the breech-slide
Hope somebody finds this useful.
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