kobraken wrote:Hey Hoot, (insert evil scientist/ red neck laugh) u said your slug weighs 4-5 oz What if you could add weight - say drill a small hole in the center and fill it with mercury . How heavy is too heavy? Not that I would ever play with mercury.............that might account for the way I act now..........
No reason why you can't use more than one dense material. Not sure if the fluid dynamics of the mercury would buy you any unique change in behavior, save adding slightly more mass. Ditto on drilling the slug and pressing a tungsten rod inside it, since tungsten is also more dense. The similar mad scientist in me would be more interested in the effect of the mercury, given it brings a different set of characteristics to the equation.
Bottom line is any form of additional mass, regardless of composition, will add some unlocking delay to the cycle and provide a more gentle treatment for your expensive brass. Some folks add a slightly more robust spring to the additional weight and claim that it improves the process even more. I have not done that since I've never seen evidence that my spring was bottoming out and a lighter spring lends to a more gentle stripping of the next round from the magazine. and the additional mass seems from my observation, to make the life of the spring a little easier. All of this having been said. The fun of experimentation is best experienced by doing, not reading. It also broadens your understanding of how different factors play into the overall picture of this and any other AR15 caliber.
Learning by doing is very rewarding. Even the failures provide a better understanding of the process. Best of all, it gives you yet another reason to get out there and shoot. Share your steps with everyone along the way. We never tire or reading about them.
Hoot