The subject of this handbook is the design of recoil mechanisms for gun weapons employed in towed
artillery, self-propelled artillery, and tanks. The state of the art of recoil mechanism design presented in this handbook is representative of weapon systems designed and developed in the mid- 1970's. While the fundamental
principles are the same as the time-honored techniques employed in recoil mechanism design, a number of new design methods have emerged and have received wide usesince the mid- 1960's. Of primary importance are techniques that use digital computer analysis to predict weapon dynamics and stress distribution in the weapon. With these automated modeling techniques, recoil mechanism performance prediction has become much more rapid. Therefore, considerable attention is devoted to computer-aided design techniques in this handbook.
A moderate knowledge of weapon systems on the part of the designer is assumed. For an introduction to
hydraulic equipment and weapon systems, Refs. 1 to 5 may be consulted. A glossary of the terms used in this handbook is given at the end of the handbook.