Recoil Equations

For a burst of fire from an automatic weapon, the following is useful:

F = mvr,

where

F = Recoil (Newtons)
m = Mass of the projectile (kilograms)
v = Muzzle Velocity (M/sec)
r = Rate of Fire (Rounds Per Second)

EXAMPLE: For the GAU-8 Avenger, which fires 4,200 rounds/minute, 70 rounds are fired each second. Each round weighs 0.425 kg and has a muzzle velocity of 1067 m/s. This gives a recoil force of 31743.25 newtons.