Bolt Weight Formula Chinn claims that, ignoring friction: momentum of bolt = momentum of projectile + momentum of gas (+ momentum of barrel?) mbolt * vbolt = mbullet * vbullet + mgas * vgas (+ mbarrel * vbarrel?) Since pressure = force / area, the forces on the bolt face and bullet will differ by the ratios of their areas. force on bolt face / area of bolt face = force on bullet base / area of bullet base or force on bolt face = force on bullet base * (area of bolt face / area of bullet base) Now we're getting somewhere! Momentum is the integral of force over time (force is actually defined as the time derivative of momentum), so if we integrate both sides above by time (that is, integrate the pressure curve), then we get: momentum of bolt = momentum of bullet * (area of bolt face / area of bullet base) The area of a circle is of course pi * radius2, or pi/4 * diameter2, so this is equal to: momentum of bolt = momentum of bullet * (diameter of bolt face / diameter of bullet base)2 We can easily look up the momentum of a fired bullet. If we scale that by the area ratio, we get the bolt's momentum. If we divide by the bolt weight, we get the bolt's velocity. If we divide by a target bolt velocity, we get the required bolt weight.
ASSUMING a 4m/s bolt velocity is safe, then the required bolt mass is: bolt mass in pounds = 1.09x10-5 * bullet mass in grains * bullet velocity in fps * (diameter of bolt face / diameter of bullet base)2 The conversion constant 1.09x10-5 comes from asking Google to express 1 grain * 1 foot/second / 4 m/s in pounds. Here's the above bolt mass figured for some common cartridges: Cartridge 22lr
Bolt weight Bolt thrust Bullet Velocity Caliber Base Units pounds 0.4
Proof
Kpounds 0.9
Grains Fps 29 1240
Inches Inches KPSI 0.223 0.224 31.2
32a
0.8
1.8
71
905
0.312
0.338 26.7
380a
1.1
2.4
90
1000
0.356
0.374 28.0
38special
1.3
2.5
110
945
0.358
0.379 28.6
9x19 Parabellum
1.7
4.6
88
1500
0.355
0.391 50.1
7.62x25 Tokarev
2.0
4.0
87
1390
0.312
0.387 44.5
40s&w
2.2
4.9
135
1324
0.400
0.424 45.5
357magnum
2.2
5.0
125
1450
0.358
0.379 57.2
45a
2.3
3.7
200
975
0.452
0.476 27.3
9x23winchester
2.4
5.4
125
1450
0.356
0.392 58.5
45colt
2.4
2.9
185
1100
0.456
0.480 20.8
45gap
2.5
4.1
185
1150
0.452
0.476 29.9
357sig
2.6
5.6
125
1368
0.355
0.424 52.0
10mm
2.8
5.3
170
1340
0.400
0.425 48.8
410bore
2.8
2.4
109
1755
0.410
0.478 17.6
30 carbine
3.2
4.0
100
2200
0.308
0.356 52.0
44magnum
3.8
5.9
210
1495
0.432
0.457 46.8
454casull
5.4
10.2
240
1916
0.458
0.478 74.1
500s&w
5.5
11.0
275
1650
0.500
0.530 65.0
50ae
6.0
8.1
300
1579
0.500
0.543 45.5
7.62x39
6.3
6.9
123
2350
0.311
0.443 58.5
6.8spc
6.6
8.2
85
2900
0.268
0.421 76.7
223 Remington
7.0
6.9
80
2869
0.224
0.376 80.6
30-30
7.2
6.4
150
2390
0.309
0.420 59.8
7.7arisaka
9.9
8.3
180
2200
0.311
0.473 61.1
45-70
9.9
6.4
400
1900
0.458
0.504 41.6
308 winchester
11.3
10.8
168
2680
0.308
0.470 80.6
8mm Ma
11.8
9.9
198
2625
0.324
0.470 74.1
7.62x54R
12.2
10.5
180
2575
0.311
0.485 74.1
7mm Ma
12.3
10.0
154
2690
0.285
0.472 74.1
50alaskan
12.6
8.3
450
2150
0.500
0.548 45.5
30-06
12.8
10.4
190
2700
0.309
0.470 78.0
375h&h
14.2
12.8
235
3000
0.375
0.513 80.6
300wsm
17.4
15.7
150
3300
0.308
0.555 84.5
300 winchester magnum 17.8
13.2
190
3150
0.309
0.513 83.2
338lapua
24.4
18.4
250
3000
0.338
0.587 88.4
300lapua
25.0
18.4
220
2910
0.309
0.587 88.4
50bmg
54.3
27.4
660
3080
0.511
0.804 70.2
20gauge
5.5
4.6
218
1800
0.615
0.699 15.6
16gauge
7.7
5.0
350
1600
0.662
0.746 15.0
12gauge
9.4
7.2
437
1600
0.729
0.812 18.2
10gauge
12.9
6.3
765
1280
0.775
0.855 14.3
Kpounds
Grains Fps
Units pounds Cartridge
Inches Inches KPSI
Bolt weight Bolt thrust Bullet Velocity Caliber Base
Bolt weight = 0.5* (V / Sv *Eb) * (bW / 7000)
Proof