By impacting a quartz gage on a disk-shaped specimen in a precisely controlled flat-faced projectile impact, the stress-time history of the specimen material at the impact surface can be observed. In this manner the mechanical behavior of the material in one-dimensional strain can be studied separate from wave propagation effects for times as short as 10^-8 sec and for stress amplitudes up to at least 21 kilobars. Simultaneously, the stress-time profile of the resulting wave after a finite propagation distance can be obtained from another quartz gage mounted on the opposite face of the specimen. The gages are X-cut quartz disks having a thickness such that wave transit time through the disk is much greater than time variations in stress. Under the conditions of use the instantaneous short-circuit current from a gage is proportional to the specimen-to-gage interface stress. Records of input and propagated stresstime profiles are shown for aluminum and barium titanate. The technique isparticularly adaptable to studies of the dynamic yield behavior of materials.