Less recoil

[Barry J]

Which would have less recoil, a heavy bullet loaded light or a lighter bullet loaded light? I want to try to work up a light load for steel and practice and wondering which bullet to start with. It's for a 40 S&W.

 

[beauxdog]

Light bullets produce less felt recoil. You still have to drive them fast enough for the gun to work properly. The problem with a practicing with a light load is you get used to it and then you aren't used to your match rounds.

Beauxdog

 

[dad-e-o]

Light bullets produce less felt recoil. You still have to drive them fast enough for the gun to work properly. The problem with a practicing with a light load is you get used to it and then you aren't used to your match rounds.

Beauxdog

+1 - What he said!

 

[CCW]

I asked the same question to a nuclear physicist. His response was, for a given power factor, less powder equals less felt recoil. More powder equals more felt recoil. It takes less powder for a 180 grain bullet to make 125 PF than it does for a 147 grain bullet to make 125 PF. Based on that answer, I developed a .40 cal minor load using 180 grain bullet over 3.1 grains of American Select through a Glock 35. The PF is consistantly +-130, depending on the atmospheric conditions. I use the same load for steel and USPSA Production Division. People laugh and tell me that if I put a bucket under my gun, the brass will fall in it. I have problems shooting competition because of my lack of skill rather than ammo problems. Lol. Just another take on the subject based on my experience and input from someone with more knowledge than me. Experiment with different loads and see what works best for you.

 

[Barry J]

I will keep using my 200 grain to make major power factor to shoot Limited. I am trying to decide weather to use the 200 grain bullet and work down to an acceptable load or use a lighter bullet and work down. I am currently using WST. I used Gary's 143(I think) grain bullet with the same powder charge as the 200 grain, but want to try to go lighter. I'm tired of shooting steel and at Nicks with major power factor loads. If I had the money, I would just buy another Edge in 9mm. Thanks for the info supplied.

 

[Laid Back]

I do the 200 grain GAT with WST for major and just change the bullet to his 143's for Nicks/Steel with same powder charge. Any lighter would probably cause keyhole issues or require spring changes.

 

[noylj]

Recoil is not just a physical force (MxV), it is also qualitative--i.e., perception.
At the same velocity, a light bullet will always have less recoil than a heavy bullet (MxV).
At the same PF (again, MxV), they will have the same recoil; however, the feel of that recoil is quite different for most folks. Most action pistol shooters like the slightly slower push of the heavy/slow bullet rather than the slightly snappier response of the light/fast bullet.
Difference in powder loads are pretty much buried under the bullet's weight, so I really doubt any one, in a good double-blind study, could tell the heavier charge weight from the lighter charge weight no matter how many claim they can (plus, you also have the impact of the slide to consider in the whole recoil situation).

 

[Jmfox3]

The mass (M) times the velocity (V) equals the momentum (I). "I" is essentially the felt recoil. "M" is the weight of the bullet. The amount of powder or type of powder will change the "V" of the bullet. Mathematically "M" and "V" are considered directly relational meaning that if you lower the "M" of the bullet by 1/2 and then increase the "V" by 1/2 then the felt recoil or momentum would be identical. Lowering the bullet weight and the powder charge at the same time provides the most dramatic reduction in recoil. Look up cowboy loads and Hornady's "Custom Lite" line of ammunition. A little more complicated, a faster burning powder will have more felt recoil since the bullet accelerates to its final velocity over a much shorter distance. A heavier bullet will take longer to accelerate to its final velocity therefore felt recoil would be a little less and seem more like a push to those with finely calibrated recoil meters. Optimizing recoil and accuracy for any particular purpose is what we obsess about in reloading.

 

[Barry J]

I normally shoot the 200 grain from GAT. Gary gave me a handful of 143 and I loaded them with the same powder charge as the 200. Worked good. Shot Nicks Thursday night and could tell the difference. Gun needs to be clean. I had two stovepipes. One was the last shot of a string, so no harm. The other was at the beginning of a string. Gonna go pick up a thousand this week and clean my gun.

 

[davidd]

My experience is that for a given power factory, heavy and slow produces less felt recoil than fast and light. Now for steel, where there is no power factor, and you don't have to knock anything over, for me light and sort-of-slow is better than heavy and slow. Of course the gun needs to run, but I have a 140g load for 40 S&W at about 115 PF that runs in mine just fine. I don't know the charge weight off hand as I use a micrometer, but it's using WST. DO NOT limp-wrist with this load.

A lot of people don't like to have a bunch of different loads for different types of shooting. I'm just the opposite. I probably have too many.

 

[scooterj]

Barry, try a 10# recoil spring with the lighter loads.