Firearms Stack Exchange Archive

What affects felt recoil in otherwise-identical/similar rifles?

I own a variety of firearms in calibers near .30 (7.62x54r, .30-06, and 8mm Mauser).

The felt recoil between my Remington 710 in .30-06 and in my sporterized 8mm Mauser are nearly identical - as I would expect by comparing exterior dimensions of the shells, and the overall sizes of the rifles.

When compared to the also-similarly-sized round for the Mosin-Nagant, I would expect the felt recoil to be highly similar. However, when shooting the 7.62x54r round, the rifle kicks extremely hard - and after only one magazine, I’m ready to call it quits; whereas with the 710, I’m able to go through 3-5 boxes before considering stopping.

What effects this type of change in the felt or apparent recoil of the rifle?

Answer 706

The actual amount of recoil is a straightforward physics exercise (mass of the bullet times the speed of the bullet, plus mass of the powder gas times its average speed, will equal the mass of the rifle times the rifle’s recoil speed). But as you say though, there can be a really big difference in the subjective comfort level. Here are some things that make a rifle more miserable to shoot:

  1. more muzzle blast (e.g. from a shorter barrel, or a muzzle brake, or choice of cartridge/load that affects muzzle exit pressure). The rifle doesn’t actually hit you any harder, but it can become a pretty big psychological exercise to deal with this and not let it affect you
  2. rifle fit (an extension of the metal butt plate comment). If a rifle has a hard and pokey bit of the stock that hits you just wrong, it will hurt you more than a rifle that fits your body better.

For example, I have fired a Sako .375 H&H in relative comfort; it’s a powerful rifle but it fitted me reasonably well. It’s a handful, but it is not unpleasant nor painful. But I have a Marlin 336 in .32 Win Special (30-30 equivalent) and the cheekpiece tends to whack my face pretty viciously - it is one of only two rifles I’ve ever fired that actually hurt me.

An interesting exercise to try if you have the opportunity to do this safely - take a .30-06 hunting rifle and from a standing position hold it at waist level horizontally (at “from the hip level”, but hold it like a pendulum and don’t rest the butt against you). When you fire the rifle you’ll be amazed at how little recoil there actually is, it just sort of gently pops back a few inches. But if that rifle is held in such a way that the scope or stock gets a good run at you, it can really hurt.

Answer 707

All of the rounds you mentioned are pushing similarly-heavy bullets up to similar speeds, and I assume all of the guns you’re shooting are similarly massive. There’s no semi-automatic system to absorb any of the recoil energy in any of the mentioned guns, so I would look at a difference in powder. Are the manufacturers different? Different gun powders burn at different rates, and it may well be the case that whoever manufactured your 7.62x54r used a relatively quick-burning powder to get the bullet up to speed more quickly.

To put it in easy-to-understand terms, it’d be the difference between me punching you in the shoulder, and me pushing against your shoulder gently for five minutes with my fist. You’ll absorb the same energy either way, but the felt recoil will be much lower in the second case.

In short, try ammunition of the same weight from different manufacturers and see if the felt recoil is different.

Answer 708

A few major causes:

  1. Inertia - heavier rifles will have lower felt recoil.
  2. Absorption - semi-auto actions, rubber butt pads, stock flex etc. all soften felt recoil.
  3. Stock drop - the drop on the stock can affect felt recoil tremendously, but there’s no good way to say what’s better as it will depend on how you hold the rifle, and your shooting position.
  4. Ammo efficiency - the weight of any powder not burnt adds to recoil precisely as using a heavier bullet would.

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