Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Recoil factor in a few rifles

Gang. this question popped up amongst us guys during a work break, would be interested in knowing how to calculate this or at least the opinion of the more experienced here.

Which would recoil more in a hunting rifle, a Marlin 336 in 30-30, Marlin 336 in 35 Remington, or a Savage or Marlin bolt gun in 243?

Particularly interested in the comparison between the lever and the bolt gun

A heavy bullet in the 35 Remington , but none of those even have recoil worth mentioning.

here are some other pertinent factors as to how I posted this:

Some guys at work are talking about getting thier 'kids' interested in hunting. These 'kids' are all teens that are around 6ft tall each and have NO flab, very athletic. So the traditional calibers like 30-30 & 35 were bantied about, then one guys asked "if most deer around here area bout 140-165 pounds & 200 yds at most, why wouldn't a soft-recoiling gun like 243 work? "

Well, that is a good idea, but then the comparison of weight as a recoil factor jumped in there, with some saying that the old 'thutty-thutty' would kick more (I tossed in 35 only 'cause I likes me a .35), but others saying that 'Warren Page's delight" was worse. Any way to tell?

Are you saying it would noticeably kick more than say, 243 or 30-30?

all 3 of those have less recoil than a 20 ga. The 35 has more than the other 2 but not by much. I hunted with a 16 ga at age 10, teenagers should be able to handle the recoil of any of those listed.

I find the drop on stocks designed for use with open sights will make perceived recoil all out of proportion to the actual calculated recoil.

On first approximation, recoil is based on the momentum of the projectile. Momentum is mass times velocity. Since we're doing comparisons we don't need to use scaling factors to convert to standard units.

A 243 with a 100 grain bullet at 3000 fps compares to a 35 with a 200 like so:

3000 x 100 / 200 = 1500

That is, a 243 produces the same projectile momentum as a 200 grain bullet at 1500 fps. But a 35 gives about 2000 fps with a 200, and so produces a third more momentum. More momentum, more recoil.

Note: Please don't start telling me what I've left out. I know. This is quick and dirty.

For what it's worth I'm 5'8" at 165lbs and I can shoot my daughter's .243 M77 Ultralight carbine using 100gr Win Super-X ammo with one hand. Don't know if I'd try it with either my M94 30-30 or my M336 35Rem.

Seriously? NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. BTDT.

I've fired my 12 gauge one handed a time or two with duck loads. Its .. vigorous .. but nothing broke.

I don't make a habit of shooting rifles with one hand. Did it to show a youngster there was nothing to be afraid of. He ended up shooting 1 1/2 boxes of shells.

Those regular rifles and ordinary cartridges will not make all that much actual recoil.

What matters and effects the discomfort of too much recoil is the butt plate or recoil pad.

All too many rifles have been made with very hard butt plates.

To mitigate recoil you must have a soft, modern recoil pad like the Decelerator pads.

I think these guys are embarrassing their sons by even asking that question.

Here's a link to a handy dandy recoil calculator:

http://www.zknives.com/bali/brecoil.shtml

msquared - THNX for that link.

I have an equation to compute Recoil vel (momentum) and Recoil energy. You must have the Recoil Vel to calculate the energy.

This link makes it QUICKER.

A LOT depends on how each one fits as well

I have a Marlin 30-30 and a Winchester 670 .243, don't enjoy shooting either one of them.

My '06 based calibers, or even my 7mm mag seem to recoil less then the first two mentioned.

From http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm (did not require log in.).

First number is gun weight, second is recoil energy, third is recoil velocity. If you pick 7.5 lb gun weight for all, then .243 has lowest recoil energy and velocity, but not by much. These are all pretty mild.

.243 Win. (95 at 3100) 7.25 11.0 9.9
.243 Win. (100 at 2960) 7.5 8.8 8.7

.30-30 Win. (150 at 2400) 7.5 10.6 9.5
.30-30 Win. (160 at 2400) 7.5 12.7 10.5
.30-30 Win. (170 at 2200) 7.5 11.0 9.7

.35 Rem. (200 at 2050) 7.5 13.5 10.8

I think that recoil annoyance may come in thresholds. For example, between .25-06 120-gr and .270 Win 130-gr in same type of rifles, I found that the .270 seemed to kick noticeably more, although they are probably close in the tables (bench rested). My threshold was somewhere between them at the time. That is, the .25-06 was mild enough, so the kick did not matter to me. After a few bench sessions with a .340 Wby, neither of them seemed to kick enough to care about - my tolerance threshold had moved up. But, that .340 is a handful.

I own and use both a .243 and .30-30, and the .243, to me, recoils less.

I use 100 grain bullets in the .243 and 170s in the .30-30. Both are light carbines with 20" barrels, with the .243 being slightly heavier and 1" longer in overall length.

If either bothers you, shoot a Guide gun with 435 grain bullets at 1750 fps a few times........your perspective will change.

Here is another recoil calculator. http://handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp The three you listed are going to be about 10 or 11 footpounds of free recoil, but apparent recoil can be noticeably different.
With kids, especially ones who haven't done much shooting, there are some other things to consider. Gun fit and stock design are a big part. As much as I like lever guns, many bolt rifles have a stock design that eases apparent recoil better than the stocks on lever guns. There are also models with stocks that can grow with the kids. A recoil pad also helps new shooters. The combination, along with good hearing protection can make a younger shooters intro in to shooting a lot more fun. Whatever they choose, if any of the kids is a bit hesitant, consider using some of the newer low recoil loads as well. The goal is to be fun, not to see how tough they are.
Good luck
Bfly

My kids used a BLR in 358 and they are small framed. I never mentioned recoil to them.

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=56996

Another recoil table,all rifles are the same wieght.