Originally Posted by
Big Bullets
The point of the chart was to demonstrate that a variety of rounds are available with similar recoil and similar performance. If you notice, I selected those calibers for those qualities. I wanted to give Oakie76 some viable choices.
You've missed my point - this chart, and many other "tools" like it often achieve little beyond complicating the obvious.
Even you reference a number of variables that upset the very legitimacy of your recoil chart, and to be objective, you've only scratched the surface of all the possibilities.
Further, describing the calibers you listed as of similar performance is a bit of a stretch. While they may possess similar recoil numbers on paper, the applications for which they are appropriate vary. Compare hunting pronghorn with a .243 - or worse, a .25-06 - and a .30-30 and the practical limitations of the latter become quite clear.
Originally Posted by
Big Bullets
It tells even the novice that one caliber will recoil more or less than another. In Oakies case, he could look at a chart and know that your 257 Bob would be more comfortable for his son to shoot than a full load '06. It is a tool to help.
And to what degree are the numbers associated with those recoil comparisons useful? Is a difference of half a ft/lb something significant? Two ft/lbs? Six? You tell us. Again, the variables you suggest come into play. In Okie's case, the simple physics behind the fact that the .30-06 throws a heavier bullet at similar velocity ought to be a fairly reliable comparator of recoil. One doesn't need a chart if you stay focused on the fundamentals.
Originally Posted by
Big Bullets
Horsepower is a measure of performance but it does not tell the whole story. Same here. As always, a buyer must do their homework and no tool should be dismissed.
I'm not suggesting that "horsepower" is any more useful in comparing calibers than is "recoil energy". All that "horsepower" has zero effect on target if there's so much recoil that the shooter flinches and misses the target. What you term "tools" are better termed "references", and should never be construed as "recommendations." They might help a novice develop a general sense of what class calibers they're working with or should be looking for, but little beyond that.