That's interesting. Do you know whether it is related to the rate at which the powder burns?

I guess I thought that the effect of Isaac Newton's law stating that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" meant that if you are pushing a 240 grain bullet at 1100 fps from two different loads, the recoil should be about the same regardless of the weight of the powder charge.

Part of it is impulse or acceleration in the barrel, but most of it is due to it actually becomes part of the load. So 50gr of powder adds that weight coming out of the barrel compared to 25gr. The powders weight coming out is not neglible and doesn't just disappear. Its still has mass, no matter if its a gas or solid. And that mass adds to the load coming out of the barrel muzzle.

There is nothing exact about the Hawks recoil tables. It is only a guide line or method for rough comparing different calibers. Felt recoil can only be judged by the person who puts the gun to their shoulder and pulls the trigger.

IMHO, normal healthy people shooting normal well fitting rifles will find their "felt recoil" experience toparallel the "actual recoil"(as calculated) IF both actual and felt judgmentsaddress both "how hard" and "how fast"--- not just this one is "nice" and that one is "too much".

Using the American "school of hard knocks" methodology, some factors which may cause folks to "mis-judge" one cartridge against another has a lot to do with things other than the "cartridge":
** Poor technique which varies widely from instance to instance
**Not understanding the importance of stock fit
** Not paying attention to or taking into account rifle weights
** Not taking into account their choice of bullet weight and loading

and last but not least....
** Pre-indoctrination as to what will be "good" and what will be "bad"

Beyond that,IMO if it is true that"it all depends on the individual"thena discussion of felt recoil is not possible and really meaningless.I don't think so;one can always focus on the outlyers torender an idea useless. However, take a thousand shooters with no physical or mental disabilities, educate them as to recoil components andrecoil management, and have them shoot 5 rifles spanning the gambit of recoil and I'm betting their reports will statisticallylparallel the actual recoil model fairly closely (even though there were, say, 61 out of that 1000who were "all over the board" or so sensitive that 'everything but the 243' was unimaginably horrible).

I have found the recoil calculator to be an excellent guideas to what to expect from a more powerful cartridge as you move up. However, I temper those numbers by the other variables discussed above.

Are you trying to tell me something or what? I thought we already been down this road James?

. I wouldn't attempt to try to tell you anything. I was just saying that that other things come into play and that the recoil can differ from one rifle to the next, even with the same load.

Exactly... Well said, JamesB.

Take the venerable, classic, 30-30 lever action and shoot them side by side with the same Remington Core-Lokt 170 grain.

Marlin 336 - kicks just enough to let you know you shot a round from a rifle.
Winchester 94 - kicksa little harder than Marlin 336 probably due to being lighter in weight.

I asked my Mom and her hunting friends about this comment and this is what they replied.

guess i shouldn't have got that 7 mag LOL

Should work for prairie dogs and other non lethal game.