44 mag loads

[carrycomp]

Hey guys , which is going to produce more felt recoil,
a 210 gr. 44mag bullet, at 1450 fps, and 980 ft. lb. of energy,
or a 250 gr. 44mag bullet, at 1250 fps, and 729 ft. lb of
energy ? And why doesn't the heavier bullet produce the more
foot pounds of energy ?

[cp1969]

The 250 will recoil harder.

Because kinetic energy is calculated using the square of velocity and therefore skews the numbers in favor of high velocity.

[carrycomp]

I guess i'm not understanding what you mean,
I have a 3 " bbl Smith and which will less felt 210,speer gold dot or 250 win. platimum in the lighter gun
I thought the faster bullet , developing the more ft. lbs.
of energy , would be less plesant to shoot

[SWID]

This is going to lack "academic rigor" but it takes less energy to get 210 grains moving than it does to get 250 grains moving. The energy that gets the bullet moving is also pushing against you.

[carrycomp]

Got it now, thanks

[Sig_Dude]

Just remember that p=m(v)

where:

p=momentum
m=mass
v=velocity

Let's forget about units and do your problem:

p1=210(1450)
p1=304,500

p2=250(1250)
p2=312,500

The 250 grain round will produce slightly more "kick", in theory.

In reality though, using the conservation of momentum law alone doesn't tell the whole story. The burn profile of the powder used can affect perceived recoil. I'm not really well versed in burn rates and what they mean, but I do believe that:

A powder that comes to to full pressure "very quickly" will all other things unchanged produced less of a perceived recoil than a slower burning powder. With the fast powder, the "duration of the kick" (I really sound like a scientist now huh lol) will be lower than with the slow powder.

Here's an example, unfortunately it's a morbid example but it's the best example I can think of. When the Challenger experienced an aerodynamic breakup in 1986, the astronauts experienced over 100 g's. On any other day 100g's would kill a man. However, since they experienced this for only a small fraction of a second, they were OK, well that is until they hit the water but we won't go there.

enjoy

[Joni_Lynn]

I use mostly 210 grain jacketed bullets due to the slightly lower recoil than the 240 jacketed. The initial felt recoil is a little less even with both near a max load.

[flop-shank]

When a lighter bullet and a heavier one are pushed to the max velocity that pressure limits allow. The lighter one will be going faster and of higher energy because velocity is a better builder of muzzle energy than bullet weight is. Look at hot .357 loads for example. The hot 125 grainers hit harder than the hot 158s.

IIRC, the heavier bullet loads actually have more recoil, but lighter loads tend to be "snappier" and oftentimes percieved recoil is worse. I think the light ones have more recoil velocity, or something. I'm no whiz at this stuff, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[cp1969]

You can't have more recoil velocity and not have more recoil energy. It's figured using the same equation used for bullet energy, 1/2 M V^2.

You use momentum to figure out the recoil velocity and then use that velocity to calculate recoil energy.

[carrycomp]

thanks guys

[cp1969]

Others might tell you that, I didn't. I'm not much of a believer in kinetic energy as being a good measure of knock down power.