9mm defense round question

There has to be so much powder in a shell casing (has to take up space) for proper expansion so what changes is the powder itself

carbonyl said:

While looking at different brands of defense rounds I noticed Federal Hydro Shok (low recoil). Is there a way they make it low recoil other than putting less powder in the round?

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Well, maybe.

The laws of physics limit the options.

You can slow the bullet down, but it may not have enough velocity to expand.

You can lighten the bullet, but penetration may suffer.

You can use a powder that requires less weight to produce a desired velocity.

Or you can find a balance of all three options.

That's the trick.

Is there a way they make it low recoil other than putting less powder in the round?

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Lighter bullet, physics is physics anywhere, on the moon or on the earth. The heavier the gun the less FELT recoil. The recoil is the same, just feels different because of the weight of the firearm or weight of the bullet.

Jim

Considering that they are not making this statement in relation to a specific barrel length or a specific handgun model..

No.

I'm happy sticking to Speer Gold Dot or Federal HST anyway.

C0untZer0 said:

Considering that they are not making this statement in relation to a specific barrel length or a specific handgun model..

No.

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Well, they wouldn't need to specify the model of gun or barrel length to indicate lower recoil.

I believe they are lower recoil because they use a powder that produces a slower velocity. I have used them although not in 9mm and they definitely had a lower recoil.

Shawn

Recoil is a factor of 4 things.

The guns weight
The bullet weight
The powder weight
The bullets speed.

It is possible to use different variables and get a little less recoil, with very little loss of performance.

Use a slightly lighter bullet, design the bullet to expand well at slower speeds and shoot it at a slightly slower speed. You'll get close to the same performance, with less recoil.

Some powders give faster speeds with less powder which can make a very big difference in recoil. With some rifle loads Powder "A" might shoot a 180 gr bullet to 3000 fps with only 60 gr of powder. Powder "B" might need 75 gr of powder to reach the same speed. The load using powder "A" will have less recoil, but no loss of perfomance.

Looking at my loading manuals I see that it takes 8.2 gr of Blue Dot powder to generate 1170 fps with 124 gr 9mm bullets. Changing to Bullseye powder only requires 4.9 gr of powder to give me 1155 fps. That will make a noticeable difference in recoil with only 15 fps less speed. So yes you can use less powder, if you change powders.

Using this website I ran the numbers.

http://www.handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp

The load with 8.2 gr of powder would have 5 ft lbs of recoil from a 2 lb gun. The 4.9 gr load would have 4.2. While that does not sound like much it is a 16% recoil reduction for 1.3% less velocity.

Quote:
Originally Posted by C0untZer0
Considering that they are not making this statement in relation to a specific barrel length or a specific handgun model..

No.

Well, they wouldn't need to specify the model of gun or barrel length to indicate lower recoil.

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I think so because given a longer barrel you can create a different recoil impulse with slower burning powder with a cartridge that relies on a longer barrel to develop velocity. It doesn't change F=MA but it does change the way recoil feels

Its a technicality, and the low-recoil Hydra-shok just has less pressure, less velocity than their standard Hydra-Shoks.