Felt Recoil

[schmeky]

I have an old 1st gen Glock 17 that I very rarely shoot. I mainly shoot my CZ SP-01 in 9mm. Just for the heck of it, I threw my G17 in my range bag.

After putting 50-60 rounds through the CZ, I loaded the G17 and for some reason I was internally bracing for more felt recoil.

It wasn't there. For me, recoil between the CZ and the G17 felt the same. So I used the remainder of my reloads (about 125) through the G17. And I loved it. Can't group the G17 like I do the CZ, but the G17 was pretty darn accurate anyway.

I always thought more weight in a pistol meant less felt recoil. I don't think that any longer.

 

[varoadking]

A 9mm isn't gonna recoil all that much anyway, but I would agree that Glock's - aside from the G32 - don't seem to recoil much in general. My G22 is a pussycat in .40S&W...

 

[DWARREN123]

A lot of things make felt recoil such as recoil spring, height of bore above your hand (grip) and so on. The plastic guns seem, to me at least, to have less felt recoil.

 

[Mad Magyar]

I always thought more weight in a pistol meant less felt recoil. I don't think that any longer.

Are the grips similar? I've found differences in recoil perception from wood to plastic and rubberized versions...DWarren's point about bore axis has some relevance.

 

[SubSolar]

Weight will help recoil but the polymer will flex and absorb recoil too.

 

[burningsquirrels]

i think the glock's deeper grip angle helps out a lot with felt recoil... seems liek there's more forearm muscle behind the gun when your hands are tilted further foward, but that's just me.

 

[Mad Magyar]

i think the glock's deeper grip angle helps out a lot with felt recoil... seems liek there's more forearm muscle behind the gun when your hands are tilted further foward, but that's just me.

That's true. The G17 has a 112 degree angle to the bore axis. A SIG 226 for example is 105. It seems that guns with greater grip angle, like the Luger P-08 (124 degrees) dip much less, tends to point better, and recoil seems to be less. This of course is not scientific, to each their own with recoil perception..

 

[DFW1911]

Weight will help recoil but the polymer will flex and absorb recoil too.

This is a great point. Compare a Scandium .357 and an all steel .357 and the feel of flexibility and distribution of recoil energy becomes pretty obvious rather quickly.

Some firearms' materials direct that energy almost entirely to the shooter; others help absorb it. Nothing new in that statement but worthy of knowing before you spend several hundred dollars on a gun that's painful to shoot.

 

[SubSolar]

Yeah, Glocks have a lower bore axis then, well, pretty much any other handgun.