Help with subjective felt recoil .38 vs 9

[marcodo]

I know felt recoil is a subjective thing...and everyone is different.

There are some of us shoot hand canons without problems and some who think the .380 is too much.

Just out of curiosity does anyone have any opinions in regards to the felt recoil of a standard 38 out of a lightweight revolver such as the LCR versus a small sized 9 mm such as the glock 26, Kahr cw9, or PPS9.

Not talking pocket stuff just the compact ones

I have a bunch of full sized 9's, 45's, .380's and sp101 but am looking for a lighter weight compact soft shooter of 38 and above for a next purchase.

Unfortunately, here in NY, you cant rent to try...so I'm stuck

 

[springfield30-06]

I have a Kel-Tec PF-9 (12.7 oz) and a S&W 342 Ti (11 oz). I personally don't think recoil is excessive on either of those guns but I do feel that the PF-9 has slightly less recoil. This may be due to a few things.... Semi-autos soak up more felt recoil than revolvers, the 9mm i use is 115gr or 124gr and the .38 is 158g and/or the back strap on the 342 is exposed so it slaps my hand harder.

My only suggestion is to see if anyone you know has a similar gun and shoot them or politely strike up a conversation at your local range if someone is shooting one and maybe they will let you try it out.

 

[unspellable]

Ergonomics, that is grip shape and such, will have more to do with this than choice of cartridge. I have a Keltec compact 9 mm that I find unpleasant to shoot. The recoil is not all that bad but the grip shape makes it unpleasant. A Luger is bigger, but also has a comfortable grip shape, I can shoot one until the cows come home and never think of the recoil. It's true that a recoil operated self loader will spread the recoil compared to a revolver, but I think grip ergonomics will trump either.

The same effect occurs with a rifle. My Winchester 1894 has more subjective recoil than an English rifle I have. The 32 Special is no power house, the English rifle is throwing a bullet almost twice as heavy but has less felt subjective recoil due to a much better stock design. The 1894 stock design is constrained by it's being a carbine.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

I find that J-frame sized guns, including the LCR have significantly more subjective recoil than similar-sized 9mm semiautos. By way of comparison, I have carried a Kahr P9 and a S&W M&P 9c, and both had substantially more comfortable and controllable recoil than my S&W 642 or my Ruger LCR.

 

[Onward Allusion]

marcodo
Help with subjective felt recoil .38 vs 9

You're referring to a .38 spl snub, correct? A lot of the recoil on a .38 spl snub can be tamed with the proper grip. However, I still would not like shooting .38 spl +P rounds out of a snub or one with wood grips.

For me, standard pressure .38 spl, .380 ACP, 9mm out of a lightweight CC weapon is pretty much the same. A bit snappy but nothing unmanageable.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

The trouble with most snubs and their wood grips is that your finger middle finger goes up in the void behind the trigger guard and takes a beating. The wood grips are usually quit small, too. A Tyler T-grip corrects both of those problems, but doesn't make the gun hard to conceal like aftermarket rubber grips.

 

[Nushif]

For me the main difference in recoil between a lightweight 9mm and a .38 spl snubbie is not so much the severity as the feel of it.

The 9mm to me snaps backwards a lot more, thus raising the barrel because of my wrist breaking upwards slightly, whereas the .38 because of the design of the revolver and my grip on it is already vectored upwards a bit more.
They both kinda recoil as strongly for me, just in different directions.

Pretty sure that's what you're asking.

 

[BCRider]

I'd also think that in smaller guns the action of the slide coming back and then forward would add a lot to the feel of the gun's recoil. I base this on having shot one of the all metal CO2 BB Walther PPK's. The BB has no significant energy to speak of but the all metal slide cycling back and forth makes the gun feel like a .22.

 

[LKB3rd]

My detective special has a good snap to it. I think it's in a similar range of a 9mm with a 3 inch barrel.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Between a .38 lightweight, small-frame revolver and a subcompact 9mm pistol, I felt a very pronounced difference, with the pistols having far less recoil.

 

[AK103K]

The trouble with most snubs and their wood grips is that your finger middle finger goes up in the void behind the trigger guard and takes a beating. The wood grips are usually quit small, too. A Tyler T-grip corrects both of those problems, but doesn't make the gun hard to conceal like aftermarket rubber grips.

I have/have had a number of Airweights and a couple of steel J frames with the standard stocks and T grips. While I feel this is the best set up for these guns, they are not fun to shoot with what I consider "social" ammo. They are actually just downright unpleasant to shoot over a realistic practice session.

I also have a number of smaller semi autos, including a couple of Glock 26's, and have always found them to be much easier to shoot well with and also much more comfortable to shoot with. While the snubbies can be shot well, its been my experience that my hits on target at 15 yards with the 26's, are about the same as my hits on target at 5-7 yards with the Airweights. Add to that, that the 26's carry double the ammo, and are faster and easier to reload, and can accommodate 15, 17, and 33 round reloads, it makes it more and more difficult to bring the snubbies out anymore.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Yeah, I find S&W guns unpleasant to shoot and don't want anyone in a "social" setting to see me with one....LOL...j/k...I'm a Colt guy.

 

[AK103K]

Hey, Im not prejudiced, I like Colts too.

 

[heeler]

Well I cant say anything about a 9mm cause I dont own one but I can say I do own an older model S&W model 37 Airweight and when shooting 158 gr. FMJ I can say that I definitely feel it especially in my trigger finger.
This little 70's made revolver probably weighs 13-14 ounces empty.

 

[papa_bear]

The 9mm will have slightly more recoil. I have a taurus 605 and a ruger sr9c. both are soft shooters but the .38 is less noticeable.

 

[wrench]

For me, S&W 642= a nasty little gun, very unpleasant to shoot.
Glock 26 I could shoot all day.
I think it's about the fit of the gun to your hand, revolvers don't fit me.

 

[papa_bear]

For me, S&W 642= a nasty little gun, very unpleasant to shoot.
Glock 26 I could shoot all day.
I think it's about the fit of the gun to your hand, revolvers don't fit me.

You must have been shooting .38 +P

 

[toivo]

For me, S&W 642= a nasty little gun, very unpleasant to shoot.
Glock 26 I could shoot all day.
I think it's about the fit of the gun to your hand, revolvers don't fit me.

You must have been shooting .38 +P

That's what I was going to say. The one time I shot a lightweight snubnose was with +P's. Compared to a Glock 26 with regular 9MM, that was NASTY!

 

[owlhoot]

I have three J frames, two airweights and a model 60. I also have a PM9 Kahr. There is no contest. The Kahr is much easier on the hand.

 

[Brass Rain]

This is a relevant question to me, since I'm looking at future carry gun possibilities now. I had been interested in one of the slim Kel Tec handguns, but the recoil looked extremely snappy in YouTube videos I saw of it being fired, compared to the seemingly small pop from j-frame Smiths.

 

[AK103K]

That's what I was going to say. The one time I shot a lightweight snubnose was with +P's. Compared to a Glock 26 with regular 9MM, that was NASTY!

I shoot both, and both with either factory +P ammo, or my reloads loaded to an equivalent level for practice. If you use either, you need to practice with what you carry, or your not doing yourself any good.

The 26 is not at all unpleasant to shoot with hot ammo, and much easier to control. I can shoot 300 rounds of it at an outing with no discomfort or the feeling that I need to quit. Hot 9mm is also closer to 357MAG/357SIG in power than +P .38 is.

The J frames on the other hand are a chore to shoot and tend to quickly fatigue your hand. These days, about 50 rounds an outing is about all I can stand, and 100 would be the max, and at that point, my hand will be hurting a couple of days after.

Now, I do use the old "standard" factory wood panels with a T grip, as it makes the gun the most concealable. If youre using the oversize rubber grips you may have a different experience. The larger grips are more pleasant, but they also defeat the whole purpose, and you might as well go with a larger gun.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

I will say that 148-gr. wadcutter .38s and those feeble 130-gr. FMJ range loads that actually go slower than the standard 158-gr. LRN ammo both recoiled substantially less for me than my .38 Special +P carry ammo.

I personally thought that was a trifle odd, because range ammo v. +P+ 9mm carry ammo doesn't really have a noticeable difference in recoil to me.

 

[451 Detonics]

I shoot both the Kel-Tec PF-9 and airweight S&W snubbies. The recoil impulse is different in each thanks largely to vastly different grip designs. However I don't feel either is punishing in the least and don't have a problem shooting a couple hundred rounds out of either in a single range session. The lower bore line of the semi auto means more straight line recoil while the revolver tends to have a bit more muzzle flip.

 

[Ledgehammer]

I had a couple snubs- a lcr and a j frame. I now have a cw9. The snubs definitely are way less fun to shoot. Like somebody else said if you put 100 rounds throough a snub in one session you hand will fatigue and be sore for a couple days. Even with the range ammo they are unpleasant. My cw9 I can shoot all day no problem and no soreness after either.

 

[jad0110]

Having shot single stack polymer 9mms and my airweight 642, they do feel different and both let you know they are there, but neither were painful. As another poster said, the auto tends to have more muzzle flip, while the little 642 tends to stay on target a bit easier (you can get a pretty high grip on those enclosed hammer guns) though with a tad more wack to the webbing of the hand.

Neither are as awful in my hand a tiny .380s. Those guns with their puny, narrow grips seem to focus all recoil impulse onto a tiny spot. Not for me, I'd drop down to a .32 ACP if I were going to go with such a tiny gun.