Which do you prefer and why?

[noylj]

Let's take the .45ACP:
Full pressure loads of 230gn bullets will twist my wrist and by 100 rounds hurt.
Full pressure loads for 200gn bullets can be shot all day.
Recoil will always be less with lighter bullets, all things equal (whether same speed or same pressure).
However, the recoil impulse can be very different for some people (not for me, I can't really tell a 9x19 from a .45ACP--except for the "hot" 230gn loads as the recoil I feel is mostly the slide). Some notice more snap with light bullets and more of a push into their grip with heavy bullets. This is not the same as the actual recoil, just they way it "feels" to the shooter.
IF you prefer the push rather than the snap, then go heavy. If you have a decent functioning compensator, then the snap becomes a push and the push is less with light bullets.
Remember folks: all most all of you are talking perceived recoil and not the actual recoil force.

 

[GLOOB]

Recoil will always be less with lighter bullets, all things equal (whether same speed or same pressure).

Same speed, yeah. Same pressure, not always. If you do the calculations, you'll see where 165 grain bullet loadings in 40SW can produce similar momentum as 180 grain bullets at equivalent peak pressures. Sometimes greater, depending on the powder; slightly less, overall, based on a scan of Hodgdon's data. But if you factor in the additional weight and velocity of the bigger charge weights of burning powder/gases, then you could end up with more recoil from the lighter bullet, on average. One way or another, it's going to be pretty durn close.

Go up to a 200 grain bullet, and there's a clear dropoff in momentum at max pressures. Almost all the 155-180 grain loadings list significantly more momentum than the 200 grain counterparts. So heavier = more recoil is clearly not always true.

 

[Prosser]

Stated well, Gloob.

Add in that the lighter weight bullet will move down the barrel at a lower pressure, since it's lighter, then you have to compensate by building pressure more quickly, using a faster burning powder that burns more quickly, read closer to an explosion, and that creates snappy recoil.

My idea of the perfect handgun cartridge is the .500JRH, or the .475 Linebaugh.
Once the bullet weight gets over 350 grains, the bullet is heavy enough to stay in place long enough for you to be able to use powders like H110 or my favorite, H4227, yet the bullet stays in place, and, you can get maximum velocity out of a 4.5" barrel, without the snappiness of a faster burning powder.

 

[Nick93]

If you stick with just one powder and a specific power factor the the heavier bullet will produce less recoil or at least not the same recoil(less snap) as the lighter bullets because velocity and inertia are related the faster you push the more inertia you have... the havier your bullets are the more inertia they have also But the momentum at the innertia its converted in traslation energy its less "faster" or "abrupt" ...
+
The havier the bullet the less powther you use so reaction with less gas exiting the barrel is less felt recoil

Anyway the recoil its subjective so...

Hope this helps !