C&B vs cartridges - recoil

[sportee]

Now ive been back and forth to the range the past couple of months trying to tune in my loads for the 41 colt. A friend of mine likes to bring out his 44 C&B revolvers and plink off old paint cans. Anyways, he typically loads 22-25 grains of pyro P in his colt and remington (44's remember) and i have been loading extremely mild 14 grain loads in my 41 long colt (basically same as the 41 short...just for fun). After shooting my colt he said "Wow does this think kick". Not really paying much attention in the past i fired off a cylinder from the 44 C&B and then a few 41 colt rounds...of course the C&B was like shooting a 38spl and the 41 colt had much more recoil. His question was why does the 41 colt cartridge with less powder have way more recoild than the 44 colt C&B. I didnt have an answer.

I know that there are many things that come into play here. Basically im shooting an uncrimped 200ish grain bullet with 14 grains pyro and he's shooting a 457 cal lead ball with 25 grains pyro. I didnt hink that bullet weight played on recoil that much...can someone educate me. Hopefully nest time we meet up at the range i can give a great technical answer and make myself look really smrt...i mean smaart...i mean s m a r t.

 

[dingus]

My guess would be weight as them Thunders are like derringers as far as weight goes.
My S&W 6.5 inch barreled Russian 2nd model in 44 Russian absorbs alot of the energy that a lighter gun does not.
That or your leaveing air space in your cases and thats dangerous and gives a good boot as well if your filling the space with filler and a wad that to can cause it to kick more as well.
but im betting on weight as them old percussion guns are heavy built long barreled guns well most are compared to a Colt thunder.

I shoot a near full case of pyrodex outa a 50 70 case with a RD ball pushed in the top of the case in my Rolling block pistol and RD balls dont kick half as bad as a normal lead bullet does so that and weight of the gun.

 

[mooncoon]

Perceived recoil is a question of mass of the bullet x velocity vs weight of the gun. I agree with Dingus; your .41 colt shoots a little lighter bullet a little slower but the gun I am guessing is about 1/2 the weight of the C&B gun

cheers mooncoon

 

[dixda]

Inertia. An object at rest, tends to stay at rest. The 200 grain bullets will "push back",(recoil) more so than the lighter round ball. The difference in bearing surfaces will also create more recoil, as there will be more friction with the bullet engaging the rifling, than the RB. Plus as Dingus has pointed out the different weights of the firearms. All things to consider. KD

 

[t-star]

my old army bounces about the same as my 44 mag if not more, but i'm using 30 grains of fff and a 200 grain slug- now given the old army is basically a blackhawk, it's also got to do with the grips

 

[sportee]

Ahhh, i never thought of the inertia thingy. I forgot about that stuff learned way back in highschool. True enough about weight...the C&B colt is wayyy heavier than the thunderer. And Dingus, dont worry, if anything im overcompressing the powder...not a chance of an airspace in them there cases. no filler either. I shortened some cases to get those loads.

Thanks for all that added their two cents.