I think i got it, what i should look for is high grain with the lowest velocity vs low grain with a very high velocity which will end up with a more snap to it.
What's your goal?
I shoot 1911s. Due to some medical issues I haven't competed for several years, but I'm thinking about giving it another try this year. When I was in competition, I hadn't gotten into reloading yet so I was shooting factory Winchester USA 230-grain ammo in .45 Auto. And I was getting run over by the guys shooting 9mms, and one guy in particular who handloaded powder-puff .38 Supers. Compared to my standard power ammo, they all had zero muzzle flip.
So I decided to give myself as much help as I could if I was going to try again. I can't afford to buy a new gun just to try competing, so the goal was to find a load recipe that would allow me to use my .45 but have less muzzle flip. I had already decided to try using Berry's 185-grain bullet before I came across that article from
Shooting Times, but that confirmed that I was on the right path.
By a small miracle, the article featured the same bullets and the same powder that I use. The competitions at my local range are "IDPA-like," not formal, sanctioned matches. It's an indoor range, so most matches have only one stage that we run through three times. There's no rule on power factor, but I may also try a couple of sanctioned matches this year, so I wanted something that would be legal. And that load with the Berry's 185-grain bullet and 5.3 grains of Winchester 231 is perfect. It's accurate and, compared to standard power commercial ammo, it's like shooting a .22.
My point (before I forget): depending on what you hope to accomplish, heavy bullet/low velocity may not the the best for reducing recoil. You can reduce it even more by going with a light bullet and low velocity. You have put forth a binary choice: heavy/slow
vs. light/fast. It's not a binary situation -- you have virtually infinite options.