I have a LOT of experience with recoil. I have made one of the biggest rifles to be built in the last 150 years, (2 bore) and I also have built a lot of rifles in the 40s up to 505 Gibbs in the years I have been a gunsmith.
The issue is not simple.
Recoil is a function of several factors. It can be figures by taking into account these things;
A. Velocity of the acceleration of the projectile and also its velocity as it leaves the muzzle.
B. Weight of the rifle.
C. Vent pressure at the break of the gas seal.
"Kick" on the other hand is what a shooter feels. It's tied into recoil, but it's not just recoil.
Kick also includes the factors of;
A. Body weight
B. Interface of the weapon to the body (hands, arms, shoulders dynamic action of the body upon impact and so on....)
C. Sensitivity of the nervous system of the individual shooter.
D. Stock fit which will effect ALL the above. The dynamics above are worse the worse the gun fits you, and better the better it fits you.
A well fitting 30-06 will hurt you less than a poor fitting 260 Remington. A well fitting 8 bore rifle is not at all bad to fire, but a poor fitting 58 cal can beat the crap out of your arm, shoulder and face. The 8 bore will have 5X the recoil, but may seem to “kick’ less.
Here is a 4 bore in action.
I find that at 4 bore and bigger, nothing can be done to make them “nice” But 8 bore (82 caliber) and smaller can be made into nice rifles to shoot.
The speed that a rifle hits you is more painful than how much force it hits you with.
Consider a Land Cruiser in 4 wheel, low range
at idle. If it was moving forward at idle in 1st gear it would push you out of the way if you were in front of it, and as long as you didn’t fall down and get run over you could move out of the way without injury.
Now consider a sharp jab from a welter weight boxer in your face.
If we compare the forces generated by the truck and the boxers jab, the truck is WAY more powerful, but which one would cause more pain- or put you on the ground?
That’s an exaggeration of the forces I am speaking of here, but it’s a valid illustration. The power of the truck is not harmful if you get pushed by it. The power of the jab is painful no mater what you do.
Recoil is what the gun generates when you fire it.
Kick is what you feel.
As a shorter man, you need to be very careful to get a rifle that fits you well. If the kick is too fast to be comfortable, consider 3 things that can be added.
#1 a good recoil pad
#2 an internal stock mounted recoil reducer (like a “dead mule” or “Breaco system”
#3 A good muzzle break. Breaks make the gun louder, and most shooters don’t like that, but if you must have one, get one. They do work wonderfully well.
Happy hunting and shooting.
