What materials reduce recoil in a handgun?

Bore axis height is another factor to consider. The higher the bore axis relative to the height of the grip, the more torque that will be felt by the shooter, hence given rise to more muzzle flip, and a much greater perceived recoil effect.
 
What material reduces handgun recoil?

STEEL, the more you have, the less felt recoil there is, no matter the caliber.

Sorry if this sounds sarcastic, but its true. Actual recoil is a straight calculation involving the energy that comes out of the muzzle (bullet and powdergas) and gun weight. See Newton's Third Law of physics.

No amount of "energy absorbing" material or design can reduce recoil. What they can do, is change the feel of the recoil in your hand, thereby seeming to reduce recoil. Felt recoil is a very subjective thing. Two different people can shoot the same gun and ammo, and yet have very different impressions of the feel of the recoil. Some folks are much more sensitive to it than others.
 
No amount of "energy absorbing" material or design can reduce recoil.
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Ultimately felt recoil is force applied to the shooter's hand.

An energy absorbing material will spread out the time and lengthen the distance that it takes the gun to come to rest and that will reduce the applied force.

Recoil is a function of conservation of momentum. Force is momentum over distance. That means that the more distance it takes to stop a moving object of a given mass and velocity, the less force it takes.

A moving object has kinetic energy. Force is kinetic energy over time. That means that the slower a moving object of a given mass and velocity is stopped the less force it takes.

So the energy absorbing material doesn't reduce the recoil velocity--it doesn't change the energy or momentum in the recoiling gun. BUT, it does change how much force that recoiling gun applies to the shooter and that is a big factor in reducing felt recoil.

However, as pointed out, if you use that material in place of another heavier material, the gain in terms of reducing felt recoil may be counteracted by the increase in the recoil velocity due to making the gun lighter.
 
Heavy gun plus light load equals light recoil.
Light gun plus heavy load equals heavy recoil.
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It all depends on whether you are talking about felt recoil or actual recoil. Which is easier riding. A 2-ton Truck without shock absorbers, or a 1000lb car with shock absorber?
 
There are three main materials involved in reducing recoil:

Lead and powder - less of them reduces recoil.

Steel -more of it reduces recoil.
 
The material of the pistol makes a difference. All other things being equal, an alloy frame with a steel slide gun will have more felt recoil than the same gun in all SS, because the weight is all above the shooter's hand with the alloy frame. My physics is rusty but I believe this is a polar moment deal, the same thing that makes it easy to balance a broom on your palm with the bristles up, and harder to do it with the bristles on your palm
 
I am not a physics major but I find it hard to imagine that polymer frame flex reduces recoil to a point that is even measurable.
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Not sure either myself, but I do know that I can feel the polymer flexing (actually, it is more of a vibration) in my hands when I shoot guns like Glocks and XDs. Rather annoying IMO, guess I'm just not a polymer fan, but to each their own.
 
Light carry weight is a trade off for heavier recoil, given the same loads, and same action. My all steel .40 shoots great, but weighs in at 32oz. before the 8 rounds.
 
Given the same round, a heavier gun will provide less felt recoil ... the grip is another important item ... when I swapped the factory grip for a set of Trausch grips on my 4-inch 686+, the felt recoil of .357 rounds dropped dramatically, allowing me to get back on target a lot faster than with the old, bare-frame grips that came with the gun. Trausch grips ain't lovely, but they are nice thick rubber and have a tail at the top like a 1911 ...
 
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