Recoil question

[alpacaheat]

Shopping for a 40-caliber and seeing my top choice, the M&P 40 is offered in different barrel legnths ranging from 3" to 4.5", most common for sale seems to be 4.25" and 4.5".

How does barrel length and weight affect recoil?

I'd think a larger and heavier would have less recoil. Am I correct or do I have it backwards?

I want less recoil since my wife will be at least trained on it if not using it, so I'd want the longer version, right?

Thanks for your replies and patience with a fairly new gun owner.

[RobW]

A 3.5" kicks more than full size, and will also be "snappier". No reason to buy a compact unless carry/concealment is an issue.

[alpacaheat]

That's what I thought, was leaning towards full size.

This won't be my concealed carry gun anyways, I have a smaller one for that.

The 40 will be the new home security system.

[Curmudgeon]

If you and you wife have any interest in a .45 instead of a .40 I think I have the perfect pistol for her.

And we're close enough that we could explore that possibility in person as soon as you'd like.

[alpacaheat]

So a follow-up question, would a steel frame be better than polymer on reducing recoil and for greater ease of shooting?

There's a Beretta Cougar 8040 that's caught my eye locally. Felt great in my hand but couldn't test-fire it where it was for sale and they're tough to come by, so I doubt I can test it before buying anywhere.

I'm torn between that and the Smith M&P40.

[alpacaheat]

If you and you wife have any interest in a .45 instead of a .40 I think I have the perfect pistol for her.

And we're close enough that we could explore that possibility in person as soon as you'd like.

I just won 1,000 rounds of 40 S&W ammo but thanks for the offer.

[RockIsland]

The answer to all of your questions is yes.

You really knew the answers all along.

[normanvin]

So a follow-up question, would a steel frame be better than polymer on reducing recoil and for greater ease of shooting?

There's a Beretta Cougar 8040 that's caught my eye locally. Felt great in my hand but couldn't test-fire it where it was for sale and they're tough to come by, so I doubt I can test it before buying anywhere.

I'm torn between that and the Smith M&P40.

More mass usually means less recoil.

I have found the 40 to be a snappy round. I had a glock and a Kahr. The Kahr was a full metal frame. I found both to bother may hand.

[Curmudgeon]

So a follow-up question, would a steel frame be better than polymer on reducing recoil and for greater ease of shooting?

There's a Beretta Cougar 8040 that's caught my eye locally. Felt great in my hand but couldn't test-fire it where it was for sale and they're tough to come by, so I doubt I can test it before buying anywhere.

I'm torn between that and the Smith M&P40.

More mass usually means less recoil.

I have found the 40 to be a snappy round. I had a glock and a Kahr. The Kahr was a full metal frame. I found both to bother may hand.

This is actually funny. Sell the .40 ammo and use the money you make to buy my wife's pistol, which is a....


wait for it....




Beretta Cougar 8045.

Comes with 3 magazines, original black grips plus beautiful oiled walnut grips, and a holster. Although we bought it used from a member here, it was a safe queen, and we only ran about 100 rounds through it. I will guarantee the recoil is far more manageable than the .40, the Cougar's rotating barrel mitigates a great deal of it, and everyone familiar with shooting .45s says they can really feel the difference.

If I owned a .40 I could swap you the ammo outright but all my pistols are .45.

Your call.

[alpacaheat]

This is actually funny. Sell the .40 ammo and use the money you make to buy my wife's pistol, which is a....


wait for it....




Beretta Cougar 8045.

Comes with 3 magazines, original black grips plus beautiful oiled walnut grips, and a holster. Although we bought it used from a member here, it was a safe queen, and we only ran about 100 rounds through it. I will guarantee the recoil is far more manageable than the .40, the Cougar's rotating barrel mitigates a great deal of it, and everyone familiar with shooting .45s says they can really feel the difference.

If I owned a .40 I could swap you the ammo outright but all my pistols are .45.

Your call.

Sounds nice. Think I'm set on a 40 though...I was wanting one BEFORE I won the ammo because I was always walking into stores looking for ammo and all they ever had was 40 on the shelves and plenty of it. 15+1 capacity with a ton of penetrating power, what's not to love?


Comparing my finalists...recoil is lowest on the Beretta at 6.5 ft-lb but M&p 40 isn't much worse at 7.9.

Defense ranking, whatever the defensive ranking means...M&P and Ruger are at 96% and Beretta is 88%.

The only appeal of the SD40VE is the price, not likely to buy though.


If York City ever goes Fergusen, having up to 31 rounds on me in the gun and one spare mag seems like a good idea. Unfortunately I have to frequent that hole for job purposes.

Defense Ranking
This calculation is entirely subjective and is intended to give a relative measure of a gun's ability to provide concealed personal defense. This ranking is based on a weighted combination of the four previous calculations:

Power Factor• 60% + Capacity • 40% + Concealability • 30% - Recoil Factor • 30%

This value is compared against all of the guns in the database and is then represented as a percentile ranking.
(100% = the gun with the highest combined value, 1% = the gun with the lowest combined value)