This thread has reminded me of Abbott's 'Flatland'.

To be fair, most everyone here appears to have some math/physics coursework. Neurophysiology? Uh, no. So it's not surprising folks are apt to view shotgun recoil as though shotguns were rail-mounted artillery pieces - forgetting that people fire shotguns. What we really care about isn't a calculation of energy, force, moment, power, eieio. We care about what we feel. And every single recoil impulse we feel throughout our lives is conducted to, and processed by, our brains.

Nor am I surprised by some pretty silly ideas (preconceptions, really) about what humans can or cannot discriminate. If I can't consciously detect different rates of payload acceleration......in 5 shots or less......well, that proves that noone can. Not even over a lifetime, right?

But then......there's something called a flinch. A flinch is of interest because it is caused by the cumulative, non-conscious effects of recoil over time.

Gosh, it's as if the brain is able to perceive something that.......

Nah, can't be.

Sam