Wow. Miller, I guess you woke up on the wrong side of the bed. If you can't quote someone correctly and try to put words in their mouth, that's YOUR problem, not the person you're misquoting. Don't blame me when you get caught . . . sort of like a rat in a corner, going back to your rat reference.
Here's my view: Frankly, I don't know how many people can tell the difference in recoil between 18 grains of RD, 19 of AS, and 20 of GD--all other components the same, and all pushing the same 1 oz payload at the same 1200 fps velocity (straight out of the Alliant book). I'm not sure I can tell the difference reliably enough to say "That one had to have been the RD load, but this one was the GD load." It would be interesting to do a blind test. But I'd bet you would not get a unanimous vote. That being said, I do believe that people "feel" recoil differently. Why shouldn't people sense recoil differently, since we all accept the fact (or at least I think we do) that different people have different thresholds of pain, which is also a sensation?
As for Thomas, to me his explanation of WHY one feels less recoil with a fast-burning powder is a THEORY . . . and nothing more. However, those who believe that what one feels (all other factors being equal) is based only on what can be MEASURED, end up AGREEING with Thomas' CONCLUSION--that the faster burning powder recoils less--if not with his THEORY. Because as one can easily conclude, simply by looking at Alliant reloading data, there is always LESS Red Dot in a comparable load than there is either American Select or Green Dot. And when you plug the numbers into the formula, less powder = less recoil. If in fact a blind test were to establish that all shooters (or a significant majority) feel less recoil with an AS or GD load vs RD, then there must be something about the burn rates of the powders (acceleration???) that isn't factored into the formula for computing recoil--but should be.
So . . . Alliant says reduced recoil with either American Select or Green Dot. The formula tells us Red Dot should produce less measurable recoil. Poor old, dead Gough Thomas agrees with the measurable recoil formula, whether you like his "sensation" explanation or not. Me . . . I don't know, and I don't really care. The only thing I care about is that since Red Dot, Green Dot, and American Select all cost the same at my club, and since the recipes call for less Red Dot, unless I get more "felt recoil" from Red Dot, that's what it makes bottom line sense for me to buy and use.
