Gregsy, you can find the formula for calculating free recoil in one of several reloading handbooks and see that the mass of the rifle opposes the mass of the ejecta. The greater the weight of the rifle the less rearward velocity the rifle achieves and the rate of energy transfer to 200lb man's shoulder is reduced. Also, the 200lb man is not fully behind the gun with his weight, just his shoulder which is something more like 10 to 12 lbs loosely attached to the rest of the weight, so 2 extra lbs is significant in relation to the shoulder's weight. Shoulder moves rearward and the body above and below, having greater inertia, are pretty much folded around the shoulder causing the head to be pulled downward as the scope arrives rearward. This generally results in some pretty good gashes in forehead and nose if the movement is too severe. One of our instructors (a 280lb strong horse type) demonstrated this perfectly with a TC rifle equipped with a .375H&H barrel this past weekend. Took us a while to close up the cuts to forehead and nose.
Last edited by Jerry V Lape; 02/14/08 07:52 PM.
