Comparison of recoil between .44 magnum and 30-30 winchester

[hminsky]

I am interested in getting a Marlin lever action rifle, and am wondering what
would be the comparitive recoil between a 44 magnum round (or 357 magnum) and a 30-30 round. Anyone have experience with these in a rifle?

 

[Dick]

No direct experience, but I can run the numbers for you.

I took the following approximate loads from the Speer manual:

.357: 158 gr bullet, 39 gr powder, 1700 fps
.44: 240 gr bullet, 24 gr powder, 1700 fps
.30-30: 150 gr bullet, 35 gr powder, 2200 fps

and ran them through the free recoil calculator available online at www.handloads.com. The resultant free recoil energy, in ft/lbs, assuming a rifle weight of 6.5 lbs was:

.357: 10.0
.44: 13.2
.30-30: 11.9

If you'd be shooting factory loads that would differ a bit, but I would guess not much.

 

[hminsky]

Thanks that is a good starting point...

 

[C-pher]

I don't know, I've shot all three. And I have a .30-30 and a .357 rifle. But I have to say that most of the pistol rounds were cowboy rounds. So the loads were lighter.

But I have ran full .357 rounds and .30-30 and I think that the .30-30 kicked A LOT harder than the pistol round.

But, the numbers upthere show that as well.

 

[C-pher]

Come to think of it... I would think that 35 grains of powder would be a lot in a .357 round... But that's me. I'm only doing 4 grains for cowboy and they still have a little kick.

 

[M1911]

Can you get 39gr of powder into a .357 magnum case? That can't be right.

 

[dwarven1]

I took the following approximate loads from the Speer manual:

.357: 158 gr bullet, 39 gr powder, 1700 fps

Uh... Dick, I think you want to look up those numbers again - that weight bullet with that kind of speed for a .357?? That sounds way too high.

Anyway, I've shot a .357 mag carbine and the recoil with full power loads was very pleasant. The M1, Mosin Nagants and SMLEs that I've shot all have much more recoil.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Let this point out the danger of using data posted by anyone without verifying it first with the mfr of powder or a known handloading guide!

This is probably the case of a dropped decimal point. I'll bet that the poster meant "3.9" grains!

 

[dwarven1]

Let this point out the danger of using data posted by anyone without verifying it first with the mfr of powder or a known handloading guide!

This is probably the case of a dropped decimal point. I'll bet that the poster meant "3.9" grains!

I'm not sure that's right, either. My favorite load when I was loading was 15.2 gr of Herc Blue Dot driving a 125 gr JSP bullet. Most of the loads I can find use more than 7 gr for a .357 load. 3.9 sounds more like a .38 load.

 

[highlander]

I had a marlin 44mag rilfe years ago the stock design didn't help recoil at all
One of my dim bulb cousins fired fro the hip "Rifleman" style left a nasty bruise and he limped for a week the dunce

 

[LORD of WAR]

ive owned both a marlin lever gun in 44mag and 30-30 and still have the 30-30...its a short barreled gun so the kick is pretty decent...doesnt help that neither gun had a rubber butt pad on it either...theyre pretty comparable though...the first few rounds you dont mind shooting but after say a box of ammo you know youve been shooting and kinda need to take a lil break

 

[Dick]

Uh... Dick, I think you want to look up those numbers again - that weight bullet with that kind of speed for a .357?? That sounds way too high.

Apologies to all - and I would have responded to this thread more quickly but I've been out of the country for the last couple weeks.

Yes, the 39 gr of powder for the .357 was incorrect, and I have no idea how I made that mistake. The approximate velocity of 1700 fps (in a rifle) is correct, however a correct estimate of powder charge weight (again in a rifle) would be more like 15 gr, which computes to a free recoil of just over6 ft-lbs. That's more consistent with the relative felt recoil that others have referred to for these three cartridges.

Finally, I want to reiterate that nobody should ever use any loading data that can't be confirmed in a quality reloading manual. But I didn't (and am not now) specifying any particular brand of powder because you only need the charge weight to enter into the recoil calculator. So I trust that (without a brand and type of powder specified) nobody would have interpreted the numbers I gave as a load recipe.

 

[dwarven1]

Don't worry - we didn't.