What has less recoil?

[ToeRag]

I'm looking for a rule of thumb to go by when buying target ammo.

I shoot .357 & .38 Special / +P --

I have two revolvers a SW686 & SW637

I want to practice with the SW637 with some low recoil ammo. The last I tried was 125gr SWC - it was ok, but I had heard that the heavier rounds, 148gr & 158gr produce less recoil?

I would have thought it would be the lighter rounds? I have also tried DEWC -- also manageable, does the bullet type have any effect in recoil?

With my SW686 it doesn't really matter.... it handles everything quite well.

 

[Brian48]

Generally, the heavier the bullets, the heavier the recoil given the same amount of powder. Of the over-the-counter stuff however, rounds using the lighter bullets are generally loaded much hotter (comparatively speaking) than their heavier bullet counterparts, which of course negates any recoil-saving benefit of going with the lighter bullet.

The .38/.357 is a great and easy round to reload if you want to experiment with lighter than normal loads. I've come up with some pretty light loads in the past using bullets as heavy as 158gr.