Does mass make a difference?
By MARJ LAW
Edna and Tom are at the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office range. They’re planning on shooting at the stall next to me. Joe’s there too.
Edna is new to shooting, and is planning to purchase a handgun for self-defense in her car, by her bedside and for carrying in her purse.
“I don’t like recoil,” I hear Edna say to Tom. “Sandy and Clara went with me yesterday to a place that rents guns. We tried out a handgun each. I was surprised at the amount of kick these guns had. Seems to me that the smaller the gun, the less recoil there’d be. Well, there was an awful lot of recoil in all the guns we tried out.”
“What caliber did you shoot?” Tom wonders.
“They were all 9mm. We thought the .22s were too small for defense, and your friend John said a .380 was too light as well. So, the guns we shot yesterday were all nice, lightweight 9mm handguns. Do you know, every one of them had lots of recoil? We traded each, but they all were the same. Maybe I’ll have to stick with a .380 or even a .22.” Edna sounded a little depressed.
“Yeah, Sandy told me all about your trip. I don’t see why you had any problems with those guns. I never did.”
Edna comes to stand behind me.
“Hey, Marj. Can I ask you something?”
I put down my gun and turn to her. “Hiya, Edna. Sure. What’s up?”
“I’m having trouble finding a gun that doesn’t have too much recoil. All three of the cute little guns I shot yesterday had a lot of recoil.”
“Not to me,” chips in Tom. “I don’t know why the girls are having a problem.”
Joe has stepped back to join in the conversation.
“The mass of the gun is directly correlated to the amount of recoil it will have,” he says. “Cute little 9mm handguns will have more recoil than full-size guns because they don’t have the mass to absorb some of the shock of shooting.”
“Yeah, but we’re just talking about 9mm handguns. Not something weightier like a .40 or a .45,” argues Tom. “Now I can see that Edna would feel a difference in recoil between a 9mm gun and a .45, but 9s are pretty much alike. There shouldn’t be a noticeable recoil in 9s.”
“Well, there is a difference,” maintains Edna. “And you’re a big guy,” she looks at Tom. “You can handle lots of things I can’t.”
“How about we compare a couple 9mm guns,” I suggest. “We can shoot a compact gun and a full-size gun to see if we can feel a difference.”
“I don’t think we’d find a difference, but I’m willing to try it if you’ve got a couple guns we can shoot,” says Tom.
“I’ve got a Sig Sauer P226 Elite we can use for comparison,” suggests Joe. “Marj has a Kimber R-7 Mako. That’s a subcompact. The P226 is a full-size gun. It has more mass than the Mako. They are both 9mm guns, but they have quite a difference in weight.”
“There won’t be a difference,” persists Tom. “But if you want to compare those two guns, I’ll go along with it.”
“My P226 has a metal frame,” explains Joe. “That’s part of the reason it’s heavier. The frame is not polymer like many other guns. The P226 is one that the U. S. Navy Seals use. Many law enforcement agencies use them too. Recoil is fairly light in this gun.”
Gunbeaver.com agrees. “The heavier weight of the metal frames of the P226 and P229 helps to mitigate recoil, making them easier to control, particularly during rapid fire.”
Gunbeaver goes on to add: “Their natural point of aim and well-thought-out controls make them easy to handle, even for shooters with smaller hands.”
Naturally, weight isn’t the only reason a gun has less recoil, but it’s a start. Edna, Tom, Joe and I decide to compare the P226 with the Mako to see if we feel a difference. The P226 weighs in at 32.4 ounces. It is 7.7 inches long. The Mako is a lot lighter, weighing in at just 19.5 ounces. It is 6.2 inches long.
I’m kind of partial to my Mako. “The R-7 Mako is Kimber’s first polymer framed, striker fired, high-capacity subcompact handgun,” says Kimber. Gunsamerica.com says of the Mako: “Made with glass-filled nylon, the frame is lightweight and comfortable to hold.”
They go on to address recoil: “The Kimber R-7 Mako was also very accurate and easy to shoot. Thanks to the low bore axis and the ergonomic grip, the recoil was mild and manageable.”
So, both guns have been touted up as easy to shoot, with a mild recoil. Is this true? Will the 4 of us notice any difference in recoil, or is Tom correct: that there isn’t any difference?
Joe shoots my Mako first. On a 1-5 scale, with 1 showing the lightest kick possible, and a 5 the worst kick he’s seen, he gives the Mako a 3.
Well, I think that’s a little harsh. I give the Mako a 2.5. Yes, it has some recoil, but the gun handles well.
Next, Joe shoots his P226. He gives the recoil a 1.5. That seems to me a little easy, but I shoot next. Okay, it does have little recoil. I have to give it a 1.5 as well.
Edna shoots next. She picks up the Mako.
“Yes. I’d give it a 3 like Joe did,” she states. “But I’m surprised at how little recoil the P226 has. I’d give that a 1.5 as well. C’mon, Tom. Your turn. I want you to feel how both guns shoot. Does one of them have more kick than the other?”
Tom picks up the Mako and shoots.
“Okay. It does have more recoil than I thought. On that 1-5 scale, I’ll give it a 4.”
That score surprised me. Especially after he was saying that 9s don’t have much kick.
Next, he picks up the P226 and fires.
“I’ll give this one a 3.5,” he says. That’s a pretty high score too.
Totaling up the scores on the Mako, we’ve given it a 12.5 for recoil. The P226 got a score of 8.5. Clearly, we all feel the Mako has more recoil. The additional mass of the P226 has made a difference.
“Both guns are easy to control,” Edna states, “but I want a small gun with little recoil that will be useful for my purse, car, and bedside. The Mako is small, and it is a 9mm, but it does have quite a bit more recoil than the P226.”
“The P226, on the other hand, is clearly not a small gun. But it would work for my car and bedside and it has less recoil than the Mako.” She thinks for a moment.
“There might not be one gun that fits every bit of criteria a person wants,” she says. “I’m most concerned about recoil. Since I like the size of the Mako better than a full-size gun, that means I’ll have to practice at the Sheriff’s Office range more often to get used to the recoil.”
“Choosing a handgun is a personal thing,” observes Joe. “There are many handguns out there. Make a list of the criteria that is important to you. If you can, rent the guns that most fit your criteria. Then choose the one you like the best. We’re all different and our needs are different. Choose the gun that’s right for you.”
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.