Thank you Uncle Nick and highrolls for attempting to apply science to something that I have wondered about sometimes. My first inclination would be that if the mass and velocity of the bullet were equal, then the opposing recoil would also be equal, regardless of how those velocities were attained. But Uncle Nick points out some complexities of that assumption.
I do know that I have compared my subjective perceived recoil from my 7 mm Rem mag firing the same weight bullet at the same (approximate) velocity as a friend's 7 MM WSM. The WSM recoil seemed to be noticeably milder to me. I know it is a shorter cartridge and uses less powder than the Rem mag, but I figured since the mass and velocities were equal that the recoil difference was due to differences in the rifle or recoil pads or something. But maybe, the recoil really WAS different in the WSM cartridge.
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