Thread: A question for the doubters

Originally Posted by gimp

The question of recoil is interesting. There is only 1 paper I've become aware of quantifying this.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ful...18720817700537

Competent shooters with .223 M4, 6.8 M4, .308 AR10. Shooting from unsupported offhand positions. Hit percentage declines markedly proportionally with increased recoil (~60% 'centre hit' down to ~30%) - even though the .308 in question is quite heavy and muzzle braked which reduces the recoil energy significantly

It is not a perfect study but it makes sense and is the only evidence available for the effect (or otherwise) of recoil on shooter performance.


Interestingly in the thread someone started with attempts at 10 shot 1moa groups, almost every successful contribution is a .223 and I think only a couple of "magnum" sized cartridges have been contributed - which appeared, on the whole, to produce worse precision - but it's a very limited sample. Of course, shooting groups from a rest on a flat range is easier than in the real world - you'd expect any difference to be amplified given the POI shift effects of inconsistent position etc.

A heavy rifle of any calibre would also reduce hit percentage off hand