September 7th, 2012

Calculate Recoil Force with FREE Point Blank Software

300 winchester win magnumOne of our Forum members recently added a .300 Win Mag rifle to his collection. He planned to shoot the heavier .30-caliber bullets, but he was nervous about recoil. So, he posed the question, “How much more recoil will I get with the .300 Win Mag compared to my .308 Winchester?”

Our .300 Win Mag shooter received many “anecdotal” responses to his inquiry, many of which suggested that he attach a muzzle brake to his new rifle. However, none of the replies gave him a definitive answer to his recoil question.

Well folks, the recoil force* of a rifle can be determined, with precision, by some basic mathematics. If you know the rifle weight, the bullet weight, the powder charge weight, and the bullet’s muzzle velocity, you can calculate the recoil energy in foot-lbs, using a standard formula. But if your math skills are a little rusty, there is a simpler way — just download the FREE Point Blank Ballistics Program. This will do the calculation for you in seconds.

Calculate Recoil Energy with Point Blank Software
Among the “Misc Functions” in the FREE Point Blank program is a handy Recoil Calculator. Simply input rifle weight (in pounds), bullet weight (in grains), powder charge weight (in grains), and muzzle velocity (in FPS). Then just click a button and you have your answer. Here is an example comparing a typical .308 Win Load (with 168gr SMKs) with a .300 Win Mag load (with 200gr Nosler Partitions).

Recoil Energy Calculation (12-lb. Rifle Weight, constant)
.308 Win, 168gr Sierra MatchKing @ 2758 fps = 12.09 ft-lbs
(Hodgdon Max Load, IMR 4895)

.300 Win Magnum, 200gr Nosler Partition @ 2860 fps = 21.33 ft-lbs
(Hodgdon Max load, IMR 4350)

In addition to calculating Recoil Energy, Point Blank’s “Misc Functions” will calculate Recoil Velocity (how fast the rifle moves rearward), Muzzle Energy, and Taylor Knockout Factor. The last two values are particularly important for hunters, who need to ensure their hunting load has enough “stopping power”.

More Features of Point Blank
Point Blank softwareAlong with its many “Misc Functions”, Point Blank software offers a full-featured Ballistics Calculator that provides drop values and wind-drift out to 1000 yards. Just input the bullet BC, bullet weight, and MV, and you’ll get a solution displayed in both chart or graph formats. Plus Point Blank has a database to hold your load data, and a second firearms database to hold info on your gun collection. That’s a lot of features for a program that’s FREE to use!

*Shooters understand recoil as the push or “force” they feel against their shoulder and gripping hands. The foot-pound (ft-lb) is a measurement of ENERGY defined as one pound of force applied through a displacement of one foot. So, when we are talking about ft-lbs of recoil, that is technically a measurement of recoil energy (i.e. force applied though distance).

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