[DeeGee]

Due to age and arthritic shoulder I find shooting my Ultra Varmint Fluted, .223, very uncomfortable during PD shoots. Thinking about having the .204 barrel fitted on my receiver.Miight just be a "much" softer recoil for me?. Wonder if any reader might have some information on the recoil comparison between the two calibers. Could you assign a number for the .204 if we say the .223 has a recoil of 10? DG

 

[Fred M]

Yes a comparison can be done if you have the input. Weight of rifle, weight of bullet, weight of powder,and velocity of bullet.

Off hand I don't think there is much difference, best I can rcommend is
to wear recoil shield, they work really well. I use one when I shoot from the bench. Install a soft recoil pad either a slip on or a permanent one. With the shield and the pad you should be ok.

 

[quickdtoo]

The felt recoil of the 204 is less for to 2 reasons, the recoil energy and the recoil velocity are both reduced enough to keep the target in view at impact, although there's not a lot of difference in either one, combined it makes for a pleasant shooting round, not much more than shooting a 17hmr IMO. If you're satisfied with the .223, I'd just add some weight or a mercury suppressor to the butt stock, lots more practical than buying a 204 for the little difference in recoil.

But, there's nothing wrong with having both, either!! ;D

Tim

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

 

[shooting.al]

Does your gun have a recoil pad? Mine does and I don't even feel any kick. ???

 

[Sm Bob]

I'm not sure what recoil pad you have on your 223, but if it is the one that originally
came with the rifle from the factory I would definitely replace it. That pad is as
hard as a rock! I would go with a Limbsaver or a Pachmyer Decelerator. Either
one of these will make a world of difference in felt recoil over the factory pad.


Robert

 

[bigjeepman]

Too many good suggestions for me to add anything ... if I were you, I'd try all of them including Tim's suggestion of owning both calibers.

bjm

 

[PHATINJUN]

I have both and handload for them the only noticeable dif to me is that I can not quite hold on target with scope to see bullet impact with the .223 where as you can see the hit with the .204. The .223 recoil should be much better if you use 100003 limb saver pad .But just to be safe you should get BOTH. Kurt

 

[henry1]

Not sure if this will help but when I was shooting dogs last fall it would feel it after a few hundred rounds, not bad but it got me thinking, so I took the but off of my handi .223 and filled it all the way up to the lip with lead shot. Then i cut out a peice of foam, put it on top and screwed the butt back on. It made it a lot heavier, but i could watch my hits and misses then and the recoil was a little more than a .22. try it out! it just might work for ya!
Hank

 

[shooting.al]

To answer your question my rifle has the factory vented recoil pad. And to be honest I really can't tell a difference between it and a .22.