I’ve never shot an ak in 5.56 so is there a big difference in recoil compared to a 5.45 gun? Say an slr106 vs slr104.

Its not a huge difference, but it is noticeable.  5.56 has more recoil in all cases over 5.45.

My Yugo M95 may be the lightest recoiling rifle I have in those calibres.

Thanks guys, I didn’t figure it would be very noticeable. I’ve just got an ak match coming up and wanted the softest shooting rifle to make an “open” gun out of.

I know the ak purists probably won’t like that idea lol.

One of the big reasons I prefer the AK74 is how soft shooting it is

When you use a red dot at 300 yards and hit half man size steel 90% at a rapid pace you'll really appreciate why the 74 and the brake are designed the way they are

It really does effect the recoil impulse.   I'll have to put the m95 and ak74 up against each other the next time I go out.  Wonder how the m95 would do with the adjustable gas system with the 74 brake?

I think it could easily be better than the 74 if you have enough granularity in the gas adjustment
The secret sauce of the 74 is mostly the brake itself and if you add that to any caliber it does a great job. AK103 type rifles recoil less than AKM types because of the brake and I've noticed my Tiger is a softer shooter too now that I have a 24x1.5 FSB and 7.62 AK103 brake on it

Adding it to the M95 ought to make it even better

5.56 is a higher pressure cartridge but it's close enough that the two may recoil the same, depending on other factors like gas port size - 5.56 needs a smaller gas port, but some 5.56 AKs are overgassed - and recoil spring stiffness.

If I put my two current 5.56s next to each other while shooting, for example, the Saiga .223 has noticably more recoil than the Bulgarian 5.56 74 I built. I used a small gas port on the Bulgarian while the Saiga has a larger port and is somewhat overgassed, which can be corrected with an XP recoil spring. Otherwise the two rifles are identical, with 74/100 series lightened internals, both have Bulgarian AK-74 muzzle device, and so on. They are basically the same rifle but one recoils harder.

Whereas all 74s more or less will have the same exact gas port size.

And, FWIW, My Saiga .223 seems to recoil a little less with Tula vs Federal XM193.
Not sure if this applies to .223 Tula, but I've heard that 7.62x39 Tula uses a slower burning powder, which seems to be why it feels lighter but chronos faster than some other steel import.