I brought a few friends to the range today that hadn't shot before. They've converted, but that's another story. With all of the discussion that AR's don't recoil much and aren't loud, I'm wondering if it's my rifle or my perspective that's off. The AR was definitely louder than the Mossberg 12 gauge. I didn't think it kicked more, but the 2 newbies did. This is a 16" CAR with an A2 stock, no muzzle brake, shooting Federal XM193 Nato stuff. It is a J&T kit, and I've got 250 rounds through it with no problems. When everyone says the .223 is tame, is that compared to a 30-06 or other larger caliber? I wouldn't call it savage, but going back to the 10/22 was like switching to a bb gun.

Well, blast & recoil are subjective -

I've noticed that the 16" has a little sharper blast than the 20", and a little more felt recoil, but it's still pleasant.

My MOSSBERG with 3" High Brass 00-Buck kicks like a mule, and has a loud roar.

Hard recoil is a .300 Magnum Sporter-weight bolt action - where after 5 or 6 rounds at a target, wearing a t-shirt, you don't want to squeeze it off anymore!

AR’s, to me, have an very loud, sharp crack that can be downright painful.  Shotguns have more of a boom.

OTOH, the statement that your friends feel an AR has more recoil than a shotgun leaves me utterly bewildered!!  Maybe the sound gave them the impression the AR was kicking more than it was.  (Hopefully everyone was wearing ear protection!)

IMHO, AR’s don’t kick so much as they just bounce in your hands.

AR-15 recoil????
My 9 year old doesn't complain about AR recoil!
[>Q]

Um what recoil?

Try shooting a .30 cal rifle for about an hour and then shoot your AR. You wont even feel the recoil. Do it without earplugs and you wont hear it either.

Nobody I have every let shoot my AR has every complained about recoil. And that's all the way down to little kids. You need tougher friends. Now I have sent alot of people home with brushed shoulders from shooting my 870 with 18 1/2 inch barrel and 3" slugs.

I was at the range with a customer one day. Three girls came up and took the second station to our left. One had a 92FS that they were going to shoot. She shot fairly well, keeping them all in the black at least, at 10 yards. The second girl shot her 10 rounds and hit paper 10 times. The third girl shot her 10 rounds and had about 3 or 4 holes in the paper.

I was watching as they shot and the third girl was closing her eyes after the first shot. The 2 I presume were friends were wearing just the yellow foam plugs while the 92 owner had on muffs.

I went over and said I noticed the third girl was having a little trouble. She said it kicked a lot. I asked if they'd like me to adjust it so it wouldn't kick so much. They said yes, please. I handed the third girl a heavy duty set of muffs I had and told her to put them on while I adjusted the gun.

Turning my back to her and facing the girl who owned the gun I winked and made a few movements that the third girl couldn't see, other than to tell I was "doing something". I handed it back, showed her how to grip it, told her to press the trigger smoothly, and that it would now kick less.

She proceeded to put all 10 on paper with most in the black. After firing that magazine full she said it did recoil less, what did I do. I said it was just a trick I had learned. I also said for the 2 friends to take turns with the muffs when they were shooting. Afterward they thanked me for fixing the gun and I confessed all I did was reduce the sound level which the computer inside their skull then interpretted as a reduction in kick.

AR recoil?  What's that?

As far as .223s noise level, they have a sharp crack like 199 said.  I consider them to be loud and awful without hearing protection even from a distance.  Most other calibers like 7.62s, and some other 30 cals, as well as 12 gauges are less annoying but still loud.

As I said, I didn't think the recoil was worse than the 12 gauge, but I also didn't think the 12 gauge was as bad as I expected. Maybe it was a light load.

There was someone at the range the other day shooting a .223 AK. The sound and recoil appeared o be the same as the AR.

One of the guys I was shooting with is from Thailand...I think he'll own a .22 by the end of the week. The other guy is separated from his wife. He really seemed to like the AR, not that there is a connection. [;)]

I guess recoil is relative.  The first time I fired my father in law's CMP match AR, I had been firing my 8mm Mauser then we swapped for a bit.  He wanted to swap back after the first shot...I wanted a few more mags to run through ;-)

If all anyone has fired is a .22 LR, maybe a 16" AR seems like it has "heavy recoil".

--Otter

Maybe they perceive the recoil impulse as being harder due to the fact it's a lot quicker. Put a .308 in their hands for a few rounds, they'll quickly stop any complaints about recoil from the AR. The .308 is one round that is just happy to kick the s#*t out of you all day long, no matter how you load it.

Maybe it's time to go shopping for some new rifles...[sniper2]