In my experience, I have only shot modern or double action revolvers until today. I was lucky enough to shoot my buddies Ruger Blackhawk .357 . It was the convertible one with the extra 9mm cylinder.

      Anyway, am I wrong in thinking there is less recoil or felt recoil in "cowboy style" guns? I am guessing the grip angle is the cause. I have shot all kinds of .357's and .44's that were double action. And this Ruger .357 single action felt like I was shooting practice .38 special loads. I bought a couple boxes of Federal 125gr JHP's to shoot and they were very, very accurate out of his pistol.

     I am not recoil shy at all. Snub nose .357's are a blast (literally) to shoot.

Yes, and you're right about the grip, but it's not just the angle. The overall shape of the traditional single action grip is designed to let the pistol roll up during recoil, and since your wrist is rolled forward more (due to the grip angle) there is less perceived recoil.

I thought it was because "cowboy action" loads were not as hot as standard loads.

Very likely the Blackhawk is also heavier than what you're used to.

Or a combination of all three.

All three would account for less felt recoil.

they are, but he wasn't shooting a cowboy action style round, so that wouldn't affect this.

I must be doing it wrong.
I can shoot my S & W 29 with no problem,
My Vaquero kicks like a mule.

Dave N

Don't shoot a 475 Linebaugh out of a 4.5" barrel Freedom Arms single action revolver with wood grips.  I thought the 454 Casull in a Freedom Arms 6.5" Magnaported barrel single action revolver and Pachmyer grips rocked and rolled pretty good but the Linebaugh was a real eye opener.  My strong hand suffered for two weeks after shooting the 475 Linebaugh off a pistol perch.  The Freedom Arms are expensive highly crafted revolvers which are very accurate but I could shoot a 500 S&W all day compared to the 475 Linebaugh.

I find SA revolvers have less perceived recoil (for me) because the grip is meant to roll up into the hand rather than straight back like on a double action. I had a 357 Blackhawk and I felt 0 recoil with buffalo bore loads, in fact  with an sp101 I could feel 38 special recoil more. I also had a 45 LC Vaquero for a while. It didn't recoil at all, but I never really put any hot rounds through it either.

OP I have the same BH as your buddy. With 158gr .357mags the gun is fairly tame and just rolls back in my hand. My biggest problem is the short barrel creates a lot more muzzle blast/concussion than I'm used to.