Gunsplaining to conservatives

[jimmy the one]

36. recoil the rub, gun headaches may result

beemr: ... fully automatic fire. This is not possible with a .30 caliber sized rifle - the recoil is too severe, the weapon cannot be handled.

Good OP beemr. I've argued often here the ar15 & its .223 rockets should be banned due to light recoil. Tashfeen Malik, one of the two san bernadino shooters who killed 14 in 2015, weighed ~90 lbs accd'g to her lawyer, was carrying an ar15 &/or 9mm pistol.
Oddly enough her lawyer argued her light weight precluded AR15 shooting ability - yet that she carried an ar15 itself indicates she planned & could shoot it (what & whether she actually shot I dunno): He said that Malik weight {sic} 90 pounds and that she would have been unable to carry assault rifles and tactical gear. https://heavy.com/news/2015/12/tashfeen-malik-syed-farook-wife-suspect-inland-regional-center-san-bernardino-shooting-suspect-facebook-page/
>> wiki: Farook and Malik used two .223-caliber semi-automatic rifles, two 9 mm caliber semi-automatic pistols, and an explosive device in the attack

I'm hardly an expert on assault rifles, only having shot an m16 for 15 minutes at an annapolis navy firing range (after qualifying as enlisted marksman with .45 pistol, maybe 1911, dunno). This qual has in the past put me in gejohnston's & others class of DU 'anti gunners' who speak of guns while knowing 'nothing of firearms'. I see you got in too.

chuck hawks recoil table: .. the figures in any recoil table should be taken as approximate. Never-the-less, the table below should give a reasonably accurate comparison of the recoil of most popular rifle cartridges.
.. the majority of authorities agree that recoil of over twenty foot pounds will cause most shooters to develop a serous flinch, which is ruinous to bullet placement (the prime component of killing power). Fifteen foot pounds is probably about the maximum recoil energy most shooters feel reasonably comfortable with..
While recoil energy determines how hard the blow to the shoulder feels, recoil velocity determines how abrupt the blow to the shoulder feels. My subjective impression is that, with a well designed stock, recoil velocity above about 10 fps begins to feel like a sharp rap on the shoulder rather than an abrupt push.
1909, the British Textbook of Small Arms stated that 15 ft. lbs. of free recoil energy was the maximum allowable for a military service rifle. The 1929 edition of the same textbook stated, in addition, that recoil velocity should not exceed 15 fps; above that velocity a gun-headache was very likely to occur. These figures remain practical maximums for the modern hunter.
Above this level recoil becomes increasingly intrusive. https://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

bullet (grain wt,muzvel) -- RifleWt- Recoil energy- Recoil velocity

.223 Rem. (45 at 3500) ... 8.5 ......2.6.......4.5
.223 Rem. (55 at 3200) ...8.0 .......3.2...... 5.1
.223 Rem. (62 at 3025) ...7.0 .......3.9...... 6.0

.30-06 Spfd. (150 at 2910) 8.0..... 17.6..... 11.9
.30-06 Spfd. (165 at 2900) 8.0..... 20.1..... 12.7
.30-06 Spfd. (180 at 2700) 8.0..... 20.3..... 12.8
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=197924

The recoil energy & recoil velocity tend to increase as you go down the table.

Appears the AR15 & 9mm pistol malik might've carried, had recoil energy parity, & ar15 half the recoil velocity.
handgun- glock 17 9mm 124 gr) .........NA ...... 3.5 ..... 10.4
handgun- 9mm Makarov (95 at 1025) ....1.5....3.0 .... 11.2
... gleaned from chuckhawks handgun recoil table, & a gun website.

(jto in above link): re the term 'assault rifle': howsoever it evolved, somewhen it has become a political term used today to mainly define rifles with a high muzzle velocity which often have an automatic rifle equivalent in the military {AR15 to M16, AK47, 74}, and which can often be converted back from civilian semi-auto to full automatic by use of a conversion kit or sometimes a simple tool such as a file (not that many assault rifle owners do this, it would be counter productive, just that the capability exists).