.45 long colt kick in smaller 1873 Colts?

[His lordship.]

I shoot handloads that are considered mild (8grs of Unique, 200 gr. bullet) in my Ruger Super Redhawk and am always amazed at the sizeable kick and roll of the gun, despite its long barrel and heavy frame when fired from a bench.  I have seen some of those 1873 Colt replicas with the short barrel, 3.5", or even the 4.75" models and wonder how people can deal with lengthy shooting of those lighter models with the kick of the .45 LC?
 
I know the cartridge was originally a black powder one and that must have helped, but I never hear of anyone complaining on the recoil, especially those birds head grips.  I used to shoot .44 cal. cap and ball revolvers, they were ok but they had the long barrels.  Is there something about the single action grip that controls the recoil?

[jimster]

Personally I don't think the shorter barrels (4.6 from Ruger, or 4.75 from Colts/clones) recoil any worse than the hoglegs, might be everyone has different experiences too.  I have always used 250 grain or heavier, my normal load for the 1873 replica's have been 8.x grains of Unique, this is probably not the place to list any loads so I had to use "X".   The grips will make a difference, the thin grips that come on some models will feel much different than thicker grips, and people are making all kinds of grips now, thicker, flat bottom cut, thick at the top and thin towards the bottom, all these things will change the way it feels when it goes off.  I like more meat on the grips and flat cut on the bottom myself than for example the thin ones that come on a USFA or Ruger Vaquero.  Grips do make a big difference.  I have never had a problem with recoil with grips I like.  No experience with the birds head grips in .45 Colt...can't comment on that.

[painted horse]

Different felt recoil between the DA style grip and the SA grip. Preference between the two is like Ford or Chevy.  I know for me, my Bisley is easier on my hands than my Redhawk especially when shooting "heavy" 45 colt loads. Thats annoying for me because shootin heavy loads was one of the reasons I bought the RH. (you know that charging Grizzly thing ) Six rounds of "hard" h110 loads with the RH will leave an indentation in the web of my hand, not so with the BBH. (or Vaquero for that matter). Maybe a change in grips would help that issue, something that covers the metal backstrap??

[44 Man]

As Painted Horse said, there is a lot of difference between double action type grips and the single action frames.  The hump on the double action frames seem to accent the recoil while the single action rolls in your hand.  That said, I have owned Rugers for years and always used 9. gr Unique with a 255 lead bullet as my 'woods' load and enjoyed shooting them.  Now most of my single actions .45's are on Colt size frames and it does make a difference!  I now find my 'woods' load uncomfortable (though perfectly safe) and have dropped back to 8.3 gr.  Why 8.3 instead of 8.5 or 8.0?  Because that's what my Lee disk powder measure happens to throw.  I have a great deal of the heaver load on hand and am shooting them up mostly in my H&R .45 carbine, although I will load them in the revolvers for a hunting load, but I prefer 2400 for that use.  I still have full confidence in the 8.3 load with a big, flat nose bullet bringing down anything I care to tackle with my .45's.  44 Man

[Gene R]

I agree... I shoot both a Ruger BH 45lc w/ 5 1/2" bbl and a S&W 625 45lc mountain gun. The Ruger is much more enjoyable to shoot. It kinda rolls back vs kick.