Originally Posted by Ross

If recoil is your biggest concern when carrying a weapon and already making the decision you are ready to kill someone then you need to rethink why you want to carry a weapon. I can see recoil as an issue if you are shooting and putting allot of bullets down range fatigue can be an issue. When I used to target shoot I used a very tricked out 1911A1. When the recoil got to me I switched to a .22 Victor High Standard to help me tighten my shoot group again. But that is target shooting. In defense your biggest concern is Identifying your Target and evaluating the threat. You may only get one shoot, God forbid you ever have to use the weapon, you need to make it count. In defense if you are shooting anything more than 10 feet or so away, you could end up charged with murder. This will depend on many things. At 10 feet you just need to hit center mast, "shoot groups" aren't an issue, you just need to be on target.

Recoil happens after you shoot, what happens right before you shoot should be your concern. Getting your weapon out of the holster and on target is a bigger issue. I would think the type of holster would be as important as the weapon. How you carry and how easy it is to get your weapon on target are also a bigger issue then the actual weapon you choose. Civilians just can't go around with a loaded gun in hand at the ready.