When it comes to personal defense, the most effective firearm is the one you can shoot accurately and consistently under pressure. For many people, a firearm’s recoil can be a significant barrier to effective training and confident handling. Fortunately, the market today offers a wide range of low-recoil defensive firearms that deliver serious power without the punishing recoil of their more traditional counterparts.
We are going to highlight a variety of low-recoil firearms that are brilliant alternatives to their harder-hitting family. The primary focus will be on the defensive use of firearms, and we’ll avoid using rimfire cartridges or various .32s for every selection.
Low Recoil Handguns
Handguns are a very broad category, and with that in mind, I have four suggestions that fall under the handgun category, with the majority focused on concealed carry.
Pocket Pistol: Ruger LCP in .22LR
I said I wouldn’t make them all rimfires, but I can make one of them a .22LR: the incredibly awesome Ruger LCP in .22LR. I bought one of these, and my wife stole it almost immediately. Pocket pistols are notoriously difficult to shoot and painful at times, but that disappears with the .22LR.
The tiny .22LR cartridge produces almost no felt recoil, allowing for rapid, accurate follow-up shots. While not as reliable as a centerfire round, the ability to place multiple shots on target quickly and reliably makes this an excellent option for those who find traditional pocket pistols too difficult to control.
The LCP II can hold ten rounds of .22LR, which is pretty impressive for a gun this small. The micro-sized pocket gun has solid little sights, a fairly decent trigger, and has proven to be incredibly reliable. To get good penetration, make sure you use a “hot” .22LR round with a hard round-nose design.
Revolver: S&W 432 UC
I won’t load up this list with a bunch of obscure .32 caliber guns, but I have to mention one! The S&W 432 UC might just be my all-time favorite revolver. It’s incredibly easy to shoot, super accurate, and the Ultimate Carry setup is everything I’ve ever wanted in a revolver.
Revolvers are a classic choice for concealed carry, but their snub-nosed design often leads to sharp recoil. The S&W 432 UC mitigates this by using the low-recoil .32 H&R Magnum cartridge. This round offers better ballistic performance than a .380 ACP but with significantly less recoil than a .38 Special.
The UC design integrates a dovetailed rear sight with an XS front sight. The two work together to provide an extremely accurate revolver. I’m talking headshots at 25 yards, accurate.
The big grips are fantastic and provide a lot of space for recoil to dissipate throughout the hand. This makes it comfortable to shoot, even with the hardest-hitting .32 H&R Magnum cartridges. This low-recoil revolver is a fantastic defensive firearm.
Concealed Carry Handgun: SIG P365-380
The SIG P365 is a king of the concealed carry market, and its .380 ACP version drops the recoil at least a full point. The P365 design is made for 9mm and is quite soft with 9mm, so when you introduce the lighter .380 ACP to the frame, you get a low-recoil micro-compact pistol.
The P365-.380 uses the same micro-compact magazines, which give you 10 to 12 rounds of .380 in a very compact, easy-to-conceal package.
The little .380 ACP cartridge isn’t to be ignored. It’s very capable, offers excellent penetration, and can give you reliable expansion for the P365’s barrel length. The commonality of the .380 ACP also makes it easy to find and affordable.
This little pistol comes optics-ready and has a proprietary SIG rail that helps usher it into the modern era. A lot of low-recoil pistols don’t embrace modern features, but that’s not the case here. Plus, the P365-380 works with all the same holsters that work with the P365, which means you have tons of options.
The P365-380 is probably the most practical .380 ACP concealed-carry pistol on the market. It has all the benefits of a modern micro-compact pistol with a little less recoil.
Full-Sized Handgun: S&W M&P 5.7 Pistol
Getting into the 5.7x28mm round isn’t cheap, but in a full-sized handgun, it’s tough to find something with lighter recoil. Using 5.7x28mm does require you to find the right ammo, and I’m partial to Speer Gold Dot for handguns. If you get the right ammo, the S&W M&P 5.7 is a very capable firearm.
The recoil is surprisingly light, less than a 9mm by a good margin, and the decreased diameter gives you 22 rounds in a flush-fitting magazine. The S&W M&P 5.7 makes it easy to dump several rounds into a target without the gun trying to fight its way off-target.
The gun is quite large and is best suited for home defense. It’s optics-ready and has a rail for accessories. A light and an optic would make this pistol tough to beat for low-recoil home defense.
We get an easy-racking slide, modern ergonomics, and all the fixings of a modern handgun. The grip is rather wide thanks to the long length of the cartridges, but S&W took their time and avoided making the gun feel like a 2×4.
Low Recoil Shotgun
If you’re me, you always have a shotgun on the brain. The big downside to shotguns is their recoil and the lack of tactical 20 gauge models—until now.
Mossberg 590 20 Gauge
Mossberg took the 590 design that’s beloved by the U.S. military and applied it to the 20-gauge cartridge. They produce two models, and both are lightweight, easy to shoot, and modern. The 590 series integrates the 20-gauge round brilliantly.
The 20-gauge is a fantastic alternative to the 12-gauge. It offers a significant reduction in recoil while still delivering a powerful payload of pellets that is more than sufficient for home defense distances. With Federal’s new Flitecontrol 20-gauge round, the two are a match made in heaven.
The Mossberg 590 design comes optics-ready and can accept 12-gauge stocks. You can customize the gun to fit you and your frame just right. Proper stock length of pull is critical to using proper recoil mitigation techniques.
With capacities of seven to eight rounds, depending on the model, the 590 is no slouch. I think it’s about time the 20-gauge got a dedicated tactical shotgun and a dedicated tactical load. For shotgunners of smaller stature, the 590 is the way to go.
Rifles
One thing about the rifle world is that we already have some fairly low-recoiling options. The 5.56 and various Pistol Caliber Carbines (PCCs) out there are known to be soft shooters that are easy to handle. What’s the low-recoil alternative to a 5.56 caliber AR-15?
KelTec SUB 2000 Gen 3 in 5.7
If you want a centerfire rifle with almost no recoil, the little 5.7x28mm shows its ugly head again! If you thought it was soft from a handgun, it’s almost rimfire-like from a rifle. The KelTec SUB 2000 is an affordable 5.7x28mm rifle and uses FN 5.7 magazines.
It’s absurdly easy to shoot quickly, and your red dot isn’t going to leave the target. I can shoot this gun one-handed and still land hits with absolute ease. Firing a rapid string of fire and landing every round in a tight group feels awesome.
The use of magazines in the pistol grip creates a fairly short rifle. Plus, it can fold in half, which is great for storage and travel. The Gen 3 design has a rotating handguard that makes it easy to mount optics.
The SUB 2000 comes with an M-LOK rail, a threaded barrel, decent ergonomics, and a low price point for a 5.7x28mm rifle.
Low-Recoil Alternatives
Physics states we’ll always have to deal with recoil. It’s just the name of the game when it comes to firearms. That doesn’t mean we can’t have options that do their best to reduce recoil while remaining a capable defensive platform.
Lower recoil allows for accurate and fast follow-up shots, and sometimes that matters more than raw projectile size. If you’re feeling challenged by the current crop of defensive firearms, give our low-recoil alternatives a try.
