Well I have 10 years competing with 1911's with full power loads. Myself and all my friends agree with me that if we had a Glock 45 at the time we would never have went with the 1911 format. Yes there is less felt recoil with a Glock 45. It is VERY noticeable when shooting fast. Glock have been winning the steel shoots but they do it with a trigger that have nothing in common with a Glock. Just look at what Dave Sivigney has accomplished with a stock Glock over the years. Having started out with one instead of a 1911. J.Michael

To me a Glock 19 is more snappy than the P229. The latter is probably a little heavier but I don't have them anymore to compare. Other things may play into it as well like recoil spring weight and like you said, ergonomics. I know I don't have the shooting experience of Charles Petty and he may be more in tune to little peculiarities that I don't notice but I suspect if you gave a shooting amateur a Glock 19 and a P229 or a G17 and P226 and let him/her shoot them side by side, they wouldn't say the Glock recoils less. I just suspect there are two many variables to say polymer shoots softer than metal frame guns because it flexes. That's my thoughts anyhow:)

The problem comparing my Micro DE to your LCP is they are completely different designs. I have shot a friends 9mm mid sized Glock that was similar in size to my High Power and there was little to no difference in recoil for me. Honestly until you have two identical guns with the only difference being one polymer and one steel, this will remain a hypothetical question. I think ammo makes more of a difference than polymer vs steel.

the issue with cast in the original XD45's. There is an added ramp (on the slide or barrel...I don't remember which anymore) that depresses the nose of the top round in the magazine down on extraction/ejection and moves forward out of the way as the slide moves back forward to pick up the next round. It seems not all the XD's had that issue. Mine sure did and was so bad it beat the heck out of the rear of the magazine to the point I had to press it flat again on a table, even with jacketed ball ammo and It would dent the bullet noses as well. I'd like to have one of the new XDm 5.25 45's but I need to limit my gun buying. The XDm's are the exception to the rule in polymer guns for me...I definitely like them. I liked my XD 9mm as well.

I just don't fit Glocks. The small frames give me slide bite and the large frames (SF or Gen4 even) are too much a reach to the trigger. I don't really have a problem with polymer guns at all. I'm just not sure I buy the argument the polymer reduces recoil or that a novice would notice it. Recoil is subjective and there are too many variables that can affect it such as how high or low the centerline of the bore is to the hand, grip shape and width, overall weight of the gun, etc.

That there is the key - perceived. Comfortable grip shape and uncomfortable recoil are both matters of personal perception. What one person "absolutely hates" is likely to be something that another person "absolutely loves". Not all hands are created equal.

I just don't think the polymer factor contributes as much as other variables.

It is absolutely impossible to scientifically document that. As much as I respect you and Bill Laughridge AND Charles Petty, I think its subjective and every single gun model has its own virtues or vices that will contribute to a perceived increase or decrease in recoil.

But suppose some young woman buys a first gun based on the "it's plastic so it kicks less" model. Or some husband or boyfriend tries to tell his wife/girlfriend "you need this, it's plastics so it kicks less". Having worked as a range officer and behind the counter in a large gun store I can tell you they habitually try to buy them either a pink Keltec that she CANT rack the slide on, or some other gun based on something they read but their ego is right in the way of getting her what she needs or wants and a knowledgeable person behind the counter is helpless trying to convince him what might just be best for her is the all steel or aluminum alloy .38 she doesn't want to put back in the cabinet. I'm just a stickler for facts. Prove it first or say it truthfully, as in "it feels like maybe the polymer frame absorbs some of the recoil". Facts are facts, regardless of what we think or know, but what we claim to present as fact should be properly established as such before we accept it as such. Maybe I nitpick too much:)