Bullet weight is one of the biggest factors in "felt recoil".
I used to know the formula off by heart but that was over 20 yrs ago
(that's what happens when you get bitten by the reloading bug)
Its all down to Newtons third law, with a bit of his second law to add to the math!
If the same load of powder is used to push two different bullets down the range, then the heavier bullet will produce more energy.
In VERY basic terms, more energy forward equates to more energy backwards (to add to the confusion, I am talking about energy created by the bullet in both directions, rather than energy created by powder to move the bullet)
You could start to factor in velocities, but things get very complicated and I will end up typing for far too long
You only need look through the discussions on this forum regarding the "best" cartridge to effect an instant knock down on a deer to realise while ballistics have set laws to describe/predict actions, there is a huge hole in them for personal choice/experience/good luck/bad luck!
That probably reads much worse than it sounds in my head, so I apologise in advance
An EXTREMELY basic formula I was told when I started shooting (and one I have no intention of defending!
) is this
small = fast, flat shooting, light recoil
big = slow, big drop, heavy recoil