Why does recoil go up and not down on a gun?

Question

Why does recoil go up and not down on a gun?

In: 2624

Answer 1

Recoil is backwards and two things happen for pistols and long guns.

With a pistol, as the force is applied backwards, your arms are locked so this impulse cannot move back, so is diverted. Your wrists can bend upwards much easier than both hands moving left or right or down. So your wrists “buckel” upwards.

Rifles are much more controllable as your shoulder cannot buckel and divert the force elsewhere so is sent just backwards. This is why recoil is so reduced even though more force is applied.