Monday Gunday: Blowback vs. Recoil

I have been lax in my Monday Gundays.  This is partly because I've been concentrating my energy on helping fellow gunnie Squeaky Wheel, and partly because ammo is still expensive, and partly because it's Florida in the summertime and the temperature & humidity are, approximately, equal to Venus.

But today I learned something new about guns!  And since about half my audience aren't gunnies, I figure this will be of interest to some of you.

Up until today, I just assumed that recoil and blowback were synonyms. It turns out I was wrong, at least as how it applies to firearms operation. Fortunately, the good folks on the Book of Faces were able to set me right with a video that explains it all, with visual examples.

(For those of you who don't have the patience to sit through it:  in blowback guns, the barrel is fixed in place; for recoil guns, the barrel moves.You're welcome.)