You got a Civil War bayonet for Christmas? I'm green with envy. Most of the old guns had a pretty series kick. Some were so bad that soldiers had to be specially trained. One off-topic example is the Martini-Henry rifle, which always shot high if you weren't trained how to handle the recoil. the Zulus captured a large number of Martini-Henrys from British troops but since they weren't trained in their use, they did not do well with them on the battlefield.