Abstract: A gun system comprising a recoiling cannon assembly, a stationary carriage having a cradle, and a campath and cam follower mechanism for moveably mounting the cannon assembly on the cradle for travel along a two-stage curvilinear recoil path. The first stage has a linear portion shaped to maintain prefiring orientation, and a curved portion with a decreasing radius of curvature in the direction of travel (i.e., recoil) to accelerate the cannon assembly upwards. The second stage, which may be straight or have a curved configuration different from that of the first stage, causes the cannon assembly's upward motion to be decelerated in a controlled manner. A recoil buffer assembly has deceleration characteristics matched in a predetermined relationship to the configuration of the curvilinear path, so that the instantaneous stabilizing moment of the reaction to the upward force of the recoiling cannon assembly and the moment of the static weight of the gun system.