To clarify, I've seen this post already

I really like the idea that the chosen answer suggests, yet when I go to implement it the recoil still doesn't "feel" right. The problem is mainly the fact that I'm moving the crosshair instantly to a new location and it feels quite jerky when playing around with it. I think that in order to properly implement recoil I need to move the crosshair more than once over multiple game ticks.

I think the main issue is that many games with realistic recoil "auto re-aim" (if you will) the gun as part of the recoil algorithm. This is from my experiences with various Source Engine games like Garry's Mod and Counter Strike. My best way of describing what I see and thinking about how it is implemented is that a point is chosen with a variance (usually up and slightly right) from the fire coordinates. The gun follows a sort of parabolic path (height depending on velocity of recoil) and eventually gets to the new point.

I'm getting kind of long winded but I hope most of what I said makes sense. Should I attempt to model the recoil implementation in the Source Engine? How would you go about implementing a realistic recoil algorithm? Are there any open source fps game engines that may be able to provide some inspiration?