History Main / RecoilBoost

->''"To put it another way: If I mounted a [[GatlingGood GAU-8]] on my car, put the car in neutral, and started firing backward from a standstill, I would be breaking the interstate speed limit in less than ''three seconds''."'' [[note]]A GAU-8 is a 30 mm Gatling-style autocannon that fires shells weighing 14oz apiece at up to 60 rounds per second[[/note]]

[[folder:Realtime Strategy]]

* In ''Fanfic/AshesOfThePast'' Mawile is determined to teach Goodra, a non-flying Dragon, how to fly. The solution they eventually come up with is firing a continual Dragon Pulse at the ground as rocket propulsion, and Mawile herself figures out how to do roughly the same with Flamethrower (although she can only steer while Mega Evolved).

* From TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}, the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]] believe that a proper gun should be big, loud, and gives a satisfying bang when it goes off (of course, being heavy and sturdy enough to use it to bash with is fundamental). Most of them modify their guns to produce quite a kick, impractical as it makes it, [[ATeamFiring even for them]]; and even have looted tanks modified for bigger booms and more recoil.

* Yosemite Sam of the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' has been known to propel himself into the air by firing both his revolvers downwards.

While not possible with RealLife hand-held firearms (at least individually - if you could fire 30 or 40 simultaneously, that'd be a different story), there's a grain of TruthInTelevision -- a few of the most powerful mounted machine guns actually exert enough force to propel a vehicle, although they would also destroy large swaths of countryside in the process.

* In ''VideoGame/Halo3'', the [[DropTheHammer Gravity Hammer]] has enough recoil to be used to lengthen a jump by swinging it downwards.

* In ''Film/TheATeam'', after losing two of the three parachutes in a falling tank from AttackDrone fire, the A-Team uses the main gun to steer the plummeting vehicle towards a ([[SoftWater slightly]]) softer landing in a lake.

* In ''Anime/LostUniverse'', this happens with a LaserBlade of all things. Millie takes Kane's Psycho Blade and tries to use it herself, but ends up going overboard and propelling herself into a wall. [[ChekhovsGun Kain later pulls the move against the assassin sent to kill him]] [[CrazyEnoughToWork to catch her off guard when his normal attacks don't work]].

->''"To put it another way: If I mounted a [[GatlingGood GAU-8]] on my car, put the car in neutral, and started firing backward from a standstill, I would be breaking the interstate speed limit in less than ''three seconds''."'' [[note]]A GAU-8 is a 30 mm hydraulically driven seven-barrel Gatling-style autocannon[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/TurboOverkill'' has two weapons with considerable recoil. The shotgun a.k.a The Waster and sniper rifle a.k.a telefragger can be used to reach higher places.

* This would work with hand-held weapons in a microgravity environment, and is essentially a small-scale version of ExplosionPropulsion. Unless specially modified for vacuum, however, many gun cartridges wouldn't work in space.[[note]]Chiefly because, to fire properly, the cartridge needs an oxidizing agent, the most common being [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin oxygen]] from the air. However, self-oxidizing powders do exist.[[/note]] And trying this on a space station would be... [[ExplosiveDecompression inadvisable]].

While not possible with RealLife hand-held firearms, there's a grain of TruthInTelevision -- a few of the most powerful mounted machine guns actually exert enough force to propel a vehicle, although they would also destroy large swaths of countryside in the process.

* In ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "Heavy Metal Queen", Spike propels himself shooting his pistol after jumping loose in a zero-gravity space.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode "Johto Photo Finish", Ash uses his Charizard to battle Harrison's Blaziken. At one point, Charizard uses its signature [[MeteorMove Seismic Toss]] to piledrive Blaziken into the ground, seemingly ending the battle... until Blaziken gets back up! Misty asks how Blaziken survived it, and [[MrExposition Brock]] explains that just before they hit the ground, Blaziken used Flamethrower as a cushion against Charizard's Seismic Toss. [[spoiler:Blaziken would go on to win the match for Harrison.]]

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': The protagonist Akira, with the help of PoweredArmor, AugmentedReality, and most importantly, his VirtualSidekick Alpha, who can control his powered armor to make him into a PeoplePuppet, tends to do this. At first with an anti-tank rifle with special ammo, which has so much recoil it'd break his bones if not for his powered armor. First, Akira uses it to launch a super powered kick to cancel out the momentum of a CyberNinja kicking out the floor from underneath him. Secondly, Akira jumps down a stairwell, using the kickback to slow his momentum to let him catch the railing right next to an injured teammate. After Akira gets [[GatlingGood a minigun]] and expensive cartridges that use a ShrinkRay to store a ton of ammunition, he uses both the minigun and anti-tank rifle to WallRun down and across from a thirty story building, all the while trashing enemy robots, landing unscathed.

->''"To put it another way: If I mounted a [[GatlingGood GAU-8]] on my car, put the car in neutral, and started firing backward from a standstill, I would be breaking the interstate speed limit in less than ''three seconds''."''

->''"To put it another way: If I mounted a GAU-8 on my car, put the car in neutral, and started firing backward from a standstill, I would be breaking the interstate speed limit in less than ''three seconds''."''

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': This is how both [[SupermanSubstitute All Might]] and Midoriya are able to achieve NotQuiteFlight. The SuperStrength granted by [[SuperEmpowering One For All]] is strong enough to create powerful [[BlowYouAway wind blasts]]. All might and Midoriya use this to their advantage not only as a long range air attack, but also for movement, by punching or kicking and then allowing the momentum of the air blast to propel them in the opposite direction. This can be seen in the climax of the Hideout Raid Arc, when All might is fighting [[BigBad All For One]], and the climax of the Internship Arc, when Midoriya temporarily unlocks the use of One For All 100% in order to fight Overhaul.