Making low recoil fire arms

Hello, I am making a personal use firearm mod and have a question regarding some variables to control recoil. It seems that the game calculates recoil based on firearm weight and cartridge power which is very nice but I am attempting to make a low recoil firearm for its caliber. I haven’t had much luck though.

The “recoil” variable only seems to be able to increase rather than lower it, and can’t accept negative values.

The variable max_cycle_recoil also seems to be valid doesn’t decrease the weapon recoil stat in game, same with handling_modifier. Do these not function when assigned on a firearm instead of an attachment?

I appreciate consideration of my question.