Thanks. In the PRB post that I cited, it's noted that recoil force can be "in excess of 1,000 pounds", but that "the recoil event is very short, lasting only about 10 milliseconds". So yes, I suspect that the gun is absorbing most of that elastically, and then relaxing on a longer timescale.

0) http://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/07/01/muzzle-brakes-recoi...