Recoil energy and felt recoil are really not the same things. Yes, felt recoil has a lot to do with stock configuration and fit (inline vs. drop stock on KY. rifle). I once built a trap gun with almost a1" inch high rib and then matched the cheekpiece to be in line with the rib. With a good shooting stance more recoil was sent straight back to your shoulder and you were able to track birds better and shoot longer with less fatigue (I shot about 5,000 targets per year). In fact Mossberg had done this same thing with their Model 500 trap gun in the 80's.