Originally Posted by hunter177

Today I shot a full box of Winchester XPert HV Steel shells at 1550 fps to break in my new semi-auto. The gun is a 12 ga., 6.8 lbs., 26" barrel. The load is 3", 1 1/8 oz., #2s. I've never had a problem with recoil and I didn't necessarily mind this hitting POI dead on each time. The issue is I could barely hold on to the gun. I'm new to waterfowling this year. Has anyone else had this happen? Are there any INEXPENSIVE ways to reduce felt recoil? I was thinking a ported choke maybe and/or lighter loads? I normally shoot 12 gauge shotguns, a 30-06 with no issues. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!