Another welcome here 5210...there are some things you can do to help in drastically reducing recoil but can be somewhat pricy!Jim gives some good advice here in that there isn' t a dang thing wrong with down sizing to a 20!My kids and myself have all killed birds with a 20 more than once.A much cheaper opportunity to look into is check out some of the aftermarket recoil pads.SVL..Sims Vibration Labratory makes a good one i believe for around the 30 to 40 dollar mark.I shot a 300 magnum last week about 15 times that had a Answer Products pad on it and it was incredibly nice.I dont know for sure if they make a pad for a shotgun but it wouldn' t hurt to ask because if they do it would well be worth your money.Heres the add...
http://www.answerrifles.com/answersystem.htm
Hope it helps..Bob