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!!

Well one thing shooting at ducks or geese I am willing to bet the recoil will not be noticed.
Repetitive shooting at a target is another thing.

What is the manufacturer of the firearm?

JW

you could just get a padded butt cover to help absorb the recoil. just stretch it into place and you're done. wally-world has them for around $20.

It's a TriStar Viper G2, 12 gauge.

Take you gun to a gunsmith, and have the forcing cone cut down.
It will reduce felt recoil, and tighten the shot pattern.

ported choke tube and a pachmeyer decelerator pad
RR

And if you want to take it one more step over what RR and jrbsr said, its a tad bit of change, but worth its weight in gold. Get the barrel ported. Will last the life of the gun, never wear out and never get changed out. Have it on both of my waterfowl/turkey guns and both trap guns. Very much worth the $150 getting it done. I even had my wifes 11-87 Premier 20ga trap/skeet gun done. She loves it.