Stevens 555 Enhanced recoil reduction

I recently purchased a Stevens 555 Enhanced based on my fondness of Savage rifles. I looked over the shotgun at the NRA show in Atlanta and thought it seemed a little light, but talked with several 555 users who were standing around and they all commented that recoil was not an issue. My local dealer ordered the gun for me the next week. I have taken the gun to the range 3 or 4 times shooting mostly 5 stand and trap. I am very disappointed with the amount of recoil. After one round of trap, my shoulder has had all it can take! The gun might be OK for hunting, but my main use is shooting clays.

Has anyone had any success reducing recoil on the Stevens 555 Enhanced? I am torn between taking it to my gunsmith to add weight or selling it and starting over.

Comments welcome g.lee.barnett@gmail.com

Stevens 555 was designed to be a hunting gun, hence the light weight. If you're main use is going to be trap/skeet then you'll probably want something else. I didn't think the recoil was that bad while shooting clays with the one I reviewed a couple years ago, but I grew up shooting 3" slug guns so my perspective on shotgun recoil may be skewed a little. I know the young man I sold it to shoots sporting clays with it quite often down at Briar Rabbit with great success. He likes that gun so much he turned down an offer from his dad to upgrade him to a Browning.

I have a 410 555 and it is so light I have trouble keeping it moving when shooting skeet. I tried to add weight and it helped but Now the bottom barrel choke tubes seemed to have swelled. Destroyed one trying to swap them out. It will be on the way back to Savage then sold once fixed.