Hopefully bladeracer will give you a better explanation as my experience is also limited and distant memory.
But a pump action is an entirely manual operation, no use of recoil gasses.
In 12 gauge I went from a side by side hammer gun to a mossberg 500 pump. Which is a pretty cheap gun. Synthetic stock, mass produced junk really. Somewhat better to shoot, because nothing is more brutal than the old side by side.
But then I swapped the mossberg for a Bennelli semi auto, expensive well balanced nicely put together with a wood stock. and that was a dramatic difference in recoil.
The only other semi auto I used infrequently was a franchi spas which was still a nice piece of kit but not a patch on the Bennell
I guess recoil is relative depending how much you need/want to shoot the gun. In 12 gauge most stuff available for cat a/b is not much fun if you want to shoot all day
Unless it’s a nice u/o trap gun or something.
I’ve seen shotguns nowadays with muzzle brakes and I saw one with ported barrels, things that would vent some gas and make them a bit more pleasant.
Plastic stocks I would avoid in 12 gauge and I think you need something that’s nicely weighted, balanced.
I guess you get what you pay for like anything else. Some of the better straight pulls seem well reviewed recoil wise.
And of course recoil is relative to the individual. The only shotgun I take anywhere nowadays is a 410. Probably my favourite gun to shoot actually.
But that’s simplistic, there’s more to the story. Bladeracer ?