The ticket for the recoil blues is the evo-shield shooting shirt.
http://www.evoshield.com/en-us/prote...shooting-shirt
My last trip I shot over 12,000 rounds of 20ga through a 6 1/4lb Rizzini O/U with a slip-on pad & the evo-shield shirt. Never felt the recoil & could have shot more.
The big thing about 16ga is most outfitters charge a premium above the cost of 12 or 20 gauge ammo. When you're shooting the volume of ammo you do @ 12 to 15 dollars a box a couple of extra bucks a box adds up quickly. It's not uncommon to shoot 60 boxes on a single morning or evening shoot if you want to.