A heavier rifle will reduce felt recoil for you as well. Using lighter, more solidly constructed bullets (like the Barnes X) will also reduce the felt recoil. The other thing is to use the fastest burning powder that will safely give you the velocity you are looking for.
The three main things that affect recoil are rifle weight, bullet weight, and powder charge weight -- velocity is the fourth, but assuming you want to keep the velocity the same, those three will be a help to you.
I loaded my wife's 30-06 with a starting load of IMR3031 and some 150 partitions for about 2800 fps. It's a real joy for her to shoot, and it kills real well.
