I'm not the original poster, but I'll chime in here. Felt recoil is totally subjective, everyone has their own standards on what is okay and what is too much. I used to train 120-pound female cops who thought the hot 147-grain JHP 9mm in a Beretta 92 was a pussycat, while 250-pound Baby Hueys whined about it. I cut my teeth on revolvers, and with a well-shaped set of stocks that fit your hand, recoil is a lot less noticeable. Shoot an autopistol that your hand doesn't get along with very well, and it seems a lot more pronounced. Guns with very little weight forward of the triggerguard tend to accentuate the recoil impulse, the day I figured that out was the day I realized why I loved heavy-barrelled handguns!
The Bersa 380 is a perfect example of a small-caliber gun with a noticeable kick, all the weight is at the rear, and the muzzle rise is pretty abrupt for such a wimpy little round. It's not overpowering by any means, but it's noticeable, especially to those more used to revolvers, with more weight out front. The heavy-barrel Smith & Wesson revolvers like the newer Model Tens and 64/65 series are very popular, with good reason. The gun goes bang, but it doesn't buck and roar like a magnum. VERY easy to shoot, even fast DA fire is a snap once you get used to the trigger and the feel of the gun. I LOVED teaching new recruits the wheelgun, in a few dozen rounds most of them were drilling the X-ring, or bouncing reactive targets all over the backstop. Almost made me look like I knew what I was talking about.
As for the UC45, it recoils about like you'd expect. Not vicious, but noticeable, and trying to shoot hot, heavy-bullet loads fast is difficult. My best advice is to use a two-handed grip, let the gun rise, then guide it back on target as rapidly as you can without jerking it downward. The idea is to LET the gun return to the same place every time, naturally. If you fight it back down to perfect sight alignment you'll wear yourself out in no time, and your shots will be scattered low and left (usually) from jerking the trigger when the sights are close.
I just loaded up 500 rounds of 45 ammo for my UC, using a 230-grain round-nose cast bullet over 4.1 grains of WST. It's not hot, but it's about the warmest heavy-bullet load I can shoot fast with any accuracy. Does it kick? Sure it does, it's a 45ACP in an alloy-framed gun! But nothing a 120-pound female officer would complain about............
Papajohn
If you can shoot Home Invaders, what's wrong with shooting Homeland Invaders?