I own a S&W 500, 8 3/8 inch barrel with the hi-viz sights and interchangable ports. I can say that there is no noticable difference between the two that come with the gun. I only switch from the "jacket" port to the "lead" port if I am going to shoot more than 10lead bullets at a time (which are only 600gr and 700gr bullets anyways so I am not shooting much more than 10-15 in a session).
My friend has the 4" version with interchangable comps and recoils much more than mine. I would say by a 1/3 more than mine, but that is just me putting a number on it. Not to mention when you shoot it, it feels like you are in front of a campfire.
I have heard that non-removable comp has the same amount of recoil as mine, but I have not shot one so I would only take that as "gunshop" talk. Around my house if you rent one, the one you will most often find it is the std. comp.
Hope this answers at least some of your questions. This is one of my favorite guns and probably one of the most versitile calibers out there. Down loaded bullets can still have twice the energy as full house 44 mags.