Sounds like your 470 was behaving very differently to the other rifles you mentioned.
There is however, a lot more to it than just the amount of drop at the heel when talking about perceived recoil either at the shoulder or at the cheek.
Things like stock length, cast, comb height, pad width and type, barrel length and weight, gun ballance and weight, cartridge type and capacity, bullet weight and velocity, etc etc.
Bear in mind that while a 458 Win mag and a 470 Nitro express share similar external balistics, they can be vastly different in their felt recoil.
The thing is that even if you had fitted a stock with less drop at the heel to your 470 it still may have kicked much harder than your other 2 rifles.
Also if the new stock, because of its height, made you have to push down harder with your face in order to line up the sights, there would be more chance of getting a belt on the cheekbone.
You only need one good hit and your cheek swells a little and gets a bit tender and then you have no chance of getting your head low enough to use the sights.