Recommendations for a kid shotgun?

[Whitecrow]

Amazingly enough, EVERY pump and autoloader I have can be loaded with only one shell at a time. Nobody in their right mind would turn a kid loose with a fully stoked auto......or pump. My nine year old shoots an 1100 20ga loaded with one shell at a time. She shoots her shell and the action hangs open for all in the party to see. Everyone knows with a glance that her gun is loaded or not. With a break open single shot you can't tell if the gun has been shot or not........only if it is cocked. I think the auto is much safer in a group........but that's just my opinion.

[waterspout]

Originally Posted by Whitecrow

Amazingly enough, EVERY pump and autoloader I have can be loaded with only one shell at a time. Nobody in their right mind would turn a kid loose with a fully stoked auto......or pump. My nine year old shoots an 1100 20ga loaded with one shell at a time. She shoots her shell and the action hangs open for all in the party to see. Everyone knows with a glance that her gun is loaded or not. With a break open single shot you can't tell if the gun has been shot or not........only if it is cocked. I think the auto is much safer in a group........but that's just my opinion.

I would have to disagree with that statement. It has to do with the way they were brought up and what they were taught early in life. My son at nine was pulling doubles consistently on dove. He has hunted with me sense he was big enough to sit on a levee and flap his arms with whites on for geese. He outshoots me now that he's 15, regularly. It depends on how they were brought up! I've seen kids play with guns and show them to people etc. Mine will not touch a gun in the house because he knows what it was meant for,, to kill! Teach your kids to respect guns, not fear them.

[gundoctor]

Originally Posted by Moonpie

You folks have any recommendations on a shotgun/gauge for a kid?
My brother has a daughter who wants to try hunting dove. She is very petite.
About 4ft, maybe 60 pounds.
Here's the parameters:
Recoil-soft as possible
Weight-light as possible
Cost-less than $300
I'm thinking along the lines of one of the inexpensive, single shot, break open guns by H&R or NEF.
I think 20ga is going to be too much for her recoil and weight wise. The .410 might work. What about the 28?
The stock can be cut down easily too.
Any of you folks out there have/use these guns? How is the trigger pull weight? Is it too hard for little fingers?
Something along the lines of a used 870 or 1100 is my preference but the gun would be too heavy for her.
Thanks for any help.

There is one thing that needs to be brought to light here. How long is the girl's length of pull. That is the distance she needs from the end of the recoil pad to the trigger. If its too short, then forget the 1100. The action spring tube sticks out the back of the receiver and gets pretty close to the butt plate. This tube can't be shortened without causing reliability problems. That limits how much the stock can be shortened. To learn to shoot well, she needs a stock that fits. A 870 can be cut of to fit just about anyone.

My recommendation is, get her a break open 20ga single shot, cut the stock to fit her, then cut the barrel back to about 21 inches. That will kill a lot of the hard kick, plus it will open the pattern so she can better hit close in birds, then make a great self defense gun when she outgrows it. As a beginner, she won't hit any long range birds anyway. Get some 7/8 oz #8/9 skeet loads and she is ready for birds up to about 40 yds or a little more. The same gun with some steel shot will work for ducks if she wants to try that too.
The 410 has too light a shot charge to hit much and the 28 is too hard to find ammo or even guns in. Get her the 20.


BTW: 21 inch barrels, with 2 3/4 shells, give just as high a velocity as longer barrels .

[gundoctor]

Originally Posted by waterspout

I would have to disagree with that statement. It has to do with the way they were brought up and what they were taught early in life. My son at nine was pulling doubles consistently on dove. He has hunted with me sense he was big enough to sit on a levee and flap his arms with whites on for geese. He outshoots me now that he's 15, regularly. It depends on how they were brought up! I've seen kids play with guns and show them to people etc. Mine will not touch a gun in the house because he knows what it was meant for,, to kill! Teach your kids to respect guns, not fear them.

Spout, I got to agree with you. I watched a hunting buddy's son grow up and hunted with him from the time he was 9 until his 30s. I customized one of the old big frame 870 20ga 3 in for his first duck and goose gun. I never had a problem with Roger having his gun fully loaded. I would rather hunt with someone like he was at 9, than some "grown men" I have walked off and left wondering "what my problem was" after some of their antics with guns in the field.
My daughters knew at a early age how to handle a gun. Their sons are learning. My granddaughter don't seem to be interested.

[jd10g]

Originally Posted by Whitecrow

I would go with a 20ga 1100. A 28 would be perfect, but they are hard to come by and expensive when you do find one. The youth 870 express 20 kicks pretty good, too. The singles kick, as stated, because of poor stock configuration. I would not handicap a beginner with a .410. They are hard to hit with for an expert, much less a beginner. Confindence is very important and some quick success is paramount........and difficult to have with a .410.
Good luck.

i second this but with the youth model . . .that means it has a shorter stock (a 15" not the 17") and a shorter barrel (i think 22/4" not the 28"). it's lighter and easier to swing . . . also the black synthetic coating is best.
daumn good gun. . can't break them and last forever

[bg]

Originally Posted by Chris

But hunting dove with a single shot might get discouraging.

I hunted with a kid, about 12, on a friends dove lease a couple of years ago that took a double with a single shot 20 gauge. 3 birds flew in, he dropped one, reloaded and about that time the remaining 2 circled over and he dropped another. All in a span of about 10 or 15 seconds. That was really something. I wish I could hit dove that well...

[Whitecrow]

Waterspout,
I guess that's one of the problems with typing on a board where everything is interpreted literally. What I meant was that no one should turn loose a BEGINNER kid with a fully loaded auto or pump. The guy asked about a gun for a beginning kid.........so that's who I was referring to. Sorry to upset your sensibilities.

[CHunter]

I had a double barrel 12 ga. Stevens shot gun when I was a kid. I hated that darn thing just because it would knock the devil out of you. I never could fire more than 1 1/2 boxes of shells thru it, I'm talking light loads too, without my shoulder turning completely blue. I shot an 1100 once and sold that double barrel and bought an 1100. I still hunt with it. I cannot explain the hate I developed for that double barrel. Make sure she's ready for the experience with the right gun. BTW ....I paid $190.00 for my 1100 brand spanking new. Right now I'd say I've run well over 10,000 rounds thru it. My how time flys.....LOL

[txseadog]

If he does go with the single shot 20 you should have him check into the reduced recoil loads.

http://www.remington.com/ammo/shotsh...ecoil_20ga.htm

[TXPalerider]

Originally Posted by Whitecrow

Amazingly enough, EVERY pump and autoloader I have can be loaded with only one shell at a time. Nobody in their right mind would turn a kid loose with a fully stoked auto......or pump. My nine year old shoots an 1100 20ga loaded with one shell at a time. She shoots her shell and the action hangs open for all in the party to see. Everyone knows with a glance that her gun is loaded or not. With a break open single shot you can't tell if the gun has been shot or not........only if it is cocked. I think the auto is much safer in a group........but that's just my opinion.

This how I taught my son with his 1100. He started out loading 1 shell at a time. These guns can even be plugged with an extra long dowel rod so they won't accept shells in the magazine. I eventually shortened the dowel to accept 1 shell in the magazine. Now he's 11 and loads a normal 3 shells.