Shotgun for a little lady

Do a search here. There's bunches of threads. Dave's take on it is that the 870 Youth is a hard kicker. I don't have one (yet) but my LW1100 is a light kicker.

I'll toss in a couple comments here...

My wife is pretty tiny. Roughly 5'3" and 110#. She's been shooting shotguns semi-seriously for a few years now, and we went through some trial and error getting her going.

Basically, for a smaller shooter there are two different things that have to be balanced. One is recoil, the other is overall weight. For my wife, we've found that recoil is secondary, and that overall weight tends to be more of an issue. In general, she would prefer to shoot a lighter gun that kicks a little harder, than a heavier gun with light recoil.

Actually, I just lied... as there is a third component... ease of operation. In particular, some brand-new O/U actions prove to be so stiff that she has trouble operating them smoothly. A broken-in piece is no problem, but she really dislikes having to wrestle with anything on the trap line or in the shooter's box.

What we ended up doing was going with an autoloading 20ga for a while, and then moving to an autoloading 12ga. With the move to the 12ga, she started scoring better (for more than just gauge reasons... but that's another issue), but she felt more comfortable starting out with "her little gun". She's been eyeing O/Us with a disconcerting amount of interest lately, though...

Please note that bruising is not normal in most cases, and that it can be remedied most often with proper attention to form and utilizing the lightest available loads (no more than an ounce and at moderate (1200fps or <) velocities).

The important thing is that shooter's have to find what works for them. Some people will dislike recoil more, others dislike overall weight. If you are minimizing recoil, a gas-powered auto with light loads and a good recoil pad is hard to beat. In any event, the gun is going to have to fit. I worry less about LOP, as most stocks can be cut down and fine-tuned. When looking at youth models in the past, it seems like they will often come with a shorter barrel-length as well. As I prefer long barrels for anything aside for HD, that makes them less useful in my opinion.

My last piece of advice is to have her try a lot of different guns and see what she likes. Let her pick it. Let her pick it. Let her pick it. Let her pick it. There, was that subliminal enough?

I give the strongest possible recommendation to the Remington 1100 LT-20. It's light, has a gas system to soak up some of the recoil, and a decent stock which, when fitted with a worthwhile recoil pad, will absorb a good deal of the kick.

I also recommend fitting the gun with a replacement recoil pad: either the Remington R3 or the Kick-Eez sorbothane pad (my personal favorite, although there's not much to choose between them). This will reduce felt recoil by at least a third, perhaps as much as a half. You can also order the Kick-Eez pads in varying thicknesses, which helps to fit the shotgun to the shooter.

Finally, remember to get the gun fitted to/for her! Cut the stock down a bit if needed, fit a good recoil pad, see that she gets a good cheek weld (and modify the stock with some sorbothane or other material if necessary to achieve this), etc. Fit is all-important.

well im just gonna throw in a quick suggestion for the Remington 870 Express youth model.

It comes in 20 ga. and made to fit children or small adults... If she liked the manual of arms on your 870, she might like this one.

Let her pick the shotgun. Trust me on this. Good ones for her to try would include the 391, 1100 LW, and Big Four pumps in both 12 and 20 gauge.

About the 870YE friend Al mentioned....

My kids found ours very hard kicking with 7/8 oz loads. I was a bit surprised at this, it had a decent pad and weighs nearly as much as my lighter 12 gauge 870s. After a bit of thinking I realized that the short stock meant a smaller pad. Duh! The 21" Yute barrel makes it a bit muzzle light, and that seems to exacerbate kick also.BTW, that muzzle lightness makes it a bit easier for pixies to hold up.

After hearing their complaints, I tried the thing with field loads, 3" Maggie Numbs, Brenekke slugs, and so on. Kick varied from emphatic to severe.

It's a good piece, but possibly not the best choice.

All 5'1" of my wife shoots a Remington Youth Model 1100 20 gauge. I did cut the stock and add a Decelerator, but she shot it fine in the original configuration while wearing a P.A.S.T. Recoil Shield. The gas-operated gun is more comfortable to shoot than the pumps or O/U's. The 20 gauge is a lighter gun by about 1 1/2 pounds than a 12, though the recoil is not much different at all because of the weight difference. Those who lobby for the 12 gauge don't consider that the weight that the shooter has to hold up plays a factor for a small-bodied shooter.

Clemson

Remington 1100 Special Field 20 gauge.

I'll throw my two cents in. Take a serious look at the Beretta 391 parallel target RL. (The RL stands for reduced length.) Many people prefer Beretta quality over Remington, and Beretta shims make the gun adjustable.