First Shotgun for a Little Boy

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ezypikns

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My grandson will be nine in June, and I've promised him that the summer he turns ten, he gets a shotgun as a birthday present.I don't intend to buy it now. Another year's growth can make a big difference with a kid.
In my family we all started shotgunning at 10, and we all started with a 20 ga. Marlin O/U. I disremember the model. Ususally after a year or two we would pass the gun off to a brother or cousin coming up, and we would receive something more suitable, usually in 12 ga.
I've seen lots of Mossberg and 870 Youth models. Can anyone else suggest other suitable choices for a budding shooter? Of course I'll probably start him with a 20, and not a single shot.
 
An 1100 in 20 gauge is quite possibly the best shotgun for any beginner. In 28 guage, maybe even better.

The 870 Youth Express in 20 is a hard kicker with heavy loads, the Mossberg even more so. If you pick one of these get light loads.

HTH....
 
I bought my 11 year old a New England Firearms break open single shot 20 ga to start with because of the length.

He wanted, and I would have preferred, a pump but they were just too long for his arms.
 
One of the issues with kids and shotguns is recoil. Unlike the friendly, little .22 rifle, shotguns generate significant recoil. How many kids start out with a lightweight 20ga break-open singleshot? Those things kick more than a 12ga semi-auto and many kids learn to fear them in a hurry and develop a flinch that will last a lifetime.

For a young kid, I'd suggest a .410 or 28ga singleshot or a 20ga semi-auto. Go with the lightest loads you can find and get a good recoil pad to cushion the shoulder. I don't know if anyone makes kid sized shooting vests, but maybe a small ladies vest, a PAST slip-on recoil pad, or sewing a Browning Reactor pad into a jacket or shirt.

Finally, start him out slowly and encourage him to quit for the day if his shoulder starts to get sore. It takes a while for the human body to learn how to manage recoil.
 
If you find him a 20 gauge,find a reloader that you TRUST & get him to load some 20gauge 3/4 or 11/16 relloads. Easy on the shoulder. This may not work with auto's. If $$$ wasn't a problem, loook at the beretta 20 ga youth gun. 410"s are no fun for begineer wingshooting, but good for shooting beer cans.
 
You can't go wrong with a 20ga auto. Light recoil, light weight. If you get the youth model he will out grow it but he can always pass on to his son or get a new stock for it. I started with a 12ga single shot and it was a handful for a 9 year old. Dad bought me a Remington Sportsman58 in field grade 20ga and I still have it and it still is my favorite upland game, squirrel, dove, duck blind gun even though it is improved cylinder 23/4" it will knock down any duck or goose you get in range.
 
An 1100 in 20 gauge is quite possibly the best shotgun for any beginner. In 28 guage, maybe even better.

The 870 Youth Express in 20 is a hard kicker with heavy loads, the Mossberg even more so. If you pick one of these get light loads.

HTH....
Click to expand...


No truer words ever spoken!!!!

I bought my (then nine year old) an 870 Youth Express in 20 ga., and it beat the 'heck' out of him with AA loads!
I bought a 'beater stock' from the local gunshow and cut it down even farther, to fit him.
The factory 'recoil pad' is nothing more than a way to 'end' the stock.
If you buy the 20 ga., 870, do yourself and your young grandson a favor and put a "Limbsaver" pad on it.

The LOP on the 1100 or 11-87 'Youth' might be too long for a youngster, the same as the 870 'Youth' was for my son.

Lastly. . .
Congratulations on keeping the sport alive by including your grandson, ezypikns!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading.
 
My first shotgun was a NEF 20 gauge. After shooting it a few times, I refused because the recoil was so abusive.

For Christmas, that year, I got an 1100 Lt-20, and never looked back.
 
I agree with the idea of a simple .410 break-open or a 20 gauge auto. A 10-year old doesn't have enough strength to absorb much recoil, and you sure don't want him developing a flinch. I'd also start him out with very light loads.

You want the early experiences to be as much fun as possible.
 
.410 isn't really a beginners gun; with the long shot string it takes a pretty good shot to use a .410 on moving targets; not something I would recommend for a beginner.
 
I started hunting by chasing squirrels (not literally) with a J.C. Higgins bolt .410. Soon after, I was given an H&R Topper model that included a single shot 20 guage barrel. Still have it... still use it at times.
 
+1 on the Single shot break action. If you want get one of Handi Rifles in 223 and add a 20 gauge barrel. This can be done easily for about what you would pat for an 870/500 0n 20 gauge.
 
Depends somewhat on what the kid will be doing with the gun. If he's just going to shoot tin cans and maybe hunt some small game at close ranges, a .410 works very well. I've shot a lot of grouse and rabbits with one over my lifetime. The pattern density gets awful thin beyond 25 yards or so, though.

If he's going to hunt geese, ducks, or pheasants or shoot some clays, then a 20 gauge auto would be a much better starter gun for a 10-year old. For that matter, it may be all the gun he might ever need.
 
Tough call. A gun light enough to be easily handled by a 10-year-old is going to either kick the bejeezus out of them or be such a lightweight gauge as to be nearly useless to a beginner.

The first time my wife tried my Savage 220A (28Ga, single shot), it kicked her hard enough that she nearly cried, and while she is petite she's no sissy.
 
Also depends a lot on his size and personality, too. If he's 4'8", shy, and weighs 85 lbs then a .410 with 2 1/2" shells might be all he can handle. A huskier kid with a lot of spunk can deal with a heavier (and much louder) 20 gauge.

My dad let me try a shot from his 20 gauge bolt action when I was about 9 or 10. I was a skinny little kid and it dang near landed me on my butt and left a big bruise on my shoulder. Stuck with my .22 for years afterwards. By the time I was 16 I was 6'2" and 170 lbs and had a 12 gauge, but that first experience nearly scared me off.
 
hmmm...

Y'all have me worried. i am taking a few youngsters out shooting sometime soon and one of them, a 45-lb skinny but strong (but not too mentally tough) 6-year old, expressed an interest in shooting a shotgun.

This kid is simply fascinated by the concept of a shotgun, and has no real idea what he's getting into.

The only 20ga available is a loooong barrel 20ga single shot. Fiocchi loads a 7/8oz load at like 1100 fps and call sit their 'ultra-low recoil' load. Here: http://shop2.mailordercentral.com/bpicart/prodinfo.asp?number=36520LITE75
If an adult has the kid hold the shotgun stock not on his shoulder, but under his armpit to let it slide a bit; and keeps one hand on the foregrip to pull it down from recoiling into the kids forehead AND keeps one hand planted on the end of the stock poking out from behind the kid (yes, this is my big plan); would you say the recoil would be too much for the kid?

Essentially, I plan to use the pretense of 'Oh, i am just helping you hol dit up. You are doing all the aiming..." in order to keep my hands on it and absorb as much of the recoil as possible.

Anyone have any guesstimations on the effectiveness of that plan?

The other kids who will be there range from a slightly smaller but tougher 5-yr old to a not-very-tough-at-all but big 80lb 10 yr old. They have expressed no interest but they might come range day.

C-
 
well i dont recomend the 410 ,i know it was my first gun and just wouldnt do the job, a few years latter i got a 20 ga side by side and then i went hunting, killed a lot of game with that gun still have it, csa:D
 
Might be a bit expensive, but a Benelli Nova with the short stock and a recoil reducer could work great. I have a Nova in 12 guage with out the recoil reducer, and it kicks the same (maybe a little less) than my friends mossy 20 guage.
 
Nobody in their right mind would argue that a 410 is a better or more versatile gun than a 20 gauge. Remember we're talking about an introductory shotgun for a 10-year old here. And also a gun that will only be used for a year or so before being passed on to other relatives.

For most kids, a 20 with the lightest field loads would be fine, but if he's a small and timid kid and not going to do any serious hunting right away, a .410 is a lot less intimidating. A lot of ten-year olds are barely half of their adult weight, so the kick is going to have twice as much impact on them as on an adult.

My grandson is only a year old, but if I were introducing him to the shotgun 9 years from now, I know how I'd do it. I'd take my old .410 and a box of 2 1/2" shells out to the woods and let him blow a bunch of tin cans off stumps and shoot at some targets. If he took to that with enthusiasm and wanted more, I'd take a 20 gauge with light field loads the next time and see how he handled that. Then I'd know what kind of gun he's ready for.

Every kid is different, so there'll never be a single right answer to the question "which starter gun is best".
 
One thing I think that some people overlook when choosing a beginners gun for a youngster is that exposed hammer guns aren't the best choice.Yes, a break action single shot with exposed hammer seems like a good choice,but look at it this way.You and your child are hunting in the woods and its a cold winter day. He/she has a single shot 20ga break action he goes to shoot at a squirrel,cocks the gun,but the squirrel notices him and runs off before he can get the shot off.So you and your child decide to look elsewhere with you leading and him walking behind you.You've taught him/her well and he/she knows the decock the gun.So he/she has there thumb firmly on the hammer and index finger holding the trigger back to slowly let the hammer down when there thumb slips off the hammer because it is numb from the cold and the live round in the chamber goes off nearly blowing the back of your foot off.This almost happened to a buddy of mine when he was younger.His father then traded his break action gun for a youth model pump after that incident.

Just my two cents,
Brian Craig
 
Just a thought, did you clear it with his parents first? I have seen many shotguns and rifles for sale in the classified section here on THR that grandpa bought for his grandkids and the parents said no. I had a 20gauge 870 youth model for my first shotgun @ 11 or 12 (dont remember which). The nice thing about the 870 and 500 is that you can swap for a full length stock when they outgrow the shorter length.
 
Bud Tugly said:
My grandson is only a year old, but if I were introducing him to the shotgun 9 years from now, I know how I'd do it. I'd take my old .410 and a box of 2 1/2" shells out to the woods and let him blow a bunch of tin cans off stumps and shoot at some targets. If he took to that with enthusiasm and wanted more, I'd take a 20 gauge with light field loads the next time and see how he handled that. Then I'd know what kind of gun he's ready for.

Every kid is different, so there'll never be a single right answer to the question "which starter gun is best".
Click to expand...

Can't agree more.

To cpileri,

5yr and 6yr are pretty young and small for firearms. Around here those are generally BB gun aged kids and individually supervised shot-for-shot at that. Still a lot of fun and great training for the bigger stuff down the road.
 
The best gauge to introduce any small statured shooter is the 28 gauge. Low recoil and hits targets and birds with more authority than the .410 can ever muster. If you want to give a kid frustration and turn him off shotgunning give him a .410.

Best gun is either the Remington 1100 or the Remington 870 in the above gauge. The advantage is that both 28 gauge Remingtons are on a 20 gauge frame so you get extra weight. Cut down the stock so it fits. Keep the piece of wood you cut off so it can be reattached when he gets bigger.

For a youngster, particularly with the semi-auto, I'd suggest taking out the magazine spring and follower so the gun is a single shot at first and add the second and third shots when he can demonstrate safe gun handling.
 
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