Help with new bird gun suggestion.

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labnoti said:
Your kids don't want to shoot a 12 ga pump gun. Get a 20 ga semi-auto. A Remington 1100 would be ideal, but brand-new is more than you want to spend. See if you can find a used gun. The semi-autos absorb (slow) some of the recoil in the action. You can always load it with a single shot. 20 ga. is less weight and less recoil and still gives good patterns. 28 ga and .410 are too hard to hit anything with at a distance. They might be fine for clays, but will miss or wound birds unless the shooter is a real good shot.
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A friend of mine went that route for his boy, personally I think it's a good option. Another has his kids shoots 12s with reduced recoil loads, and that works for them.
Personally for my kids I'm probably I'd go for semi 12s that are tuneable, best of both worlds and generally not a lot larger or heavier than a 20.
I also think every should have their own shotguns rather than all sharing one.... Just cause of fittment.
 
Your kids don't want to shoot a 12 ga pump gun. Get a 20 ga semi-auto. A Remington 1100 would be ideal,
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You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy them I have a LT 1100 in 20 ga that’s a joy to shoot. Also won a few 3 gun matches using it as well.
 
MacAR said:
Buy that sucker and don't look back. One of the best pump guns ever made next to the Model 12 Winchester and the 870.

Mac
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I read about 5 minutes of research and that was all I needed lol I purchased it
 

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Ya did good, that was a heckuva buy. They seldom ever come up for sale around here, but if that one was around here, I'd have bought it in a heart beat. Now, save your pennies and put them toward a nice Model 12 Winchester. I prefer the 16 gauge, since they're so lightweight and lively in the hand. Mine is a fixed full choke but you can find them in modified or improved cylinder for the same money. Can't say enough good about mine, but it's killed more squirrels, rabbits, and doves than any of my others with the exception of my 1897. But that's another story for another day.

Congratulations again on your purchase!

Mac
 
MacAR said:
Ya did good, that was a heckuva buy. They seldom ever come up for sale around here, but if that one was around here, I'd have bought it in a heart beat. Now, save your pennies and put them toward a nice Model 12 Winchester. I prefer the 16 gauge, since they're so lightweight and lively in the hand. Mine is a fixed full choke but you can find them in modified or improved cylinder for the same money. Can't say enough good about mine, but it's killed more squirrels, rabbits, and doves than any of my others with the exception of my 1897. But that's another story for another day.

Congratulations again on your purchase!

Mac
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Thank you for the input I now feel better about my purchase and for dove season! I’m going to look into the model 12 for sure
 
jmorris said:
You can get any number of cheap shotguns that work fine for dove. I have used everything from a $25 bolt action 12 ga to a couple thousand dollar o/u and they kill the birds to the same level of deadness.
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Only true if both guns fit you, (and if they do, great!) I prefer my O/U and SxSs for birds and clays.
 
I hunt doves with a CZ Redhead Delux I got a couple of years ago. I love that thing, fits me like a well tailored suit and practically points itself. It's a 20 gauge. I'd like to try a 28, but the ammo is pricey.

Ducks, I prefer the Mossberg 500. It will have to be shimmed to fit well, but I love the thumb safety where a safety SHOULD be, especially for a southpaw shooter. My 500 is now 28 years old and still strong after all those duck seasons. I'll likely not shoot another duck with it, just in too bad a shape for that anymore. I have a 535 which is a 500 with 3.5" chamber, got a good deal on it used. 3.5" kicks like a mule, though, just can't see doing a morning goose hunt with it, rather use my heavier H&R 10 gauge. It's a lot easier on my old shoulder. :D
 
MCgunner said:
I hunt doves with a CZ Redhead Delux I got a couple of years ago. I love that thing, fits me like a well tailored suit and practically points itself. It's a 20 gauge. I'd like to try a 28, but the ammo is pricey.

Ducks, I prefer the Mossberg 500. It will have to be shimmed to fit well, but I love the thumb safety where a safety SHOULD be, especially for a southpaw shooter. My 500 is now 28 years old and still strong after all those duck seasons. I'll likely not shoot another duck with it, just in too bad a shape for that anymore. I have a 535 which is a 500 with 3.5" chamber, got a good deal on it used. 3.5" kicks like a mule, though, just can't see doing a morning goose hunt with it, rather use my heavier H&R 10 gauge. It's a lot easier on my old shoulder. :D
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As far as the 28, you either get a MEC Jr and reload, or you buy Win AAs from Academy for 89.99/flat when Winchester has the $2/box rebate. Then you go to your local shotgun club and sell those empties for .12 to .15 each . At .12, that's another $3/box savings making your final cost $4/box for shooting top of the line Win AA ammo. You can't shoot top quality 12 or 20 for that.
 
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George P said:
Only true if both guns fit you, (and if they do, great!) I prefer my O/U and SxSs for birds and clays.
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I might not take a beater to the Olympics but I can get food with a cane pole or an old shotgun. One can learn to use ill fitting equipment, just look at lefties that shoot firearms designed for right handed people.

I have to agree with liking good equipment though. The OP made me believe he was looking at spending less money and would accept a less than ideal firearm, at this point.

Looks like he got it figured out though.
 
While one can learn to fit oneself to any gun; it is always best to make the gun fit the shooter - that's true not only for handguns, but rifles and handguns too.
 
I cannot disagree but sometimes money and even rules make that prohibitive and we have to find a way to adapt and overcome the adversity.
 
I would find a used 3" Wingmaster with tubes. Probably 4-500 if you can find one. We used to hunt a lot of pheasants and I always had an 870 for a backup. So did my buddy. Mostly I like Beretta auto loaders for just about everything but those are an acquired taste and not cheap. I've had an 870 Wingmaster since 1970 and shot a lot doves with it when I couldn't afford anything else. I think I had 3 barrels for it at one time years ago. I've had at least 7 different shotguns and everyone of them are gone except that 870. They're that good.:D
 
jmorris said:
I cannot disagree but sometimes money and even rules make that prohibitive and we have to find a way to adapt and overcome the adversity.
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There are cheap alternatives; example - need to raise the comb on a rifle or shotgun? Beartooth has a neoprene sleeve with foam inserts of varying thickness - cost about $20

There are several advantages to having ANY gun fit properly:
One is comfort, second is to lessen the possibility of developing a flinch - both of which will lead to greater accuracy/success.

Sometimes going TOO cheap isn't the best way.
 
Another advantage of the 870 over even the equally venerable Winchester...., and the rest of the new, inexpensive pump shotguns... there just seems to be a whole lot more after-market, over-the-counter options for them.
Synthetic stocks, pistol grip or traditional shaped, rifled barrels & scope mounts, screw in chokes, etc etc

My dad bought me an 870 with a "goose barrel", 28" fixed full choke (they year before they introduced screw-in chokes - typical of my luck...). That shotgun has killed a lot of ducks and geese and squirrels...
got another barrel a few years later with screw-in chokes...bought IC and Mod tubes....so that brought in chukkar and pheasants and quail..
I found for some reason I wasn't mounting the gun with the goose barrel, in a proper manner.....picked up a bad habit somewhere....tending to raise my head and miss...so I bought a set of fiber optic sights that snapped onto the vent-rib, which made me get my head down into a proper cheek-weld position to align the sighs and then swing on geese...literally an instant fix.
I found a plain-jane, smooth slug barrel, with open rifle sights. With Brenneke slugs the holes almost touch at 50 yards.
I got into 3-gun matches in the late 1980's...extended magazine tube and found an 18" ported barrel, and was good to go for that sport.

Mine is now more than 40 years old. Still going strong

LD
 
As Armored Farmer posted, hard to go wrong with an 870. For the kids, it depends on size. In 20 ga., the Rem. 1100 is the softest shooter you'll find. They do require regular maintenance. I bought a Tri-Star Raptor in 20 for the 4-H Trap program for kids to use. It was sized right for the smaller kids, and recoil was nice and light. Whenever I saw some kids struggling with "Dad's duck gun", I'd let them shoot the Raptor, and several of them showed up with them the next time.
 
Fit is very important to actually HITTING birds or scores on the clays range. Mossbergs fit me like a fence post, but it's nothing I didn't cure with a few slivers of plastic from a pop bottle. All I needed was more drop at comb. As the gun came, it beat the living HELL out of my face, would actually cut me and cause bleeding like I was in the ring with George Foreman or something. It took several slivers of plastic pop bottle and that was CURED. The gun doesn't hurt me anymore and it points naturally. I don't have to go to the gun, the gun comes to me. It improved my shooting as much as my facial features. :D

When I went shopping for an affordable O/U for dove hunting, FIT was my biggest concern. Can't shim too many double gun stocks, though there is one that can be shimmed, Beretta or something, seen the ads. It's not "affordable", though, on MY income and the CZ was. I picked that CZ up at the store and knew immediately it was the one. :D There are many doubles out there that don't fit me. I've bought a couple in the past. Wasn't going to make that mistake again. :D That CZ shoots, too, very well regulated barrels put patterns on top of each other and straight where I look. Needless to say, I'm happy with the gun.
 
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