My quest to find a good youth shotgun…

[Doug444]

As 1KPerDay stated, there is another way to deal with recoil, and that's shooting lighter loads. Unfortunately, while Winchester has found the formula (26 gm load @ 980 fps), they are far stinger with their ammo choices in 20 ga. I HAVE found some super-light Win. 20 ga., and Fiocchi also has one or two loads. Main problem is finding them, second is paying for them (typically 20+% more expensive). I'm always looking for them as I work with Scouts and too many of them are just too small physically. The 12 ga. 26 gm. Featherlights are the ticket. I did reload some for a while that duplicated the Featherlight loads, and even found a similar load for the 20 ga., but then the BSA decided that reloads carry too much risk and no longer allow them. I understand the "why", but I've seen plenty of kids that just said "forget it" and never came back. Dissappointing.

 

[Switup]

The Mossberg seems like maybe the best bang for your buck. It comes with the spacers, plus the slug barrel. My sons buddy has one, and I like the feel of it. I've specifically avoided Mossbergs because they never felt comfortable to me, but I like the little Bantam.
Tri Star also makes a few that are nice yet affordable.