[k810329]

a little background first.3 years ago when my youngest was 7 i bought him a rossi trifecta .22,.243 and 20ga. barrels.he insisted on shooting the 20 after i told him to wait.he pushed so i let him.he went to the ground and the gun went into the air.needless to say me and my father in law laughed at him.he has never got over being recoil shy and the fact that we laughed at him.he has not shot any type of shotgun since.

he has started to show an interest in trapshooting since his brother and aunt both excelled in the sport and since i took the nra coaches class to help out with our sctp and aim teams.i dont really have a gun that he would be able to handle and i cant afford to get him one right now so im going to borrow one just to see how or even if he shoots it.ive got him a recoil pad to wear so im hoping that will set him at ease.

any thoughts on a good low recoil load i can pick up for him? im not a shotshell guru but im thinking something in a 7/8 oz. just to ease him into it.if this works out any thoughts on a decent gun that dosent weigh a lot.hes small for his age.any other ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated.thanks

james

 

[Rich219]

What about starting him off with some Aguila mini shells?
http://www.the-armory.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/12_GA_%20Mini-Shell_shot.html

 

[k810329]

never heard of the mini shells but since im going to have to borrow a gun for awhile and it may require modification to use them it may not be an option but thanks for the info

 

[Dbl Auto]

We started my Nephew out with a 20 ga 870 express and loaded him some 3/4 oz loads to start. We added a kickeez pad to the top of the comb to protect his face and raise the POI a little. As he gained confidence, skill, and grew in size we moved him up to 7/8 oz and then 1 oz loads in the 20 ga. I have always thought it is better to start kids out with a gun they can handle and use good form to shoot with rather then just any 12 ga. It will pay off later IMO.
Doug Allison

 

[marc92040]

Something you might consider is looking into a 410 or 28 gaude Chamber mate (http://www.chambermates.com/), for the 20 gauge gun, similar to tubes but a lot less expensive and they drop in and are easily removable. this will get him used to the gun you already have and have a lot less recoil to deal with. also practice gun mounts with snap caps can help him overcome the "flinch" that is common with recoil fear

 

[RoadKingPerazzi]

I started my daughters with a 20 ga. Remington 1100 Lightweight. Mine is the special model that is a shorter barrel and shorter stock - don't know if they are still available. (NO-mine is not for sale. Going to use it for my grandkids.)

See if you can borrow or buy a 20 ga. auto with a shorter stock. Very little recoil, yet works great. Can load 3/4 oz loads to reduce recoil even further, but it may not work for doubles.

 

[spitter]

Since money is tight, I would echo what Doug mentioned in finding a decent 20 gauge pump... however, taking that further, I might suggest considering a future investment into re-loading.

For guests I bring to the range, I load extremely light since all shooting is confined to distances from back of the traphouse out to 16 yards. I use the lightest recipes I can find and back off the powder even more to lessen felt recoil and believe me it works wonders... I do this for both 12 and 20 gauge.

Ask a fellow shooter who self-loads to make up some really light loads for your boy... they would be happy to accomodate the request!

regards,

Jay

 

[Big Dave]

I have an 8 year old, of small stature, shooting a 12 ga. Mossberg bantam. They come with a ported barrel and I put a mercury recoil reducer in the stock. I load him 7/8 of 8's in a lightning wad over 15 grains of Red Dot and a Rio primer. He says it feels like shooting his 22. He would only shoot 3 or 4 shells out of his 20 ga Rossi and then quit. The first time he tried my gun and shells he shot 50, said he would have shot more, but that was all the shells I had, with that load. He has since gone a 100 rounds in the same day. Where are you located? I'd be more than glad to let your guy try the gun and a few boxes of shells. If you can find him a break open gun, the mini shells will work with no problem, but at 50 cents a shell it can get costly real fast.

<a href="http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f326/dancingbear12/?action=view&current=minishell.jpg" target="_blank">

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[Pull & Mark]

James, If your going to borrow someone else's gun for him to try, I suggest that you use only factory loads. Its a common courtesy to do so. Next I would look for Win. AA Low Recoil,Low Noise shells or Remington has a shell that is more or less the same (but I forgot what they call it). Its a 7/8 oz. load fired below l000 fps. This is the softest load for a 12 ga. you can get (factory) and they will still crush a 16 yard target. I don't think the recoil would be much (if any) less with a standard 20 ga. fired in a ll00 auto which would be the next best but much harder to find if your are going to borrow one. Best of Luck with getting your son into trap shooting. Break-em all. Jeff