Youth upland shotgun

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Pheasanttracker
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Youth upland shotgun

Post by Pheasanttracker » Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:18 am

My son, age 12, finally has asked to join his brother and I on some upland hunts this year. He has shot a few shotguns but I have none with a short enough trigger pull. He likes the semi's over the pumps and o/u but wondering what younger hunters are having success with. I saw most youth guns have 24 inch barrels but I did see s youth Weatherby with 22 inch. Seems short for upland pheasant and grouse but Iohjt be wrong. Definitely need something on the lighter side. Suggestions. I don't want him frustrated with an oversize gun.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by cjhills » Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:56 am

My grand kids started with a Mossberg youth 20 gauge pump. It is a tough little shotgun that holds 6 shots. It is inexpensive and all of them that started with it are excellent shots. Some of them shot skeet with it also.Cj

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Neil » Mon Sep 21, 2015 1:05 pm

Find a used 20 gauge semi-auto with a 26" barrel and choke tubes, cut the stock down to fit in 1" increments, as he grows, glue back to proper fit as he grows. Pass it on or sell it when he graduates to a full size 12 gauge.

I bought a Winchester 1100 20 ga that has been the first gun for over a dozen kids.

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greg jacobs
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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by greg jacobs » Mon Sep 21, 2015 7:39 pm

Started my kids with an ithica featherlite. When they have to pump one in I figured their brains registered that they had a live round again.

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Youth upland shotgun

Post by Pheasanttracker » Tue Sep 22, 2015 7:49 am

Thanks for the advice. Never thought about finding a short barrel used gun and cutting the stock. Might be a good plan.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by cjhills » Tue Sep 22, 2015 7:59 am

Silly, why mutilate a gun when you can buy a youth gun. There is always a market for a decent youth gun when the kid is ready to move up. The average kid only needs two or three years with a youth gun......Cj

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by RayGubernat » Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:20 am

Pheasanttracker wrote:Thanks for the advice. Never thought about finding a short barrel used gun and cutting the stock. Might be a good plan.

There are(or at least used to be) some youth model shotguns that came with two stocks...one youth and one adult. I bought a Winchester 1300 pump gun in 20 ga. for my son and it is now a slug gun.

I suspect that for many youth guns, a full size adult stock is available.

An interesting aside ... the forearm on the Winchester was positioned closer to the action. That was so a youngster with shorter arms can work the action more easily.

The Winchester 1300 is a great little gun but it has two things you may not like.

The first thing is the position of the safety. The safety is at the front of the trigger guard, forcing someone(a youngster) with a small hand to move their hand position to push off the safety and then have to re-position their hand on the stock. Since I insist that the safety remain ON until the gun is being mounted, this makes consistent hand placement more difficult.

The second thing is the weight of the gun itself. It is a bit heavy. The upside of this is that the recoil, even with high base loads is very tolerable. My son was 9 years old and fairly slight of build and he had no problems carrying it or shooting it.

I think, if I had it to do over, I would have gone with the Remington youth gun, simply for the positioning of the safety.

I just bought a CZ 28 ga. O/U for my grandchildren to learn on. It had been cut down for a child before I bought it. Sweet little gun...light as a feather and no real recoil. Hits pretty hard too.

RayG

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Mountaineer » Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:47 am

20 gauge Beretta 391 w/ 24" barrel...it has a slim foreend, much like an o/u, which helps with small hands, the short barrel aids reducing arm fatigue in learning to shoot...both help keep the shooter from leaning back away from the scattergun.

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Grommet
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Youth upland shotgun

Post by Grommet » Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:14 am

Benelli Montefeltro 20 ga. I believe they have a youth and ladies stock. It is very light. Then as he grows replace with the full size stock. The only problem will be letting him use it as you will not want to give it up. ;)

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by deke » Tue Sep 22, 2015 11:11 am

I started with an ithica skb 100 20ga. Used that gun up until I was 18. Problem is now I still shoot short guns, and cant shoot full size guns to save my life.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Southwind » Tue Sep 22, 2015 12:14 pm

My vote is the Charles Daly Field Hunter 20ga/26". I have 2 of the 20ga versions and my only 12ga shotgun is this model. Have never had any major problems with them. They are light, slim and fast with minimal kick. They have a factory recoil pad and a LOP of less then 14" (About 13.25-13.5" if I remember correctly). I bought it from Walmart new 6-7yrs ago for $325 and just loved it for dog training, dove hunting and NSTRA. It is the only gun I have that my wife will shoot as well as it fits her perfectly.

Only bad news is that they are not imported into the country any more, so you would have to find a used one. I am a large frame guy, but prefer a smaller shotgun and this one fits the bill. So much so that my Silver Pigeon sits in the safe now.

Here is a link to one on gunbroker. I don't know the seller or anything about the gun, other than it is the exact model that I have. It is priced pretty high for being used. You might be able to talk him down on the price or throw in free shipping.

Steve

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =508682742

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Dakotazeb » Tue Sep 22, 2015 12:31 pm

Be careful in getting a youth too light of a gun. Even a light 20 ga. with field loads can pack a pretty good punch. Too much recoil and the youth could develop some bad shooting habits. Back in the 80's I started my 14 year old step-son (who was small for his age) out with my 12 ga. 870 with a 26" barrel. I took off the recoil pad and had a plastic butt plate installed. That reduced the LOP approx. 1" and fit him perfectly. I only had him shoot light field loads and with the 7 lb. weight of the 870 recoil was not a factor. When he grew and needed a longer LOP I re-installed the original recoil pad.

I'm hesitant to start a youth out with an auto loader. With a youth just starting hunting SAFETY has to be the main concern. Thus a single shot, a double barrel (sxs or o/u) or pump are the best choices. When the youth has a few years of experience in the field they can always graduate to an auto if they so desire.

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Youth upland shotgun

Post by Pheasanttracker » Tue Sep 22, 2015 1:13 pm

All really good points and will definitely consider a pump or o/u. Appreciate the additional thoughts from everyone. Has anyone had issues with youths operating a pump gun. I guess I will let my son operate a few. My concern with o/u is weight of the additional barrel. I have a coz redhead in 26 in 20g and it still seemed awkward for him. I think the stock is to long I have no desire to cut the stock on favorite grouse gun.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Neil » Tue Sep 22, 2015 1:57 pm

I should be more clear, the reason to cut down an used adult gun is you can add back as he grows, so it continues to fit. It is cheaper. The semi-auto helps reduce recoil. It is easy to learn to operate, you can start them with one shell. The 26" barrel helps keep the gun moving. With the stock cut down, I have never seen a youth so weak that he could not handle a 7 and half pound gun. 20 gauge to aid in recoil reduction, yet has a killing pattern, readily available and not expensive.

If I could find a 28 gauge semi at a reasonable price and I reloaded, and did not intend pheasant or waterfowl, I would consider it.

Good luck, the important thing is to get out and enjoy yourselves.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Dakotazeb » Tue Sep 22, 2015 3:21 pm

If you do consider an O/U you might look for one that automatically resets the safety to "safe" when the action is opened. Just another safety feature for a youngster starting out. Good luck and nice to see you getting a young person involved in the shooting sports.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by tannerismyhero » Tue Sep 22, 2015 4:36 pm

I have to agree on the Mossy 20g. Just for the fact that it is inexpensive(not cheap), reliable, and it had 2 beads on the barrel that will help start good habits on sight picture. I don't know if any other of the guns mentioned have the 2 beads(one mid barrel and other at the end), but it helped me a lot to learn to shoot. It is a preference that has helped and if any other gun has it, you should consider it. I had to learn how to shoot on my own and the single bead was not working for me...Broad side and barn comes into my mind when I think back.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Neil » Tue Sep 22, 2015 6:01 pm

tannerismyhero wrote:I have to agree on the Mossy 20g. Just for the fact that it is inexpensive(not cheap), reliable, and it had 2 beads on the barrel that will help start good habits on sight picture. I don't know if any other of the guns mentioned have the 2 beads(one mid barrel and other at the end), but it helped me a lot to learn to shoot. It is a preference that has helped and if any other gun has it, you should consider it. I had to learn how to shoot on my own and the single bead was not working for me...Broad side and barn comes into my mind when I think back.
Good point, you can add a middle bead at your local gunsmith for $25.00.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by P&PGunsmith » Wed Sep 23, 2015 8:10 am

My kids shot a lot of different guns. The worst was a single shot .410 only because of the hammer, watching them struggle to pull the hammer back made me quickly realize it was probably not the best even though it was what I had first. I preferred when they used an over and under or side by side for safety but they liked using grandpas gun.
All 4 of them shot birds mostly with a Mossberg 500 20 ga. that was my dads. I bought a Hogue youth stock for it when they were very small. As they grew I used the wood stock with the thinnest pad I could get and as they grew to eventually putting on the 1" thick pad that was on it originally. It did have a 28" barrel that made it a bit barrel heavy especially with the 12" Hogue youth stock. I should have just bought and extra barrel that was short and probably will for grandkids.

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Youth upland shotgun

Post by Pheasanttracker » Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:51 am

I ended up getting the mossberg 500 super bantam 20g. Out of the box my son smoke 5 clay birds in a row with one shot and went on to shoot about 3/4 of the next 25. Definitely great choice and he is super excited about the upcoming youth pheasant season here in PA.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Neil » Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:27 pm

Pheasanttracker wrote:I ended up getting the mossberg 500 super bantam 20g. Out of the box my son smoke 5 clay birds in a row with one shot and went on to shoot about 3/4 of the next 25. Definitely great choice and he is super excited about the upcoming youth pheasant season here in PA.
I smiled as I read this, thinking of all his adventures to come.

Young eyes are impressive.

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Re: Youth upland shotgun

Post by Kellym » Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:52 pm

Mountaineer wrote:20 gauge Beretta 391 w/ 24" barrel...it has a slim foreend, much like an o/u, which helps with small hands, the short barrel aids reducing arm fatigue in learning to shoot...both help keep the shooter from leaning back away from the scattergun.
awesome choice for a youth shotgun

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