Youth Shotguns

[Carolina Counsel]

I bought my kids the SA-08 also and it's been great. Never had one complain about the recoil. Might it be a fit issue versus the gun itself?

[buckpro]

Find me one or 3. Some idiot at Mossberg thought it would be a good idea to stop making them.

I had to stalk the web for weeks to find one.

[Southernduck]

I have been looking and have a dealer looking too. It’s like a unicorn

[Saltydog235]

I had an Affinity for my son, it sucked. It was one of the ones with the magazine feed latch issue. Cost me about $150 to get fixed, luckily he graduated to a 12ga and I sold it. I put him in at A300 with a compact stock and he passed it down to his younger brother. He's still shooting it.

[Duck cutter]

Why? We didn't even get to learn on youth guns and we turned out fine.

We didn’t have reduced recoil loads either

[2thDoc]

i didnt buy my kids shit other than a winchester SX3 and its not a great gun. not a true youth gun. had one shim you could add later.
my kids turned out OK and one shot in college.

we didnt wear helmets riding bikes either.
and didnt get cell phones till age 15.
and we had no video games.
or reduced recoil loads, or whatever DC mentioned...
i guess my kids will have great stories to tell their therapists later in life on how much they struggled.

i am not condoning this way of living. Just offering a cheaper alternative.

[CAJUN LAB]

My boy shoots a 1187 youth. If works for him shooting doves turkey and bucks front the hounds…. My wife’s father gifted him a Franchi compact but with the 26” barrel it was very front heavy for Walker.

[Boduke]

My Pops originally got me a Mossberg Bantam 500 .410. I think I shot all the shells he got for me, and then I got a Weatherby SA-08 20ga.

I can still remember my grandfather letting me shoot his shotgun for the first time. Franchi 48 AL 20ga that he had slipped one of his pheasant "whammy" shells in. Liked to have knocked me into puberty at 8.

[2thDoc]

^you can say that again^

snicker

[MKW]

Yeah, I started with a Stevens 311 20ga double barrel with a plastic butt-plate. That thing kicked hard, but not hard enough to keep me from shooting it at stuff and things. But, I bought my kids youth shotguns...because I could.

[Southernduck]

I try not handle my kids with gloves but what do you do for a shotgun in the 5-8yo girl category? Let them get walloped a few times on a gun that’s way to big and you can count on that exercise being over

[FULLCHOKE]

Why? We didn't even get to learn on youth guns and we turned out fine.

I’ll bet $5 the gun you learned on wasn’t an inertia.

[Sportin' Woodies]

It was taller than I was, 12 guage, and bruised my bicep purple and green, and I still
Couldn't get tired of shooting it.

I'm sure a youth franchi wouldn't have beat me up as bad.

[BigBrother]

I try not handle my kids with gloves but what do you do for a shotgun in the 5-8yo girl category? Let them get walloped a few times on a gun that’s way to big and you can count on that exercise being over

I'm still trying to fix my daughter's trigger fear from pulling the trigger on a 410 single shot. It's not much to me, but it was a bunch to her.

[bbhntr48]

My Pops originally got me a Mossberg Bantam 500 .410. I think I shot all the shells he got for me, and then I got a Weatherby SA-08 20ga.

I can still remember my grandfather letting me shoot his shotgun for the first time. Franchi 48 AL 20ga that he had slipped one of his pheasant "whammy" shells in. Liked to have knocked me into puberty at 8.

That 48al weighs nothing but kicks like a mule. I have shot a ton of quail with it though.


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[Southernduck]

I'm still trying to fix my daughter's trigger fear from pulling the trigger on a 410 single shot. It's not much to me, but it was a bunch to her.

Older one loves to shoot the M&L 15-22 but it doesn’t kick at all. I know if I give her a youth 20 gauge it will ruin her. I swear it’s like gun manufacturers don’t want to encourage youth shooting and long term business growth.

[WhitewaterDuck]

I started shooting one of my dad’s pumps occasionally at 6-7 and got a Winchester 20ga single shot tooth-jammer at 8. By 11, I was shooting an Ithaca 37 12 gauge with hard butt plate. When I showed up for basketball games at the rec, I’m sure there were people that thought I was an abused child, as my right arm would be black and blue and brown from just above my elbow to my shoulder. Recoil never bothered me consciously, but it may have been the reason I’d shoot 5+ boxes of shells every Saturday and rarely come out of the field with 12 birds. I’d try to get the most pleasant shooting gun possible.

[Duck cutter]

My Pops originally got me a Mossberg Bantam 500 .410. I think I shot all the shells he got for me, and then I got a Weatherby SA-08 20ga.

I can still remember my grandfather letting me shoot his shotgun for the first time. Franchi 48 AL 20ga that he had slipped one of his pheasant "whammy" shells in. Liked to have knocked me into puberty at 8.

That 48al weighs nothing but kicks like a mule. I have shot a ton of quail with it though.


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I must be in the minority here because I swear mine doesn’t kick that bad.

A coworker of mine had one and didn’t like the recoil and sold it

[willyworm]

I try not handle my kids with gloves but what do you do for a shotgun in the 5-8yo girl category? Let them get walloped a few times on a gun that’s way to big and you can count on that exercise being over

So recoil is basic physics... the lighter a gun is, the heavier it will recoil.

Load choice is a factor. Choose subsonic loads when possible and add weight to your youth's gun. If it's synthetic, you can use lead tire weights that are 'peel and stick'. If it has a wood stock you can add some lead to it to reduce recoil and possibly balance the gun in the process. Essentially, you drill a hole in a 2x4. Use the the same drill bit to drill a hole in the stock. Use a small melting pot to melt some old lead tire weights. When in liquid state, pour into the hole in the 2x4. When cooled, split the 2x4, remove the lead and insert into the hole in the stock.

I know grown men that developed a flinch from recoil that still subconsciously affects them to this day. One dude almost stopped shooting altogether until he ended up getting a his o/u modified with a 'release trigger' to address the trigger/flinch issue. Google it if you are not familiar.

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[reeltight]

I have or have had just about all of the youth guns for my kids at some point in time. The AL 391 is about as good as it gets. Aside from spending that kind of money on a youth shotgun, the next best (for us) has been the Franchi 720. Prior to their Affinity line the Franchi 720 was a gas gun they built, and if I'm not mistaken, it was either built by Beretta or is the same gas system...not sure, but it's a fine gun. All of my kids have shot it including my 7yo. They are hard to find, but not unheard of. I'd at least look and consider the Franchi 720 if you can find one. We shoot the Tristar and we shoot the Mossberg without issue, but that 720 is the one the kids reach for first.