doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Shotgun fit for women

And let's hope she has a few pre-War Winchesters her Daddy left her, and is looking for a good man to shoot with- the other things- well, I am sure you can use your imagination her. Let's just say that Kim Roade, the Gold Medal skeet shooter, ain't too hard to look at for sometime--

She aint bad looking at all. Let's see now--She says she shoots 500 to 1000 rounds a day. Take that times two, because I would be shooting right along with her, times seven days a week, times 365 days a year. Hmmmm, I wonder if her Daddy has a front end loader to take the empty hulls away.

Be careful what you wish for. Get a wife that likes to shoot and half your gun and ammo money goes away! I say this in jest because I have wished for years my wife would be interested.

Maybe her sponsors would let her share some ammo with me.

For my neophyte shooting companion, (5'1" on a very good day) I bought a (1960's?) vintage Beretta Silver Snipe 20 ga, had the barrels cut to 24" and a bit of choke added by Mike Orlen; had the stock shortened with appropriate adjustments to the toe by Keith Kearcher, and we're good to go. The gun in that configuration has already slain pheasants, sharp tails, huns and ruffed grouse.

For many women a gun is too heavy to support for a round of clays, especially when they are learning to shoot. While learning to shoot and mount more time is spent with the gun at the shoulder than when you are experienced. Therefore, weight is very important and should be kept as low as possible. The left arm on a righty shooter will give out.

When cutting the length of pull on a butt stock, the cross section area of the butt is decreases substantially and has been known to cause bruising, especially with delicate women.

Regardless of how we feel about SxS's, I suggest a 6 lb gas operated semi automatic for women who are just learning. A bruised chest will turn off your lady to shooting real quick. After she is more experienced you can then go to the type of gun of your choice.

When The Lovely Linda started shooting skeet and sporting clays, she was in the high nineties, maybe a hundred pounder at the most. I gave her a standard 28" Krieghoff Model 32, never told her it weighed 8 1/2 pounds without tubes, 9 1/4 with tubes. I have never cut the stock and she has never shot another gun unless she is at a side by side event. She shoots 7/8 ounce 12 gauge loads at about 1150 fps. Recoil has never been an issue. One modification that will work is an adjustable butt that will allow the toe to be moved out a bit to get away from the soft tissues of the chest. Other modifications are not neccesarily going to be required. As Milt suggests, don't give instruction while she is holding the gun at her shoulder. When she shoulders the gun, it is time to call for the bird. Bill Murphy

Thank you all for the good input. I found it very helpful.

My wife is 5'7" and I bought a nice used 20 gauge Beretta 303 for her to learn shooting with. I then found a lady instructor to teach her the fundamentals. After shooting for a while she bought herself a very lightly used 20 gauge Beretta 471 SxS so that she could shoot with our Vintager group.

Next week she'll be going to NC to shoot for 3 days with a bunch of ladies. Tonight she was told to bring a minimum of 400 cartridges, so it's back to the basement for me to reload for her.

Of course she also fly fishes so this Friday and Saturday we'll be standing in some NC mountain streams waving sticks.

I enjoy having a wife who enjoys my current outdoor activities - she never would SCUBA dive or skydive with me when I was still active in those sports.