doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Low recoil 28?

I watched with total amazement a 9 or 10 yr old, very small for her age, oriental granddaughter of a well respected elder at our range, shoot with her grandpa and a squad of regular elders...and she shot with the best of them. This was a number of yrs ago. The little girl was truly a tiny person, as small as someone half her age. Her grandpa had Joe Shiozaki cut down a Huglu O/U .410 on the barrels and stock. It was cyl/cyl of course, when done. I disagree with those that say a .410 is a hinderence or deterent for new shooters because of the difficulty in connecting a shot with such a small pattern. I've witnessed a few great success stories in shooters going on to become avid enthusiasts in our sport. I've never seen the downside of shooters starting with a .410, but I suppose it's out there. I think each new shooter has to be evaluated for which would be worse, the added difficulty in connecting with a .410 or recoil as a deterent.

I say move her down to a .410

Yeah, well, Chuck, your are a 410 kind of guy! I like em too, BUT: Last weekend we had a bunch of family out to do onerous jobs, and my Stepdaughter brought along a 12 year old who had never, NEVER fired a gun. When we had a break (dont give em many) went out to my clays range. Started the kid with a 28, couldnt hit his a** with both hands. Put a 12 Double with some Joe Wood lite specials in his hands and he broke 11 straight..."Nuttin to it" he says...and there went 2 2lb coffee cans of loads...NEAT!

Not sure where you would find them now, but Armusa produced a light 28 ga sporting clays load with only 5/8 oz of shot. I bought some a few years ago and they feel like .410s.

I recall those 28g Armusa loads. Very light.

Chuck, are all the chores done? I'm driving to SoDak again this yr in Oct and want to know if it's safe to drop by. I recall about 25 yrs ago, stopping by a friend's place in Manatou Sprgs and having worked for a week on roofing up at 9000ft alt. Pretty tuff on a flatlander like me.

Eley Grand Prix 28 bore ammo is 9/16th ounce and Lyalvale Express, if you can get them, do a 14 gram (1/2 ounce) load. I use both the great effect in an AyA double. Lagopus.....

We train our 4-H Field & Stream club pre-teens using Daly and Beretta 303 youth models 20 gauges, with Federal Top Gun target shells. We have several in the 10 - 11 years old, and none have indicated a problem with recoil. We start them off with going away clays on the skeet range (Stn 7), then once they have the hang of those, we next do the incomer from the high house. And all of our kids progress from the skeet range to the dove fields come September.

I have found that response to apparent recoil has a lot to do with the type/style instruction given (we use the 4-H method which is peculiar for youngsters) as well as size/weight of shotgun/ammo so long as the shotgun is a fair fit. In my many years as a shotgun instructor, I have found that poor fit is probably the major reason for discomfort due to recoil.

Jim Haynes

Locust, I would echo what a few above have said. Go Slow. My son showed a real affinity for guns. A good shot with a pellet gun and a 22 before he was ten. Liked to shoot a lot.
When he was about ten or eleven I had him start with a youth 1100 in 20ga. He shot it quite well at first. Then he got rather spotty. He would break 5-10 straight at trap then drop a few then hit one drop a few more ending up with 15s and such.

I put him in a trapshooting youth group which shot once a week. One of the guys who was coaching noticed almost immediately that Craig was flinching on many of his shots. I immediately had him quit shooting shotguns at the range. Went back to the pellet gun and 22. After a year or so I let him go back to a shotgun but only had him shoot starting with a low gun in sporting clays and hunting.

He is a now 14 and fairly good shot and loves to hunt but he is not really "into" shotguns. He does not want to go to the range and shoot much.

I know it is hard as can be to wait, especially for years. But it is almost impossible to undo bad experiences. How many of us have ever seen a dog who was improperly introduced to guns get over gunshyness?

Go slow. Shooting BB guns and pellet guns is excellent, especially if she really likes it.

My daughter got a Beretta Auto in 20 gauge. Everything went well until she shot in a turkey shoot and put every one out, including several handicap shooters. They gave her 9$ but not a turkey, she has never shot since. I would have paid for 10 turkeys in I could get the time back.
jas

It was the kid model and has virtually no recoil.

Jas,
That was a crappy thing they did, not giving her a turkey. The other adults worth their salt that had won a turkey should have volunteered theirs. I recall a similar situation where custom spurs and buckles were being given out at a banquet after a 150 mile horse ride. Some young teenage girls had ridden the trail for a week and they were short on spurs. A few of us gave up ours. I still don't have a set after giving up mine. That was 2003. Those girls were smiling pretty big when they got those spurs, though.

Tell about that Morgan.