Youth gun

HANDGUNNER · #1 01-08-2006, 03:38 PM

What are your opinions on youth guns. My son is eleven and has two single shots, on old hand me down .410 and a H&R 20 guage. I'm want to upgrade his 20 guage to a pump and I'm looking at the Mossberg, Win, and Rem 870. I want to be able to put a red dot sight on it for Turkey and Deer. I'm going with a pump because the lightweight H&R is brutal with the heavy loads and I can't mount a red dot on it. I've been a Rem & Browing man, but I've heard good things about the Mossbergs.

fabsroman · #2 01-08-2006, 11:43 PM

If you are going to buy a pump 12 ga., I don't think it is going to be much more forgiving on the recoil, but I don't know if a youth gun is made in 12 ga. I think Remington makes some youth autos in 20 ga. and I know that Beretta makes a youth auto in 20 ga. The Beretta is in the $600 range, but you should look around at picking one up used and/or other brands. As he grows older, you can buy a new stock for the gun and he can continue to use it. I have a Beretta 391 youth gun in 20 ga. that I let my sisters use and they love it.

kt · #3 01-08-2006, 11:58 PM

as soon as i saw this post i thought dear lord dont let him give a kid a 20 H&R. being some one who shoots alot, that break action cheap POS has the kick of a donkey. mossbergs are not top, but for the money? wow, you cant go wrong on some of the deals the shell out. as far as recoil, find a beretta or other gas operated 20. at worst you end up using it for your self! hahaha'
kt

gd357 · #4 01-09-2006, 12:21 AM

We went through the same issues a year ago with my younger sister and brother. My brother in on the small side, even for his age. The only gun we found that would fit him decently was the Benelli Nova youth model. Other than having a terrible trigger, they're pretty decent guns, and reasonably priced. The recoil is managable for both of them, and my brother doesn't weigh 90 lbs. JMHO

gd

lawdog · #5 01-10-2006, 05:43 AM

My 13 year old daughter shoots a Rem. 870 youth model. It fits her well and I have both the slug and bird barrels. It is nothing fancy, but gets the job done and is very reliable.

That being said, I prefer the looks and action of the Browning BPS micro. I bought the 870 used, but it appeared new and was priced at a point I just could not let it go. Otherwise, my daughter would be shooting the Browning. I like the way the BPS ejects out the bottom. I have three kids and eventually I think they will all have their turn with the youth model gun until they grow out of it. The bottom eject feature saves having to go and buy a different gun if one of the kids ends up being left handed.

I would imagine that the Benelli Nova youth model, the Beretta youth model, or any of the others mentioned would be wonderful. Whatever it takes to get a kid out there I say.

Tim

tjwatty · #6 01-10-2006, 03:20 PM

Years ago I bought my son the Mossberg youth 20ga. with the adult stock option. ($10 for the stock) Within 6 months he out grew the gun as well as several prs of tennis shoes. We never did use the adult stock.
Find a good used auto-loader, Remingtons are all over the place for $300 to $375. They're a great little gun that will do most anything with little felt recoil. My son says he has a flinch because I bought him a BPS 12ga. I say it's because he insists of shooting slugs in an 870 slug gun.

P.S.
I think the 1100 brls are thick enough to add choke tubes but Skeet will have to verify that. I think a new brl might be cheaper.

fabsroman · #7 01-10-2006, 05:18 PM

I'll agree that shooting slugs out of any pump gun could lead to a flinch. I know I was having trouble with slugs out of my BPS and my friend's 870. Hence, the use of the SBE with two recoil reducers on it.

drummer · #8 01-10-2006, 08:24 PM

Considered an Ithaca 37 in 20 or 16ga?

tjwatty · #9 01-12-2006, 02:54 PM

Shot my 1st deer with a 37, but still would have recoil issues

skeet · #10 01-12-2006, 08:13 PM

I went through this with my kids too. The best thing to get the young'un is an auto loader in 20 ga. There are plenty out there used for a fair price and they will recoil a lot less. My grandson is now using MY 1100 Standard weight with a shortened stock. He shoots slugs and I have a 3" bbl for it he shoots geese with. He isn't at a disadvantage on anything except the geese because you can only get #1 steel shot which is a bit marginal past 35-40 yds...but most of the geese we take are at 20 yds or so. The BPS is a brutal gun to shoot. It seems to have more recoil than any of the other pumps. If you must have a pump get a youth 870. Least recoiling of the lot. I used quite a bunch of different guns for Hunters Safety classes and found that most kids could handle the 870 20(but they prefered the 28 ga 870 I have). The Mossberg is just lighter and seems to have more recoil. Also when you go to sell the gun(if you do) the 870 will bring more on a trade or outright when you get a 12 ga for him..or her. Worry about the left- right issue later. TJ is right about the choke tubes thing but it would be better and cheaper to find a gun or bbl with them in the first place. My grandson shoots just fine with modified choke. Young'uns are a bit slower on the mount when shooting and the bird or whatever is usually just a bit farther out there so modified seems to work better