Youth pump shotgun- which one?

[sns2]

Time to get the boy his first shotgun. Anyone have any experience with them? Seems Mossberg, Winchester, and Rem are the commonly available ones. Any anecdotal advice would be appreciated. Thanks, boys!

[slopeshunter]

Can't really help ya, but I can tell you what my 13 year old son wants! He was up at the AHEIA camp this past weekend with his scout troop. He got the best score on trap shooting, scoring 6/6 clays. He told me they were shooting a 12ga Beretta Semi Auto & "he wants one!", my response to him was pretty much "so do I son, so do I". lol (I guess our 20ga Ithaca semi doesn't cut it anymore).

[obsessed1]

The mossberg and remmy are the same as their bigger brothers. as for fit and finish and over all operation they are just smaller 500s and 870s also they are 20g . If your a fan of either of these two you will have no issue. Both Bantam models come with spacers for adjusting length of pull. These are the only two I have had any experience with.

[Scottmisfits]

I have a 20g Remington 870 youth synthetic model for my son. He really likes it. I like that it has spacers for the stock, on the synthetic model, so it can grow with him. The thing is devastating on gophers at 30 yards, lol.

[gitrdun]

How old is junior Shane?

[Icatchfish]

Got a 20 ga. Semi auto weatherby. Weighs 5.5 pounds and barely has a kick to it. Gun is cheap had it for a year. Shoots good, no jams and no issues

[FallAirFever]

Bought a 870 express compact for my 13 year old son last Christmas. Nice little gun. Fits him great and he shoots it well on the trap field. Because it's so short and light it still packs a pretty big punch for him. If I bought one again it th I one with the spacers might be better

[sns2]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

How old is junior Shane?

12

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by sns2

12

ok, I've just upgraded my grandson (11) from a single shot 22 to a repeater bolt action as he demonstrated plenty firearm safe handling to graduate. He still shoots his 20ga. single shot and I haven't considered an upgrade yet as he only shoots trap and does very well with it. The reason that he upgraded to a 22 repeater is because of gopher patch shooting. On the trap line, it really didn't matter all that much as no matter what you shoot, you are restricted to a single round chambered.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

ok, I've just upgraded my grandson (11) from a single shot 22 to a repeater bolt action as he demonstrated plenty firearm safe handling to graduate. He still shoots his 20ga. single shot and I haven't considered an upgrade yet as he only shoots trap and does very well with it. The reason that he upgraded to a 22 repeater is because of gopher patch shooting. On the trap line, it really didn't matter all that much as no matter what you shoot, you are restricted to a single round chambered.

My boy has been shooting his 7-08 for four years. His old man is kind of excitable

When you look at the price of these youth guns nowadays, you might as well get a pump as a single shot. I still control the number of shells I pass him, and he will be hunting ducks with me this fall.

One of my student's father started him with a Stoeger Condor 20 gauge o/u and cut the stock which I am also considering.

[Kurt505]

The Mossberg 510 pump is cheap, adjustable and will get him started. I was considering getting my boy something nicer, but at that age they grow fast, by the time he's 16 it will be to small and time to buy another one, that's when you can spend some money IMO.