Posted on 12/05/2014 8:35:01 AM PST by w1n1
My first one at 11 was a .410 pump.
My dad bought me a 12 gauge H&R single shot when I turned 15. Still have it 30 years later and I appreciate it more than ever. Great gun!
I agree 100%.
I bought my 5’1”, 110 lb wife a youth sized 28ga High Standard Flite King pump shotgun. It is just the right size for her and has little recoil. Almost no one makes 28ga slug loads though.
There’s really no reason a 10 year old can’t manage a full size 12ga...
And I have the pics of my 7 year old niece holding a Rem 870 Express 12ga she used to dispatch 2 coyotes in her Daddy’s cornfield to prove the point...
But I concur with Resolute a Rem 870 Youth in 20ga is also a good choice...And a 20ga Youth remains useful thruout his/her life and can be passed along later to a new gen of hunter...
I vividly remember the Christmas morning when I received my first set of powerful pistols. They were dart guns, but this was in the late 1960s and they were not like anything designed for kids these days. The darts were large and had weighted tips instead of suction cups for better range and stopping power. To cock the largest pistol... I had to put it muzzle down on the floor and press the dart in place with nearly all of my body weight.
A couple hours after opening this awesome Christmas gift... our hillbilly cousins from Eastern Washington showed up. Their parents never gave them decent presents so they were busily rough housing with my stuff. I politely asked one of them to put my 3D Viewmaster down. He responded by mocking my appearance. I was wearing my full batman suit with utility belt and rubber mask. I un-holstered the largest pistol from my batman utility belt and repeated my request. He and his brothers responded with laughter.
Without hesitation I raised my pistol, took aim and shot him in the forehead. He fell to the floor screaming. Parents immediately came running into the room. My attempts to explain my totally justified action were completely ignored. The gun was pulled from my hand. I was given a swat and sent to my room. My gifts were left at the mercy of crude and destructive ruffians.
Later in the day as our visitors were preparing to leave... I was forced to come out and apologize to my nasty cousins, one of whom had an impressive lump in the middle of his forehead. I never saw my bat pistol or its set of weighted darts again. My parents would not tell me what had happened to it. My sister said that she thought it had been given to my cousins as some sort of reparation for my completely justified action.
I accidentally pulled both triggers on that double-barrel. Once.
I used a 20 guage hunting rabbit with my Grandfather for years. It worked better than a 12 guage.
My first was a Stevens 311A side-by-side double in 16ga.
Dad gave it to me for Christmas 40 years ago. I was 11.
I still take it out on occasion to blast a few squirrels for the pot.
1953 I received a J.C.Higgins 12 gauge pump shotgun for my 8th grade graduation!!
terrible useless toy...and at least in Wisconsin, totally illegal for deer hunting!!
Reminds me of when my younger cousin went dove hunting with his dad... cousin came home with a big bruise...
I was pi$$3d that I couldn’t go.. I was 15 and my cousin was 11 :/
.410 semi-auto was my first gun. I think it makes sense to start with it.
Nearly 20 years ago I was on a dove hunt in Tennessee. Friends and customers of a company there hosted the hunt on their own lands. One of their customers, no names, used a 410. He was always on target, seldom missed. Got his limit, and his party flew out and back home that evening.
Most all of the rest of us were using 12 gauge. Mine was borrowed...and though not a hunter then, and not owning a shotgun, I got my limit too, but with too many misses. Some of us stayed for another day...and my shoulder was bruised! I know the fellow with the 12 gauge did not have a bruised shoulder.
For the pre-teens, a 410 is good. And for me and my grandkids, I prefer it in ‘Mossberg’.
Now move to a new dimension. Big boys & their guns.
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