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Posted on 02/20/2018 11:20:32 AM PST by GOP_Party_Animal
My son has joined his middle-school trap team and I'm shopping for a gun. Recommendations are for a semi-auto so as to reduce felt recoil and I would like him to have a 12 gauge so as not to handicap him with a 20. He takes hunter safety in a couple weeks and I also look forward to taking him hunting this year.
The problem is that there aren't a lot of choices for new 12 gauge guns under a $750 budget. What I'd like to do is buy an 11-87 and replace the stock with an 870 youth stock (I am told they will fit). My concern is that the combination of a 100 lb 12 year-old and target loads will cause the gun to not cycle properly.
Anybody own an 11-87 or 1100 have an opinion on this?
I'm not sure how much a 20 would "handicap" him. If the 12 guage is to much gun for him (a distinct possibility for a 12 year old) then he's probably going to flinch every time he pulls the trigger and that's a much greater handicap.
I don’t know much about shooting soft loads in an 1100, but have you looked at a CZ? They have some well-made shotguns, including an adjustable stock 12 gage “youth” model.
http://cz-usa.com/product/cz-712-als-g2-12-gauge-26-barrel-fully-adjustable-stock/
My grandson started shooting his father’s 11-87 in 20ga when he was about 13-14 y/o and it became his not long after. He is now 23. He wasn’t big as a teen. I don’t understand the handi-cap of 20 v 12.
1187s are gas-operated. Not really much felt recoil reduction there. You need a recoil-operated shotgun for that, like a Benelli.
My used 11-87 came with a separate skeet barrel, and the other barrel takes chokes. I see no problem with a 20 gauge. One of the nicest smoothest loading actions I’ve seen was on a Browning Gold. Remington is great but the Browning easier to load and handles great.
I think Benilli, after much work has probably reduced the recoil of their recoil operated shotguns enough for them to be acceptable but I think you must be kidding?
Yes an 11-87 would be about as good a choice as any and the recoil is not bad at all, not even for a kid.
I had a Benelli Super 90 M1 which was the worst kicking shotgun I ever owned.
Even worse than my Grandpa’s old lightweight Browning.
Not kidding. I have an 1187, 870, and a Benelli. The 1187 and 870 feel about the same until I put a recoil-reducing stock on the 870 and now it feel lighter than the 1187. The Benellli feels like a 410 though.
Over/under
If you can find a 10 year old Baretta 391 12GA he will be set until he decides he cant live without a O/U.. We'll talk then!
Hillsdale College has a shooting team, always recruiting talent!
I’ve has both as well as Beretta and Benili. Personally I would recommend staring him out on an 870 express pump youth model. Half of the weight of full size and it would help him learn shot control with a pump before he jumps to semi-auto and filling the sky full of lead.Just my opinion.
My father bought a Remington 1100 in 20 ga. in the 60’s when I was in my mid teens. We learned to shoot skeet together. It is a mild recoiling gun and shot target loads reliably. The only issue I had with it was that it was tedious to clean; carbon got caked all over in the gas system. I swore never to get a gas operated shotgun after that.
I’m in the 20 gauge camp with full loads for a 100# kid.
The 12g might get more bbs down range but if you lighten the load, they get there slower. The 20g with adjustable choke (not sure if it’s regulated for competition) will allow you to adjust the spread with a quicker shot. It only takes a couple bbs to bust the clay.
Side effect, if he can get good at busting clays with the 20g, it will only get easier when he is able to comfortable shoot the 12g.
My husband had one and hated it.
I taught skeet for two years at The University of Southern Mississippi.
The gun I used personally was a Beretta model 391. One of my friends had an old cheap Spanish double in 20 gauge. I tried it and was more than surprised how well it shot.
It had a cracked stock which I could have repaired. I made the mistake of telling him how well it shot and he changed his mind about selling it to me for $30.
I would go with the 20ga. in whatever you get for a 12 year old. I had a Remington 1100 12ga. when I was 16 years old. I am 6’2” and the gun was way too big. It’s long and heavy. I switched to a 20ga. and still use it in my 50’s for game bird hunting. It’s no handicap.
I’d consider an over under for trap shooting.
Do they give scholarships? My grandson was recruited by several colleges but they had none and the out of state tuition was way too much. He managed to compete enough to go from E to master shooter in his 4 years of college though.
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It will take just about any brass, whereas the 1100/1187 will balk with most of the low-brass rounds.
Now...the Versa-Max...that's a shoot gun!
And well adaptable for youth, unless we're talking less than 100 lbs or so...and I'm not sure anything is good other than a single shot break-open in 20 gauge.
Hard to fit a kid sometimes, but the CZ does the best that I've seen, short of spending a LOT of money.
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