[Sam Cree]

Oh, speaking of women shooting, my 20 year old daughter, 5'3", about 120, has expressed interest in learning to shoot a shotgun, she would like to go bird hunting with my son and me.

Any suggestions as to a suitable shotgun would be welcome. I believe Browning markets an auto made just for ladies, I kind of like the idea since those have less recoil, then maybe she might use a 12 ga., which is an advantage in firepower.

[demosthenes the elder]

I really like the old Ithaca 12ga which loaded and ejected from the same port. I have yet to find a pumpgun I like so well.

[tortoise]

Any suggestions as to a suitable shotgun would be welcome.

My lady is 5'2" and 115, and so only a little bit smaller than your daughter. She isn't particularly recoil sensitive and will shoot anything you give her, but one of the problems she had with shotguns was that the 12ga were too heavy for her to use regularly. Her arms would get tired very quickly.

I have a shotgun for just this situation that slight women seem to love: a Remington Model 17 I picked up several years ago (picked out by an ex-girlfriend at gunshow who insisted that I buy it). The Model 17 is a 20ga pump, and they haven't made them in 75 years, but the design is superb. They are very light, have a wonderful trigger, and they don't cost too much even though they do have some collector value. I picked mine up for $175 and it gets a lot of use because half the women I know love the thing. I've thought about picking up another.

I wish Remington would make another shotgun like the Model 17 that was slightly modernized. Their current line of equivalent 870s just don't compare, though I have one.