I tortured all of you with my many questions and madly researched all possible angles while looking to purchase a shotgun for Amy. I thought that my experience might serve to help some of you out there that want to go shooting with daughter, wife and girlfriend. First, a bit of advice: Do not to take the girlfriend
In review, Amy, my wife, stands 4'9 1/2" and not many pounds. She expressed an interest in the clay sports. Made me happy until I realized that I would need to find her a gun. Most advice and concern centered upon shotgun recoil. It turns out that this was a non-issue. Next was fit and balance. These were the issues that presented the real challenge. The Remington 1100 was a pussycat shooter, but heavy and could only be reduced to a bit over 12 1/2" LOP. Amy shot great, but really struggled with handling the gun. 20 Gauge O/U balanced well, but she had difficulty in closing the action. The Remington 870 Express 20 gauge with 26" barrel was cut to just shy of chopping off the stock bolt and the pad was shaped for her rather barrel chest. Amy is small, but rather nicely put together. She can handle the 870 without any difficulty. The recoil is a bit more than the 12 gauge 1100, but not a problem with 7/8 oz. target loads. So, we now have a new sport. Also, two of my young female employees and a friend's daughter have expressed an interest in shooting clays. Amy is one of those ever bouncy and happy people and her excitement regarding the shotgun has sparked an interest in other young women who were previously rather anti-gun. Should be interesting to see if they really do come along.
Oh, yes..One last benefit. Amy was rather positive when I made my move to put a rather large reloading bench in the house and then spent a small fortune on equipment. I'm now rather poor, but happy
