The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - My 7 year old wants a shotgun for deer hunting.

BigJimP · February 25, 2009, 06:33 PM

You guys are right - a .410 can make even an experienced shooter talk to themselves a little. I try to tell myself, shoot it like its a 12ga - but if I miss a Skeet target, it creeps into my brain a little - and the .410 pattern means you chip a lot more targets than you bust into dust balls - its the nature of the .410 pattern.

Balistically, a 28ga with 3/4 oz loads gives a really good pattern for a young or new shooter. I say new shooters - because I really don't differentiate based on sex or age - some young adults, especially young ladies, don't have a lot of upper body strength either - so you have to adapt and you have to manage and reduce the recoil to an absolute minimum for all new shooters.

In my family, we started hunting pretty young / but most of the boys in my family were 6'0" tall and weighed 150 lbs by the time they were 10 ... so shooting even a 12 ga with light loads at 11 or 12 wasn't a big deal to us / or hunting with 30-40's or 30-06's, etc at a pretty young age.

But even for big kids, I still started them out slow - I work with the grandkids on some .22's / and then move them into a 28ga when they're strong enough / or to a semi-auto in 20ga ( and I stay with real light loads ). Young kids are more mature for their age these days - so that's a plus / but you still need to spend some time on all this stuff.

The other issue on kids - they grow so fast - that getting them their own guns / vs having guns you own for them to shoot - is probably a better idea until they get older. When the kids and grandkids in my family turn 16, its been my practice to buy them a Browning 12ga pump shotgun / let them get some pride of ownership, take care of it, etc ( and keep it locked in their Dad's safe ). For the other guns - like a youth sized 20ga semi-auto, a .410 , a 28ga, a full sized 20ga semi-auto, etc - those remain my guns - and all the grandkids shoot them as they move up thru the years. I think it works out a lot better - than buying them guns they outgrow in a few years.

February 25, 2009, 06:33 PM	#12
BigJimP Senior Member Join Date: February 23, 2005 Posts: 13,195	You guys are right - a .410 can make even an experienced shooter talk to themselves a little. I try to tell myself, shoot it like its a 12ga - but if I miss a Skeet target, it creeps into my brain a little - and the .410 pattern means you chip a lot more targets than you bust into dust balls - its the nature of the .410 pattern. Balistically, a 28ga with 3/4 oz loads gives a really good pattern for a young or new shooter. I say new shooters - because I really don't differentiate based on sex or age - some young adults, especially young ladies, don't have a lot of upper body strength either - so you have to adapt and you have to manage and reduce the recoil to an absolute minimum for all new shooters. In my family, we started hunting pretty young / but most of the boys in my family were 6'0" tall and weighed 150 lbs by the time they were 10 ... so shooting even a 12 ga with light loads at 11 or 12 wasn't a big deal to us / or hunting with 30-40's or 30-06's, etc at a pretty young age. But even for big kids, I still started them out slow - I work with the grandkids on some .22's / and then move them into a 28ga when they're strong enough / or to a semi-auto in 20ga ( and I stay with real light loads ). Young kids are more mature for their age these days - so that's a plus / but you still need to spend some time on all this stuff. The other issue on kids - they grow so fast - that getting them their own guns / vs having guns you own for them to shoot - is probably a better idea until they get older. When the kids and grandkids in my family turn 16, its been my practice to buy them a Browning 12ga pump shotgun / let them get some pride of ownership, take care of it, etc ( and keep it locked in their Dad's safe ). For the other guns - like a youth sized 20ga semi-auto, a .410 , a 28ga, a full sized 20ga semi-auto, etc - those remain my guns - and all the grandkids shoot them as they move up thru the years. I think it works out a lot better - than buying them guns they outgrow in a few years.