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PJR · January 15, 2001, 08:35 AM

In my experience, gun fit and ensuring less recoil on training loads is very important but so too are gun weight and hearing protection. New shooters it seems are intimidated by the combination of noise and recoil. Good hearing protection (e.g. plugs and muffs) work well. Another suggestion is to have the shooters put them on early if you are at a public range. We might not notice the sound of shells going off but for a new shooter it can be disconcerting.

Gun weight was the issue that surprised me the most. One afternoon while letting a couple of female friends try some guns, the women complained about the "recoil" of the 12 gauge and wanted to try the 20 I had borrowed for the occasion. I was perplexed because the 12 load was 7/8's ounce and the gun was a 30" Beretta A390 with some added weight on the foreend expressly put their to reduce recoil. The women happily burned through several boxes of 20 gauge in a light fixed breech gun that in my view kicked a lot more than the 12. When I asked them about it afterward they said the semi was too heavy and unwieldy but the light 20 suited them just fine and neither of them mentioned the recoil.

Now, I'm no instructor. What I do is let people try shooting and if they like it suggest a couple of instructors who can really teach them what's what. As for light loads I load my own 7/8s 12 gauge but have also used the Winchester Low Noise, Low Recoil. The main drawback with them is that they don't work in a semi and sometimes don't reset the inertia trigger in an over/under.

Paul

[Edited by PJR on 01-15-2001 at 02:10 PM]

January 15, 2001, 08:35 AM	#2
PJR Senior Member Join Date: May 31, 2000 Posts: 1,127	In my experience, gun fit and ensuring less recoil on training loads is very important but so too are gun weight and hearing protection. New shooters it seems are intimidated by the combination of noise and recoil. Good hearing protection (e.g. plugs and muffs) work well. Another suggestion is to have the shooters put them on early if you are at a public range. We might not notice the sound of shells going off but for a new shooter it can be disconcerting. Gun weight was the issue that surprised me the most. One afternoon while letting a couple of female friends try some guns, the women complained about the "recoil" of the 12 gauge and wanted to try the 20 I had borrowed for the occasion. I was perplexed because the 12 load was 7/8's ounce and the gun was a 30" Beretta A390 with some added weight on the foreend expressly put their to reduce recoil. The women happily burned through several boxes of 20 gauge in a light fixed breech gun that in my view kicked a lot more than the 12. When I asked them about it afterward they said the semi was too heavy and unwieldy but the light 20 suited them just fine and neither of them mentioned the recoil. Now, I'm no instructor. What I do is let people try shooting and if they like it suggest a couple of instructors who can really teach them what's what. As for light loads I load my own 7/8s 12 gauge but have also used the Winchester Low Noise, Low Recoil. The main drawback with them is that they don't work in a semi and sometimes don't reset the inertia trigger in an over/under. Paul [Edited by PJR on 01-15-2001 at 02:10 PM]