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If you shoot a 7/8 oz load ( 8's, 6's or whatever, it makes no difference - except in 7/8 oz of shot if you have 8's you have more pellets in the shell than if you have 7/8 oz of 6's , or 4's or whatever).
If you shoot a 7/8 oz load around 1200 fps / its the same recoil as a 20ga - if the guns weigh the same. I have a grandson that is 16 , 6'4" and about 160 lbs - and he finds an 8 1/2lb O/U 12ga too much gun - so he shoots my 12ga Benelli super sport 12ga and last summer was here for 3 weeks and we got him up to a 20 average in skeet using that gun. He was shooting my primary reloads 1 oz of 8's at 1225 fps / and he did great with it. He's been shooting with me since he was about 12 / and shot my 28ga O/U with 3/4 oz loads at 1200 fps in a 7 1/2 lb gun - and he was averaging 15 - 18 in skeet. As he developed a litttle more upper body strength, we moved him up to a 7/8 oz load in a 20ga gun / then into the 12ga. But for all new shooters - if you feel like its too much recoil - then go to a different gun or lighter loads. Too much recoil ruins a lot of new shooters. Zippy is right - even though I'm 6'5" , 290 lbs and built like a buffalo, sometimes I just don't feel like shooting a 12ga - so I grab a 20ga or a 28ga ......its not a big deal. I had a newbie to the gun club laught at me one day, because I was shooting a 28ga - he kind of smirked and said he'd never seen a big guy shoot a 28ga / so I proceeded to run 50 straight just because he ****** me off ....and he apologized / since he was already down at least 10 targets shooting 1 1/8 oz 9's in his 12ga.
Bottom line, shoot whatever you want - light loads, smaller gague, whatever suits you ( and no matter what, make sure the gun fits, so it hits where you are looking / or its all a waste). If it doesn't fit / get a comb pad or something on it to make it fit / and you can't tell if it fits by shooting targets / you have to shoot at a pattern board. Ask around at your local club - hopefully somebody will give you a hand.
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