Youth shotgun recommendations.

[Texas by God]

A good recoil pad helps as he won’t be concentrating on the recoil.
Limbsaver slip on works great.
I have a youth model Maverick 88 20 gauge and like it very much. You might check those out.


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[Minerat]

I have a older 1950's Browning A-5 in 20ga that uses 3" . Not much recoil with 2-3/4" number 4 or 5 shot. My grandson started shooting it when he was 10 years old. Kind of a small kid then but never complained shooting game loads. It will get late season pheasant out to 40 yds no problem. Never used it on turkey. I'd only consider a semi auto in 20 or above. Even a single shot 20 can be unpleasant to a small guy or gal.

[dverna]

410 is expensive to purchase, has few loads, and can be difficult to source. Hulls are $15/100 and reloading them can be challenging.

20 ga can be loaded down if desired, and hulls are cheap or free. It is an easy hull to reload. There are 3/4 oz loads all the way up to 1 1/4 oz. Your son will be able to get cheaper practice with tge 20 ga.

I like the 28 ga, but hulls are expensive and there are fewer guns in that gauge.

IMO, the 20 ga is the best choice.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Mossberg makes a 'Bantam' line of shotguns, based on the Mossberg 500. Shorter barrels and shortened stocks with spacers. Come in 20 Ga and .410. I would try a 20GA with the Boss Shotguns(internet direct, the 410 can work with some of the high tech shells, but the 410 shells are $5-7 each. I have both a 410 and 20Ga Bantam, the 410 is a little lighter but the 20Ga has much wider variety of shells available at a much lower cost. Very light 3/4 oz loads can be loaded for the 20Ga with no more recoil than the 410's available.

[jimb16]

ATI has O/U shotguns in both 67 ga. and 20 ga. both with choke tubes. Both are reasonably priced and either will do the job. HOWEVER; as an instructor with 37 years of experience, I recommend the 20. You can start him off with light loads and as he progresses, you can go to heavier loads. The reason I don't care for the 67 is that the payload is so small that it can be unforgiving of even small errors. I shoot skeet with an O/U .410 so I have no problems using one, but for a young shooter, it can be more challenging than necessary. It hits just as hard as a 12 ga. just with a much smaller pattern. If he can handle the 20, it gives him a much higher chance of success.

[BLAHUT]

20 ga..... put some lead in the stock ? Or a Breako mercury system in it.....

[Ken 45LC]

I went down to the farmhouse and mentioned to my father what I was looking for, here he had an old 20ga single shot with a variety of old shells. Heck some of the shells are cardboard I believe. I’ll shoot it first to make sure it holds together, and if it does and the recoil is descent I’ll let my son shoot it to see if he can handle it. It’s been my experience that these single shot shotguns and rifles can kick fairly hard. I don’t know if it’s the angle or what, but some of them are punishing.
At least I still have a few months to figure out what to get him. But finding out what he can handle will be a huge help in narrowing down which gun.
Thanks for all the help.

[ulav8r]

Many of the older single shots had excessive drop which combined with their light weight made for excessive recoil experiences. The same weight gun with less drop will have the recoil but the recoil will mainly be backwards. A stock with greater drop will cause the muzzle to come higher and the stock comb will hit the cheek harder and make the overall recoil seem greater.