It will depend on many factors. In an area where one will encounter rarely hunted ruffies and cotton tails it may be a decent choice. Here our grouse, the sharptail, and hungarian partridges rarely present an easy sitting target so a .410 is not really giving a kid a chance for success. I started my son with an NEF Handi Rifle which came with a 20 ga barrel as well as a 30-30. It worked great for him. Short, compact and not too hard kicking with light 20 ga loads yet still had a good enough pattern to make wing shots possible on early season huns and sharpies.
.410 shotguns for newbies
- Thread starter 1shotdown
- Start date
- Location
- Peace River, AB
I think a .410 is a great choice. The light patterns go a long way to teach youngsters about timing, lead, and accuracy without requiring absolute precision. The low recoil allows them to be comfortable and in my personal opinion this combination in a first gun (or any gun for that matter) will go a long way to make them better shooters later on.
-G
-G
I learned on a 20 Gauge break action single shot. Great gun to learn on. The single shot ensured that my first shot was always an aimed one. My kids are all going to learn on single shots. The .410 IMO doesn't have enough shot in the shell for a decent pattern to effectively teach a kid to wing shoot. Take a 20 Gauge and a .410 out for a round of trap or sporting clays and you'll see what I'm talking about.
yah but if you teach a kid with .410 and they become skilled with that shotgun, then they will have the skill to hit the target with any shotgun. That's why I think a .410 is great for beginners
Because the .410 has such a small shot charge and rather weak pattern it will just as often provide negative re-inforcement. The beginner may very well be on target but fail to drop the bird. Tyhis is not the way to teach skills. Rather when the beginner does his part right he should be given positive re-inforcement.
X2
and you can get bricks of 20guage shot at the wal mart in the $27 range. That will let him/her shoot lots and love the sport. they weigh the same and when he/she gets older ya can get some 3" mags for it.
IMHO
