Lightest over and under Shot gun for wife

rafael69

rafael69

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Hello

i am looking for a over and under shot gun for my wife. We are getting into trap and skeet. The wife is only 5'5 and weights just over 120. I need to find a good quality but light over and under. Any input from CGNers would be great as I don't know any thing about over and under shot guns for sporting clays
 
Light guns will kick her harder if she is recoil sensitive. If she's like my wife the issue is to much weight to far forward. Shorter barrels may help. 26"-28".
A kick ezz recoil pad or a mercury recoil reducer my help.

If I'm way off and you do want a light weight gun look at brownings featherwieghts or a field gun as trap guns are meant to be on the heavy side

I have a tristar setter o/u. It has 28" barrels 5 chokes and is very light but its an entry level gun made it turkey. Shoots great though
 
My Franchi Rennasaince is 6.5 lbs,and its 12 gauge! With the strange looking but very effective recoil pad,the kick is very minimal using target loads. Its an alumniumn alloy reciever gun that some say wont stand up to alot of shooting,but after several thousand target loads mine is still stiff to open,a long way from getting loose.
Problem is,they dony make it anymore,the Instinct is not near as light or as pretty IMO. You might find a good used one,I might even sell mine as I dont use it much anymore.
 
Another gun to look at is the Benelli Ultra Light. It's a semi... but that means less recoil for your wife.
The 20 Ga is ~6lbs, and comes with a 24" barrel.

I won't buy one until she gets to shoot it first, but it sounds like a great shotgun for a small woman or even as an 'all day in an upland field' gun for me. :)
 
I'll reinforce the message that a light gun will kick her hard. Lots of women shooters lost interest in the sport from well intentioned people trying to start them with a light gun. After being beat up they lose interest fast. Getting her a 20 gauge can be just as bad if you find a very light fixed breech gun.

IMHO start her out with a gas operated 20 gauge semi with some weight to it. Shells are still relatively cheap, it has decent pattern density, recoil is manageable and will cost less than a cheap O/U.

If she is having fun and breaking targets she'll want to go shooting with you. If she's bruised and can't hit anything from her flinch, she'll quit and you'll be taking a bath trying to sell the gun used.
 
My girlfriend is of very similar stature. I got her a Beretta A390 20ga, 28" barrel, and a very short stock. She also usrs a Browning reactor pad in her vest.

She has tried a few others, semi, pumps and O/Us, and loves her 390 more each time. The lightest was a Browning featherweight, it weights about as much as the barrels alone on my 682E. But as had been said, the light weight made it kick a lot more.

I would definitely recommend a 390 or 391, awesome guns. While it's true that there it's some added weight in the front end, but it's all about conditioning. Originally Kacie had trouble with 50 rounds, both recoil and weight. Within a year she'll do 100+ rounds before feeling it.
 
I would look at a semi for your wife as a first gun. My wife who also is a very petit lady started using the Benelli ultra light in 20 gauge and recently started using the Benelli super black eagle II in 12 gauge both guns are light enough for her to handle the weight when shooting sporting clays, and she finds the recoil very manageable on both guns when using light target loads. Our problem with both guns is gun fit. These guns along with most others are made for men and do not come with enough adjustment for lady shooters, you may have to build the comb up on any of the guns you look at.
The thing my wife finds the most discouraging is not breaking the targets this is one of the reasons I have had to give up my Black eagle as her hit count is now over 50% and climbing in sporting clays.
One of the things I did when she started shooting was to just let her shoot a box or less at home and as she got use to the gun & recoil she started breaking more clays, pretty soon she was wanting to shoot more and now looks forward to shooting a 100 with me when we go to the range
 
Lots of good points above. I have a Beretta Ultralight 686 12 gauge that tips the scale at only 5 lbs 11 oz, and it kicks like a MULE. Unlike your wife (thankfully for you! lol!), I am 210 lbs and I STILL don't like shooting clays with it. The difference with my regular weight beretta 687 OU (just shy of 7 lbs) is very noticable - much nicer to shoot. The difference with my Xtrema semi is even MORE noticable. My buddy has a Citori that weights a million pounds, and the recoil on that pig is almost negligible. So, I think the best way to balance weight and recoil is to get her a semi. If not, I would shoot for something in the 7 lb range. Sure, it's a bit heavy for such a small person to tote around, but it won't knock her around so much either. If you go with a semi you might also be able to get her some additional recoil-reduction features, like Kick-off or whatever. Either way, obviously a good recoil pad will be key, but I would be careful what you get installed. When I bought the ultralight (here on the EE) it had a very "squishy" recoil pad installed. That was good for recoil, but it was also very "grabby", always catchign on my clothing etc... I had to switch it up for one of the pachmayr ones with the no-snag heel on it (more recoil, but no annoying snagging). I also picked up a vest with a leather shoulder and a sleeve for a gel pad inside. Makes a difference as well, even as "well padded" as I am already. Hope this helps - good luck.

Dave
 
Lots of good advice above. I would suggest a Youth/Ladies/Bantam sized shotgun (shorter barrel AND shorter stock to balance it). Light weight will kick her like hell. A Youth gas semi-auto, in either 12 or 20 gauge, would be a great choice to start her off. Once she gets used to it she'll be easy to move up to a harder-kicking O/U if she wishes. But a good gas semi can be easily used for both trap and skeet.
 
I acquired a .28 bore sxs a couple years ago...... Its a beautiful, well balanced AyA . Honestly have not shot it much, but it does take some work and practice to hit clays. I am not a great wing shot, but this past summer shooting my 16 I managed 16/17 from 25 shooting 5 stand. Shooting 3/4 oz loads out of the 28 , I broke 4 ..... Ouch, but what fun and almost no recoil.
I'm with the majority on the light 12 or 20's ...... They are light to carry, but felt recoil is substantial.

Whatever shotgun you buy, make sure the stock fits her well. That will solve a host of problems.

Lucky
 
I picked up a Savage Milano (FAIR) for half the price of anything similar. I find absolutely nothing offensive about it. It is light and shoots where you point it. At the prices they were going for you could have it cut/fitted for your wife and still be around $1000.
 
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