should I go 20 or 410 for 12 year old??

U

upnorth

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Hey folks... just wondering what I should do here... non-hunting neighbour's wife approached me last night. Her grandson who will be turning 12 this year, just had his grandfather on the other families side pass away in front of him. Went to take out the garbage with his grandpapa, walking back to the house, grandpa suffered a massive heart attack and died on the spot. Anyways, she approached me because he was getting ready to write his hunter's safety, and his grandpa was the hunter in his life. I agreed to help him study, and I was looking at picking up a single shot 20 or 410 for him for this year's chicken season. Having never owned a 410, are they good learners for kids? I was kinda leaning towards the 20 so he can shoot it when he gets older as well.

I have a single shot .22 for him to use, and he will be using my t/c encore in 7-08 to practice with and shoot deer with me this year. There are several single shots on the EE in both calibers, so I could use your real world experience with kids and both calibers.:)
 
better choice

go for the 20ga. I had one at his age, and loved it. He can do anything at all with the 20 from pest control to upland to waterfowl and even deer.
 
go for the 20 not much more kick.and you can get slugs for it and 410 cost a lot more for shells. i know that at s.i.r in winnipeg , they sell h&R 20's for maybe 130 new and they are a good gun to start with, but they dont come with a recoil pad.
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My opinon.
Go for a 12.
Winchester makes a low recoil, low noise, and in a semi-auto there is very little recoil.
I have a friend that shoots these and he is breaking 22-23 clays every time, and he is 11
 
Greg, I'm going to stick with a single shot for now. With exposed hammer, break open design, easy for me to teach him about safe firearm handling in the field, and easy for me to watch him as well.
 
My friend's son is 11 years old and he's been dusting gophers with his old 20ga single shot all spring. He's not a big kid and handles it just fine and, as mentioned earlier, you have a lot more versatility compared to the .410.
 
I took my cousin (12) shooting last year and he was a great shot at the skeet with 12g 1-1/8 oz loads. The guns were a little long for him though but that's it. I bet your son would be bored of the 410 quickly
 
Go with the 20g. I had one at that age. I remember the single shot had just as much recoil as my 12g semi-auto, but he should be able to handle it unless he is overly small for 12.
 
the 20 kicks probably twice as bad as a .410 so i wouldn't say they are comparable, however, as everyone's said the 20 is so much more versatile..you don't feel handicapped carrying a 20 it's a great all around shotgun.
 
Find a used Co-oey in 20ga as they are heavier and don't jump like the lighter H+R 20's.I have both and the boys always chose the former.I was lucky enough to find a Youth model with the short stock and bought two of the last full length Co-oey 840 stocks SIR had in stock............Harold
 
I'm gonna guess your a little bias there 28 gauge...:) I have a 20 ga sxs as well, so he won't have to pay for ammo... I told him he could do chores for his dad and grandparents to pay for the ammo... I have a line on a nice little 20 ga single shot for a decent price, so I think I'll go with that to start with. Thanks to all for the advice:D
 
good luck finding ammo for the 28 gauge..i guess it depends where you live but back home in cape breton i never saw that for sale...even the .410 was much more readily available...i guess people do have a point on the 12, you can get ammo anywhere for it..wouldn't the muzzle break increase the blast though? and for a youngster i dunno if it's such a great thing...there really are only 2 gauges here though...12 and 20..i still vote 20 it's just a sweet gun..maybe i'm biased too as that was my first shotgun.
 
Look for a Remington 1100 YOUTH 12 gauge. They are rare but around.
Your other choice in a small frame is a Stoeger YOUTH, I understand they are only available in the states but you could go down to get it I believe.

M.
 
sorry ice pick... it's gonna be a cheap single shot. He's not my son, and I'm doing this to help him through a rough time in his life. From talking to him, getting his hunter's safety seems to be keeping him focused right now, and I want to encourage him to keep up with the outdoors.
 
I say go with a 20 in a youth model. I got a 20 ga. H&R for my son when he was about that age. The gun is proportioned which is important. Just cutting the barrel or stock can throw a gun out of balance but the H&R handled very well. I even used it on occasion even though I am far from a kid's size.
With Walmart selling 20's in the value pack, 100's, it is as cheap to shoot as a 12.
Also the H&R was a transfer bar which means the hammer will not strike unless the trigger is pulled. Extra insurance for a learner. If he keeps his finger out of the trigger guard an accidental discharge is extremely remote even should his thumb slip off the hammer.
 
I agree with the rest of the posters here recommending a 20ga single shot. My main concern about them however is the tendency for most of them to be choked full, which is too tight with lead for most of the small game hunting where I live (in Southern Ontario) and probably not the best choice for steel shot either. I think that lots of the H&R and New England Firearms (NEF) do however come in modified choke, and recall some of the Stoeger single shots being sold with choke tubes at reasonable prices a couple of years ago. I would value having a proper choke for the hunting at hand as more beneficial than having a cheap pump, double or other action with a fixed full choke when that's too full for the job at hand.

I just remembered that Mossberg used to make a bolt action shotgun that used a detachable magazine and carried an adjustable polychoke. I had a 20 version years ago that cost me a little over $100 used, which would put it within his price range. It also had a notched rear site that made it double as a short range slug gun for deer.

In any event, best of luck in equipping your young hunter friend.

Frank
 
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