I recall one of the longtime old local shooters at the range getting a grandaughter shooting. The girl was extremely small in stature. I'm talking something a little over 3 ft tall. She/they wanted to set her up to shoot skeet. That required 2 shots. He consulted with Joe Shiosaki and they finally settled on starting with a .410 Huglu o/u single trigger. The cost was small and the gun lent itself to shortening. Joe cut the barrels down to some rediculously short length, made a new buttstock with a shorter reach and length, recontoured the forend. The gun was left as cyl/cyl. The girl recieved professional coaching and within a year was shooting in the 2-'s regularly. When she reached the age of 10 she was still smaller than the average 10 yr old, but was shooting with pretty much any of her grandfather's regular skeet shooting gang. I watched her outshoot some of them on occasion.
There are 9 yr olds and there are 9 yr olds. Physical stature can vary drastically in kids. Some are probably tough and large enough to heft a 7 lb 20g 1100 and can shoot a gun that has a LOP long enough to accomodate the recoil spring in there and take the recoil.
I've watched several people start with a 410, a couple of them were adults. All went on to shoot avidly and shoot well. I'm convinced low recoil and muzzle blast are key to an enjoyable experience. "low" is a relative term when you are starting out, even as an adult, IMO. One guy started his 5' 8", 120 lb wife on a 1100 410 that I helped set up for her. I was more a proponent of starting her on a 20g but her husband is headstrong and knew her sensitivity to recoil. She went on to shoot competitively in skeet. She still shoots that 410 1100 gun on occasion and shoots it well.
I think the focus on increased probability of hitting a target with a 20g over a 410 should take a back seat to the recoil issue, as necessary.
Last edited by Chuck H; 06/01/08 09:50 AM.
