doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com somewhat OT: Good kid guns for upland hunting?

My son is pretty big for his age, but at about 12 years old he was tall enough to use my over and under with the recoil pad removed. I made a thin rubber pad to replace it. I figure if I need an "in between" I will buy a 1/2 pad and fit it until he grows into the full pad.

If you get a gun that is short enough with just the wood, but long enough with the recoil pad on he may be able to use the gun indefinitely.

CHAZ

I like the idea of a single shot starter gun, but somehow or another it might help if it seems a little 'cool'. If he already has his own smart phone, I doubt the ole I walked five miles barefoot to school in any weather and gramps taught me not to waste the bones and feathers will fly. If it's a good idea, a kid can always carry their gun empty and get handed just one shell at a time when it's right. I'm glad I didn't have to, but I would've got a semi auto plastic rifle for burning up rounds at the range if I thought it would have gotten one of the kids started off enough to keep interested.

Pretty insightful crowd here, not that I'm surprised. This is something that I've been noodling-over for some time as I've watched him grow up. His world and mine (at his age) were very different. I was chomping at the bit to go hunting when I was 12 (not 13!) and I lived for every moment of it. We didn't have many distractions then in rural Pennsylvania. I believe we had three TV channels to choose from (in black & white, of course), a party line phone, and a daily trip to the Post Office (our only real interaction with any form of the Federal Government). Almost all recreation took place outside unless it wasn't safe (ie. either too-cold or too-wet, or both). Contrast that with today's potpourri of distractions for younger folks and I understand why he hasn't truly felt the need until fairly recently. He still doesn't have a cellphone (Catholic School has helped with this somewhat) but I suppose that is coming shortly as he will be 14 this Christmas.

The idea of a single shot is very appealing for all the reasons already discussed, but the really good ones aren't inexpensive. What I want for him is what I discovered when I picked up my first real bird-gun. I was probably 18 when my father came home with a featherweight LC Smith 16 (that a friend had recently inherited, and since he didn't hunt....) and it was like the light coming on for the first time. That gun has cost me plenty of time and money over the years (hmmm...) but it has also has given me many gifts. I'd like his first hunting experience to have at-least a component of that "a-hah" moment. I had to carry a lot of real dogs before that time, and if I hadn't gotten to handle a real birdgun, even that late, I might have never gone down the path that I ultimately did.

I recommend nice vintage 1100 20ga with 26" barrel Mod choke or less. Those from 70s with mahogany stocks are particularly nice. There is no point in getting something where one has to work the slide when the gun mechanism can do that for you and reduce felt recoil through impulse redistribution ("splitting"). If one wants less cleaning/maintenance and more trouble free service than I guess Beretta 300 or 400 20ga would be the way to go.

Hey Lloyd, get him a cell phone before hunting season. Even for school and at the park, you never know if some little emergency comes up that he needs to get a hold of someone. Back when they were smaller, my wife just put blocks to limit the numbers a kid could send or receive calls from and no texting at the time. You never know, he might need it to get you out of a jam.

Get him out hunting before you lose him to high school. No regrets, but my boy was so involved in fall sports that no one got as much hunting in as we would've liked by the time he was maybe eleven or twelve.

^^^ plus nice gas-operated self-loader preferably from Italy or USA. Gucci hikers from Italy superior to hikers from Cabela's Fabrique en Chine. Pride of ownership, prestige and good sense of self-worth matters regardless of age.

If he has a pump with but one round chambered, and none in the magazine, he has a single shot. I don't know why the single shot guys don't get that.

First thing any of us boys did, was ditch our single shots, and pony up for a pumpgun, usually with money we earned over the summer after we got the single shot. Some kids made enough they could swing an autoloader, but, it took me a few years to do that. Plus, I was happy with the 17 for a few short years. I didn't live on the high rent side of the tracks. I've seen more than one kid's thumb slip off the exposed trigger of an old single shot, which, never resulted in the gun going off, but, screwed the pooch on the shot the kid was attempting to make.

The model 17 might be old, but, the design is as fresh as the next model 37 gun built in the Upper Sandusky Ithaca plant at the start of the work day, tomorrow. If a kid is successful with a gun, he won't likely be thinking too much about some other design, and I haven't met anyone who started out with a 17 or a 37 that wasn't successful with it.
Most of the single shots you have the option of buying aren't high quality guns.
I'm blessed to have a safe full of stuff for the kid to try, but, he is left eye dominant, and I'll bet he ends up using one of my left handed guns, shooting left handed, in the end. There are worse places for them to go, I imagine.

Good luck, Lloyd. Working on logistics, but, I should see you there.


Best,
Ted

A lightweight 20ga sxs stocked correctly firing 3/4 oz load. I will use a 24 SxS when the time is right.

I can understand why many might recommend a auto because of recoil, but if properly fitted with a light load the side by side will work well.

I am not a fan of single shots, though my Father did start me on one and the world changed positively when I got to use a two barrel gun. What we learn can affect us later and many can't make the transition mentally to the SxS once they get used to the single barrel sighting plain.

Surprised how many recommended a pump, but to each his own

Maybe you are right, Ted. I 'loaned' my Model 17 to my vet for his grandson to learn to shoot, the gun with the leather layered recoil pad, and short. I've yet to get the gun returned....the kid may have fallen in love?? Mind you, this was about 5 years ago. The vet is my friend and has done me lots of vet favors. I'm thinking the kid believes it is his gun, and I'm ok with that, even though it was my grandfathers gun. I don't suffer from that sentimental stuff when it comes to guns. I'd rather hunt with an English SLE SxS anyway. So, no biggie. I hope the kid enjoys it as much as I did when I was his age.....I'm guessing he likely does.

You have got to be getting tired of typing that, Buzz.

At any rate, and, all kidding aside, very good on you for setting a kid up with one of the perfect kid guns out there. I have my Remington 17 to this day, purchased from my Dad's deer hunting partner on September 17th, of 1977. I spent $50 whole dollars for it. I recently converted it to a lefty safety, and just recently discovered my Son is cross eye dominant, and I expect he will be shooting left handed.

I could have sold it a dozen times over the years, and, today, I am glad I didn't.

Again, good work, Buzz. I love a kid gets a gun story.


Best,
Ted