Youth Shotgun Help

Don Shearer

Don Shearer

Active member
Hi,

My son recently turned 8 and I am looking down the distance road when he is ready to start hunting. The boy throws left handed but he is truly ambidextrous. We have to remind him to hit from the left side of the plate in little league. I plan to test him to see which is his dominant eye in the morning. I am pretty sure he will be left eye dominant. For his recent birthday he received a bb gun that he wants to mount right handed. He has only shot it a couple of times to date. My fear is he wants to shoot right handed since his dad shoots right handed even though he may be more comfortable mounting the gun from the left side.

Does anyone know of a youth modeled left handed shotgun? In my web searching I have not been able to find one. If there isn't a left handed model youth gun available I would be interested in hearing what others with young left handed shooters

Assuming there is no left handed issue I am set on a pump gun for him to start with. I dislike semiautos more than Tod does spinners. I am looking at the Benelli, Mossberg, or Remington youth model pump 20 guage. Has anyone had a bad experince with any of these guns?

My best,

Don Shearer
 
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Don

Check out the Browing pump...top tang safety and bottom ejection, will work whichever way he finds is most comfortable. Maybe he will turn into a "switch-shooter"...we have all been in situations where the ducks came from the wrong side, yes? My dad got me one for I believe my 15th birthday and I'm still shooting it. Only problem to date was once or maybe twice I hesitated on the ejection and kicked a second shell out of the magazine and was stuck with two shells on top of the fingers. Took the flat side of my knife and slid one back in.

I love pumps, makes you slow down and make your shots count. Before I got it I was shooting a borrowed auto, and boy could I empty the magazine in a hurry. The year I got the pump, I really honed my wingshooting ability.

Best
Chuck
 
Don, I am left handed and grew up in the 60s shooting right handed guns. You should have no trouble teaching him to use a right handed model. I still shoot a right handed 870 as my bird gun. I never even notice a shell fly by my face on ejecting it because I am focused on the shot and the bird. I am sure your son will not notice either. Don't over think it. I do shoot a left handed Remington 700 for deer, a right handed 10/22 for squirrels and plinking, and an O/U for skeet. Good luck. Just go get a right handed gun and have fun. Trip.
 
My borther is a lefty. He started on a browning pump youth/ladies modle. He still loves the gun eventhough its a little small for him.
 
My buddy shoots a Browning BPS, bottom eject, and it is a very nice pump. I am fairly certain they make a youth/ladies 20 ga version.
 
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Don, my son has been shooting an over and under 20 gauge Stoeger since he is 7 years old,it is the youth model 20 gauge,I think it is the silver condor,we have had no issues with it. He is real comfortable with it,it ihas tubes,and is 3 inch capable. Just another option for you,hope this helps,Brian
 
When I order a gun for a young shooter, I measure them first. Usually order a a regular short barrel gun. Then order a cut stock [used] online. Put on the used stock and save the new one for a couple years. Ask Mom how often she buys new shoes, they grow quickly.
In a few years he'll want a 12, Dad will have a 20.
 
Don,

Here is my $.02 worth as a former youth firearms coach and a current and long-term firearms instructor for the feds. Please forgive me if it is more input than you want.

My experience is that truly ambidextrious persons are very rare. I've only ever really known one, and he shot perfect scores with both hands, any weapon. I wouldn't get too concerned whether your son sees himself as left-handed or right-handed. I teach both eyes open for (almost) all shooting, with iron sight rifles being my only exception (with peep sites I use an off-eye placard and shoot both eyes open still. What matters most (for performance) is that he does what feels natural to him.

Which gun is a little more important to me. I have found that Hicks Law [the ability to make a decision correctly breaks down in proportion to the options available] is usually true, especiall in younger shooters. I have found that pump shotguns require a lot of muscle memory, sequencing, and a mixture of fine and gross motor skills. I've trained a lot of cops to use them and some still suck at it, despite my best efforts. The problem with a youth is that your first concern is for your son to acquire safe weapon handling skills and then to acquire good field decisions in hunting scenarios. Working a pump shotgun will be harder for your son than handling a double barrel when decision making is demanded of him. I see it over and over on move and shoot training scenarios.

I would go with a properly sized double barrel and give your son time to sort out whether he prefers to shoot it left or right. The main thing at this stage is his confidence with weapon handling and decision making and safety.

I wish you and your son a lot of success!
 
When I order a gun for a young shooter, I measure them first. Usually order a a regular short barrel gun. Then order a cut stock [used] online. Put on the used stock and save the new one for a couple years. Ask Mom how often she buys new shoes, they grow quickly.
In a few years he'll want a 12, Dad will have a 20.
Click to expand...


My thoughts exactly!
 
I am a left handed shooter and I never shot a left handed gun until after college. The only guns I had issues with were bolt action rifles. I could not get used to taking my hand off the fore grip to put another shell in. Made me a better rifle shot because using a bolt was a lot like using a single shot for me. when it comes to shotguns I never had issues shooting a right handed gun.
When you find out what his eye dominance is that is the way I would encourage him to shoot. I am right eye dominant and shoot left handed. It caused some issues for me when I was younger, I had a hard time lining up the barrel with the target or finding targets with a scope.
 
My experience is that truly ambidextrious persons are very rare. I've only ever really known one, and he shot perfect scores with both hands, any weapon. I wouldn't get too concerned whether your son sees himself as left-handed or right-handed. I teach both eyes open for (almost) all shooting, with iron sight rifles being my only exception (with peep sites I use an off-eye placard and shoot both eyes open still. What matters most (for performance) is that he does what feels natural to him.
Click to expand...

Bob

YOu say you teach to shoot both eyes open, would you reccomend this to someone who has an opposite dominant eye to the dominant hand? I'm left eye dominant, and my wife says I would starve to death if I was left to feed myself with only my left hand. I have always shot with my left eye closed or partly closed at least. I am toying with the idea of teaching myself to shoot lefty...partly because I see the advantage of both eyes open, partly to prove my wife wrong, that I wouldn't starve if left with only my left...what are your thoughts on this change over process.

Thanks
Chuck
PS Welcome!
 
I/m not Bob, but if you are talking about shooting a shotgun, the answer is a big YES!!! I'm probablly the most screwed up shooter the world has ever known. I'm mostly right handed but I do many things left handed. I'm left eye dominant but just barely. I went to a shooting seminar that really helped me a lot. In a nutshell, keep both eyes open but look at the TARGET, not the end of the barrell. This has made me a much better shooter, when i remember to do it. I also have used right handed guns all my life and never had a problem, even with auto loaders. Good luck with your son. Steve
 
Chuck,

Thank you for the warm welcome!

I can only speak from my experience, and I have not found that eye dominance issues arise with pistols and shotguns until one of the eyes is being closed. With rifles it really has a lot to do with the sight system. I work with a lot of shooters using pistols, shotguns and tactical carbines with single reticule sights, and encourage both eye open shooting for a number of reasons. The eyes are made to work as a pair and I believe the best performance is achieved when they are both open. Most people close an eye because they were taught to at some point. I would encourage you to try it. My experience is that it speeds up target acquisition and follow-up shots. Give it a round or two on a skeet range and see what happens.

Hope that helps,

Bob
 
Hi,

Thank you for all your thoughts. You have all given me some good things to consider. I was glad to learn of the lefty's on the board who had no troubles shooting right hand guns. I was impressed by the adjustable LOP system that Remington and Mossberg have for their youth models. I am in no big hurry to get a gun. The next time I am in a bigger city I will go and check them out. I want to get the boy off to a better start than I did when getting into bird hunting...I started with a Stevens 311 with 30" barrels. The gun was to big, to heavy, and I couldn't hit anything with it.

Again I greatly appreciate all the feedback.

My best,

Don
 
The Mossberg has an ambidextrous safety on top. I see there is now a Bantam 505 that has an even shorter length of pull.

My son Sam just turned 8 as well. Two more years until bird hunting.
 
Try finding an Ithica mod. 37 12ga. 2 3/4". Bottom load/eject, safety can be setup for right or leftys, light weight(great pheasant gun too) might have to cut down the stock a bit. I still love mine, bought with paper route $$$ in the late 60's. Dad started me out with his 311A too, & its a bit much for a kid to handle.
Dennis
 
Don,
I think you got sound advice so far.
One thing I have found teaching new shooters is that recoil is a huge factor in early success. Some kids just want to shoot so bad they will shoot thru amazing punishment, but others not so much.
If you can, find a reloader or buy factory low recoil shells to start. Both 20 and 12 ga are available from Remington. They cost a lot(100 bucks for 10 boxes shipped) and have to be special ordered (Midway USA) but trust me they make a big difference for the first 10 boxes. (The 12 ga load is 7\8 oz of lead at 1150 fps or so) (The 20 is 3\4 oz and about the same speed.) A reloader can make these for 3.75 a box.

Next is choke. Skeet is where it is at. Shotgunning is very hard to pick up because you get no feedback from a miss. Unlike baseball where you see the ball, the shooter has no idea where the lead shot went past the target, and most coaches cant see it either. Give the kid a big pattern on close targets.

For gun fit finding a used ugly wood stock on ebay or gunbroker is the best bet. Cut it as short as you can and add a 1 inch decelerator or kickeez pad. You can add spacers as the shooter grows. Then bolt on the original stock when you want to sell it or use it full size. The thick pad is the key.
A vest with an insert pad is a great help too but a lot of folks dont like buying one.

Hank Garvey showed me this and it works very well. If you can, set up and incoming target that goes up high and lands about 10 yards out in front of the shooter. Great big fat bird that sits at the top makes for easy first hits.

If the left eye is dominant shoot left handed. Otherwise you will need a patch or taped lens to block the dominant eye down the road.

Go Slow at first. Might mean only 6 to 10 shots the first few trips. But you will be shooting 4 boxes soon enough if the recoil is low and the shooter is breaking clays.

Goes without saying, eyes and ears for protection.

Everything I know about teaching kids to shoot I learned through Hank and the Schoolastic Clay Target Program. Great way to get kids shooting.
http://www.shootsctp.org/
Bob
 
Don, like the others, I am a lefty who has always shot righty guns. I can't ever remember seeing or being distracted by ejecting brass. the only left handed gun I own is my bolt action rifle. Pick the gun that fits him best, regardless of where the shells eject from. The weight will be the biggest factor, not recoil. That's why youth guns are generally short-barreled 20s instead of 12s.
 
I shoot lefty and have never had a problem with my 870. My son started this year (also shooting lefty) and I got a good deal on a display model Rem 1187 Youth Model. I'm not a semiauto guy either but he is having a great time with it. Haven't heard anything bad about the 1187 or 870 youth guns.

Tom
 
My son is now 9, but i bought his first shotgun when he was 8. He is mostly right handed, but is definately left eye dominant. I shoot right handed, but have taught him to shoot left handed.

I bought him a youth 870 in 20 guage(laminated wood stock, 18" vent rib barrel, can't remember LOP). I got it at Gander Mountain and I believe the 870 I bought was exclusive to Gander Mountain. I bought a Remington left-hand safety and swapped it out myself. Also bought a better recoil pad and put on it. It has been a great gun for him. He can shoot doves and squirrels with it and has no problem swinging or pumping the gun by himself.

He uses it for turkey hunting and deer hunting as well(got a cantilever slug barrel for the deer). I use a pair of homade shooting sticks for the turkey and deer as my son cannot hold the gun on a still target for long due to its weight.

All in all, the youth 870 has done everything we wanted it to very well. Good luck with whatever you decide to buy.
 
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