The Better Way to Introduce Young Shots to Shooting

I know that the tradition is to start young shots with fine litlle 20-bores. The better way is to start with a simply customized second hand 12-bore over/under. Reasonable recoil, more pellets and often an easier pointability

I know that Boxing Day traditionally is a first day out for many young ones in the family. Hopefully not their very first day to shoot a shotgun. They have ideally done some training before the big day.

I would like to take the young one a little back in time to the day in the back field or the shooting ground to the introduction to the family’s great sport: shooting.

I have in my time seen many kids been introduced in a way so they suffer from recoil-fear and closed eyes many years later.

Often a result of the traditional first shot with a shotgun: "Now, hold the gun tight to the shoulder. Aim at the tin 15 meters out and just pull the trigger."

This is as far away from shotgun shooting as you can get, and it is also the direct way to obtain maximum recoil, and for a young person a first step to fear of shooting.

I have been testing shotguns for Danish hunting magazines since the end of the nineties and one of the elements in testing is shooting at the pattern plate. Normally you will do that with at steady grip and aiming like you would with a rifle. If you haven't tried this exercise, you should. The recoil in this situation from a shotgun with relatively light weight is not a pleasure at all. It is about the same recoil you get from a caliber .30.06 rifle with approximately one kilo extra on the scale. Still, it is never comfortable.

Why on earth should we give our young shots this experience to start them off with?

What I will recommend now is probably going to start someone off and maybe even offend one or two very experienced shots.

"Did you see that, Granddad?"undefined

Shooting is physically a movement with eyes and mind concentrated on all the action and not the pulling of the trigger as such.

Therefore, most of us never really feel the recoil - unless you shoot hundreds of loads a day - and can concentrate on the bird or the clay with no fear or restraint

          Sorry for the long intro. Now my words on how to introduce the        young ones.     The right way to give beginners at a very young age a positive introduction to shooting is using a 12 bore. But it must be a “customized” 12 bore - and most of us will probably choose an over / under.

 It will not be responsible to let them "have a go" with an adult version of the gun i.e. your own gun. It will rarely fit a young person, so you must fit a standard gun to the boy or girl. Remember, you will not yourself shoot with a gun, that does not fit.

Reasonable quality second hand over/unders are easy to find and quite cheap as well. Bring it to the gunsmith for a change is necessary. The stock should be 33 to 34 centimeters in length. The barrel length cut down to 25" is advisable. The gun will still hold a reasonable weight and it will still be reasonable to shoot. That it may end up with 2xcylinder chokes is irrelevant in this situation.

You may argue that this also opens the pattern a bit, but now it will be easier to hit the clay or bird at reasonable distance. In other words, your son or daughter or your grand children will most likely hit some of the easy clays within thew first round. And that is what it is all about.

You are starting young beginners with an experience of success quickly and once you have seen your children or grandchildren with this unique, blissful smile, after crushing their first clays, you know you are right.

From here and up to the debut in the field exercising and putting as many shells as possible through the gun is the way to success.

And a bit from my own experience: take a lesson or two with a qualified instructor at the shooting ground. We may feel that we know everything about shooting, and we may have hopes that the young ones agree with that. But the instructor will be the "good" teacher and from my experience it is also a joy to watch the kids shoot and do what the instructor is saying. Therefore, also the smiles when they really hit and turn to you in background: "Did you see that, Granddad?"

Back to the theory and technical stuff

For those of us having had our first years in shooting with a "fine little 20-bore" my points above may seem out of the norm. I do not remember the light little 20-bore of my childhood/youth as a problem. So it will be for many of us, but when you have the opportunity to start gentler and wiser then why not do it.

A normal 28 Gram game cartridge 12 bore has a calculated recoil value of 27.4 Joules in a standard gun of approximately 3.1 kilo. Most of us are familiar with this type of load and gun, and it is very close to the norm. It is the choice of many adults.

The same adult might traditionally set his son / daughter up with a small “fine little 20-bore” below 3.0 kilo. With a 24-gram game 76-millimeter cartridge in the chamber, this "starting gun" delivers a calculated recoil of 46.0 Joules (!). 20/76 is a normal game load. (All calculations with steel shot).

There is one interesting choice in the 12-bore. The cartridges from Game Bore are known in Denmark as "Subsonic". They are down to 250 meters per second, which is about half of a normal sporting cartridge.

When you are in the beginning of shooting the velocity is irrelevant but the reduced recoil down to 9.0 Joules. And that is what we are aiming at.

I know that using a .410 also is an option for many or a 28 gauge. Obviously, this choice will result in very little recoil. On the other hand, it is also a fact that the chances for a young novice with a .410 shotgun to hit the targets are small. Try for yourself to convert from 12 to .410. I think many will be surprised. After all, less than 20 pellets in the load demand good shooting.

No doubt - a .410 or 28 is a very pleasant gun to shoot for youngsters - and for more experienced shots as well. But the loads will in my opinion and experience  be best in the hands of a trained shot. After all the aim is to put enough pellets in the bird to kill it...undefined