My dad started me shooting when I was about 4 or 5. I used a red ryder, and then a daisy powerline bb gun. Then for my 9th Christmas, he bought me a New England Firearms youth single shot 20 gauge. It was the best Christmas present ever to me.
I took me to shoot at an empty milk jug with some 7/8ounce #8s in Win AA. I was scared at first because I had never shot a "REAL" gun before. So he opened the shell with a pocket knife and emptyed all the shot out. Then let me shoot it, no recoil or noise hardly. Then he emptyied about half the shot and then none at all. I had that box of shells emptyed by the end of the day.
I once asked him why he got a 20 gauge because most kids I knew at the time shot .410s. He said "I started with and old .410 bolt action, and I couldn't knock squirrels out of the tops of tall trees like his dads 20 would.
A 20 is less discouraging to young shooters and it will perform like a 12 with proper loads.
After the milk jug, I would shoot any shell in it. My first deer hunt I shot a doe with a Federal #3 buckshot shell and it killed her just fine.
Dad would throw coke cans and bottles in the air for me to shoot at and I finally got the hang of it.
My first time at a 5 stand sporting clays range I shot 15 out of 25, only a year after I started shooting.
10 years later I shoot and take perfect care of my little 20. I have a win. 1300 pump 20 gauge, a Remington 878 12 gauge and a Browning BPS 3 1/2" mag 12 gauge. I still rather have a 20 gauge over a 12, they are just smooth shooting little guns that will perform close to a 12 any day.
And you can't over stress safety.
I took my hunter ed class when I was 9 and it helped me gain more knowledge about firearms.
I took me to shoot at an empty milk jug with some 7/8ounce #8s in Win AA. I was scared at first because I had never shot a "REAL" gun before. So he opened the shell with a pocket knife and emptyed all the shot out. Then let me shoot it, no recoil or noise hardly. Then he emptyied about half the shot and then none at all. I had that box of shells emptyed by the end of the day.
I once asked him why he got a 20 gauge because most kids I knew at the time shot .410s. He said "I started with and old .410 bolt action, and I couldn't knock squirrels out of the tops of tall trees like his dads 20 would.
A 20 is less discouraging to young shooters and it will perform like a 12 with proper loads.
After the milk jug, I would shoot any shell in it. My first deer hunt I shot a doe with a Federal #3 buckshot shell and it killed her just fine.
Dad would throw coke cans and bottles in the air for me to shoot at and I finally got the hang of it.
My first time at a 5 stand sporting clays range I shot 15 out of 25, only a year after I started shooting.
10 years later I shoot and take perfect care of my little 20. I have a win. 1300 pump 20 gauge, a Remington 878 12 gauge and a Browning BPS 3 1/2" mag 12 gauge. I still rather have a 20 gauge over a 12, they are just smooth shooting little guns that will perform close to a 12 any day.
And you can't over stress safety.
I took my hunter ed class when I was 9 and it helped me gain more knowledge about firearms.
