kids shotgun etc

The best buy I ever made for my son was to purchase a 12 gauge Remington 870 turkey gun for his ninth birthday.  Took the rubber butt plate off then cut two 3/4" pieces of stock off and put one of those leather lace-up recoil pads on it with the 3/8" of "silly putty" in it.  The 23" barreled gun balanced great for a youth shotgun with the reduced pull.

 

For the first couple of years even light 1oz loads were too much recoil for him so I reloaded 7/8 oz loads down to 1,050 fps - 16.5 grs of Hodgon Clays using a Win WAA12L (grey) wad in a Win AA case. 

 

With in a year he was hitting doubles at sheet and shooting dove with some skill - Same load recipe just soft #9s for clay birds and hard #7&1/2s for doves.

 

He liked my "light reloads" and continued to shoot them way into his teens even though he didn't need to any more.  That short turkey barrel worked great for squirrel & turkey hunting as the two piece sights really help when you need to "aim it".  As he grew, I put that stock back together one 3/4" piece at a time.

 

He's grown up now and still shoots that as his primary shotgun! The stock is completely all back together now. He bought an additional 30" barrel for the gun to use hunting and targets.  I even still borrow it at times to go squirrel hunting and turkey hunting with the 23" barrel.