Who also shoots smaller gauges?

[Cush63]

I’m thinking about getting a gun with a smaller gauge for my kids and wife to shoot or others coming for the first time. Do you prefer a 20 gauge and semi-auto or O/U? Any suggestions for a good secondary gun in a smaller gauge that won’t break the bank?

 

[deewayne2003]

What specifically are you shooting?…..

Clays, quail, ect?

 

[Warbeast]

A nice 20ga in a sxs or o/u is hard to beat for pleasure

Nowadays new shooter can diretcly go to 12ga.
24grams of no 8 is npt a alot of recoil.

 

[BeeMaa]

Need to know what your idea of "breaking the bank" is.

In general, a top quality semi-auto is going to be $1500 and up. O/U and SxS's in the same class will start around $2K.

For someone new to shooting, a semi-auto will reduce the recoil but you will need to spend some time with them so they can learn all the controls and how to be properly safe. You don't want to have a problem out at the range, so teach them at home with snap caps.

 

[pilar]

Love a 20 or 28ga in Winchester 101
A400 beretta 20 or 28 is a sweet little gun in auto
20 & 28 are actually good on waterfowl if you don’t use steel and perfect on dove and quail

 

[skydiver386]

Many had high hopes for the Savage/Stevens 550 series O/U shotguns in the smaller gauges, but they are starting to get a bad reputation and no warranty service from Savage if it breaks. Made in Turkey by Turkeys, and not worth your hard earned money.

Any of the gas operated semi- auto's in 20 or 28 will work well, just stay with brand names you recognize.

Browning, Franchi and Beretta O/U shotguns are all excellent new or used.

 

[NoStepOnSnek]

20 gauge is great for anything dove to turkey. Stoeger guns are good anc cheap

 

[ftrovato]

In terms of a secondary shotgun, I use a 28 gauge for grouse, woodcock, quail, pheasant over a pointer and occasional skeet shooting. So for me it gets a good amount of use.

Ammo is a little harder to find and more expensive than 20 gauge (if that is a consideration for you).

I think a Beretta 28 gauge semi (300 or 400) would be sweet.

 

[steve white]

Shooting coaches can be a great investment for starting off new hunters right. Maybe ask the coaches what they recommend, having seen the complexities of fitting guns to small/light beginners.

 

[BeeMaa]

In terms of a secondary shotgun, I use a 28 gauge for grouse, woodcock, quail, pheasant over a pointer and occasional skeet shooting. So for me it gets a good amount of use.

Ammo is a little harder to find and more expensive than 20 gauge (if that is a consideration for you).

I think a Beretta 28 gauge semi (300 or 400) would be sweet.

Hard to go wrong with a Benelli or Beretta. Upland, waterfowl, competition, turkey and even tactical...they have it covered and are making some of the best semi-auto, O/U and SxS's.

 

[Kevin375]

When I was a kid, I learnt to shoot with 2 shotguns in smaller calibers. Both worked with a bolt action; but were single shot.

The first one was a Manu-arm in .410, but I didn't like that gun because it had a poor quality barrel, and its patterns were awful with all ammunitions used.

However, the other gun was a Gaucher colibri in 32 gauge (14 mm) and this one was awesome. I shot a lot of european starlings, pigeons, black birds with it. Such guns are cheap and very good to teach newbie how to handle a gun and how to shoot.

 

[Firebird]

My girls did fine with a 12 gauge but it’s a youth model that fits smaller framed shooters. If it fits them well, the recoil tends to be less significant. I obviously started them on target loads and clays and worked up from there.

 

[DLSJR]

I’ve got a variety of 20 & 28 gauges as well as .410’s that we use for ducks & geese as well as upland birds. With the high quality ammunition we now have access to, you might be surprised at what you can do with sub-gauge guns. Here is what I have experience with, as well as some suggestions based on my experience with them…

20 gauges - Beretta A-400 as well as Winchester SX3’s, CZ over/under. I’ve found the best, most reliable to be the SX3’s and that’s what I recommend if you can find one. They’re better than the current SX4. I’ve had a fair amount of trouble with the Beretta, which I’ll elaborate more on later.

28 gauges - Beretta A-400’s, Mossberg O/U, Ruger red label O/U, Remington 870. Again, problems with the A-400’s, but I love them.

.410’s - Mossberg O/U, Pointer semi-auto and Remington 870. The Pointer (Turkish made) is a surprisingly good little gun. With TSS shells, you’d be amazed at how effective it is on Greater Canada Geese. Another good option in a .410 auto is the TRI-Star.

Beretta sub-gauge problems - Beretta has a big problem with their sub-guage A-400’s. Simply put, they don’t function reliably without having some work done on them. Cole’s Guns is the USA warranty station for Beretta and they have 3 levels of service they’ll do on your 20 or 28 guage A-400 to get it working like Beretta has a great reputation for, but it’s not covered by warranty. All in, it runs about $450 plus shipping to/from their location. They’re wonderful, well balanced guns that point like a dream. I love them, just wish they’d go bang every time without being fussy about feeding.

If I was buying a sub gauge gun today, I’d try to find a Winchester SX3. Mine have been utterly reliable, they point well and I wish I had some in other gauges besides just 20.

.410 Honkers

 

[Warbeast]

I’m thinking about getting a gun with a smaller gauge for my kids and wife to shoot or others coming for the first time. Do you prefer a 20 gauge and semi-auto or O/U? Any suggestions for a good secondary gun in a smaller gauge that won’t break the bank?

Get a double Rifle and a 20ga Barrel for it

 

[mdwest]

I’m thinking about getting a gun with a smaller gauge for my kids and wife to shoot or others coming for the first time. Do you prefer a 20 gauge and semi-auto or O/U? Any suggestions for a good secondary gun in a smaller gauge that won’t break the bank?

The recoil difference is honestly negligible between a 12 and a 20.. the additional weight of your typical 12 offsets the additional powder needed to push the heavier shot column…

I coach lot of middle school and high school kids and serve on the board of a youth shotgun sports non profit… the biggest advantage of a 20 over a 12 for new shooters is the lighter weight 20 is easier to keep shouldered longer… getting kids that have never shot before to be able to present the shotgun 200+ times in a morning practice or a Saturday competition is a whole lot easier when the gun weighs less… until they get “shotgun fit” and get used to using the muscle groups required to mount the gun properly for half a day, the 20 gauge is usually the better choice..

If you’re not talking shotgun sports, but are instead only looking at birds and/or small game.. I’d recommend just going with the 12… mounting a gun 25-50 times over a 3-4 hour window of time really isn’t all that challenging for anyone..

 

[BeeMaa]

Get a double Rifle and a 20ga Barrel for it

Enough to blow nearly any budget.

 

[jbirdwell]

For the last 2 years, I’ve only used a Benelli SBIII in 28 gauge for dove & waterfowl. Under six pounds, no recoil, and I’m shooting a 1 oz dove loads and a 1 1/8 oz duplex load of 1/2 oz TSS with 5/8 oz of Boss #5 copper plated Bismuth for ducks.

I hope to get a 28 gauge in a SxS for upland.

 

[meigsbucks]

Several years ago I picked up a CZ Bobwhite in 28ga. I didn’t plan on shooting it much, but wanted a SxS 28 without dropping a lot of $$$$. It is light weight and very fun to shoot. Not a top quality gun, but for under a grand, a decent buy.

 

[WyoBull]

I can also recommend a 28 gauge. I have the Benelli Legacy 28 which they do not make anymore but has been replaced with a different model.
Love the 28 and it has gotten so much more popular the last 7-8 years that even shell pricing has come down to a very reasonable level. I just bought a case of 10 boxes yesterday, Fiocchi #6 shot shells for pheasant and they were $17.50 per box.
I have not shot my 12 gauge in a lot of years as I just don't need it anymore.

 

[Warbeast]

Enough to blow nearly any budget.

Decent Krieghoff is between 4 and 6k and a shotgun Batrels ads another 3k.