My Girl is wanting to Duck hunt this year
does't matter if it would be a 20 ga or 12 ga.
I figure there is other things we can do like
Porting and recoil reducer also KickEase pad.

Make sure the gun fits her properly ,otherwise recoil will be accentuated !! Gun ? Maybe Beretta 391.

The Browning straight stocked Citori O/U in 20 guage with the stock cut to fit, loaded with the lightest steel shot duck loads is the best shotgun and long term investment for your purpose.

blaser93,

How big is your daughter? That will be important to take into account, because if she's smaller, she will probably need to have a shorter LOP, if that's the case, a Beretta 391 RL (reduced length) would be the ticket. Also, how strong is she? If she's fairly weak, a lighter gun might be better for her (again making the 391 a good candidate for her), but at the same time if she could handle the heavier weight, that will help tame the recoil as well. If she can handle a heavier gun, a Remington 1100 or 1187 would be a good choice, I think they make a youth model still if she needs a shorter stock, but even if you got a normal length of pull on one it's not big deal to cut a little of it off. Don't know where you are located in MD, but if you are anywhere near PA, go to Joel Etchen's for the Beretta and if more needs to be taken off of the stock, his gunsmith Mark is the man to go to. I would stick to semis, because that too will cut down on the recoil, and most made today are very reliable (also will help her stay in the gun and make faster and better 2nd and 3rd shots).

Yo 93,

Already good advice given.

Like some of the others above; my experience with initiating the female gender (whatever age) is their stature; (size) but that in definate relationship to the weight of the shotgun. Most all of my (& other's) initial suggestions turned out otherwise.

The vast majority of young Ladies felt mentally & physically overwhelmed initially with a shotgun they claimed to be too heavy for them as opposed to the mass or size of the shotgun and ensuing recoil. They never get to experience recoil because the hand-eye coordination & poper gun mount suffers from their lack of solid gun handling training & experience with a heavy(ier) shotgun.

I'm for EVERY Trick & Gadget that can be had to reduce felt recoil (just ask me - I use 'em all); so I really like this concept and you're ASKING, already a huge step in the right direction. We Daddy's need to tune ourslevs otherwise. Guide and let them make the decision (within financial constraints) but it doesn't have to be a new shotgun either, comb the used racks; ther's some real finds waiting.

One ended up with a Ithica Model 37 in 20 gauge (yes, here in Europe); a real lightweight. Another was joyful with a Winchester Model 23 SxS in 20 gauge. Several others found older 16 gauges that handled like wands and didn't kick them too hard. SKB's don't cost a fortune and tend to lightish field guns, too. Although not a Duck Gun by any stretch of the imagination the 28 ga. SxS gets argued about who's gonna shot it when the assembled realtives arrive and finally my Wife has to put her foot down - she shoots it, because she loves it's heft (well, O.K., thats what's so special; there is NO heft).

I know you're constrained by alternatives to Lead Shot requirements but I'd rather have a shotgun that a young female is happy to handle & learning to handle (better with every outing, plus lots of training and looking forward to the training) and have to make special concessions to find ammunition for it than say; starting by saying it'll have to be a this or that.

Don't misunderstand me, there's countless shotguns out there and something to make everyone happy but she'll have more success IMO if the decision is her's and the choice is one she feels she can handle adequately.

Have Fun with your Girl.

Assuming by "my girl" you mean daughter, then I can tell you what I did for my son at age 8. I got a "field grade" Rem 1100 in 20 ga and cut the plastic stock off to fit. I don't have any significant experience with the 391 but I'm sure it would work just as well and might be better if it was lighter.

Why would lighter be better when heavier reduces recoil? Simple, the biggest problem with ANY new shooter, but especially with young shooters, female and male, and most women of all ages (in that order) is their initial lack of upper body strength to handle the wt of the shotgun. This is obvious by watching them for just a second. ALL of them will mount the gun AND lean backwards at the waist. It is a normal reaction since it gets the wt of the shotgun more over the center gravity of the body. This normal reaction is absolutely destructive to good shotgun shooting since shotguns are swung with the waist/body not the arms/shoulders. It is nearly impossible to have a decent swing while leaning backwards at the waist.

Get the lightest recoiling loads you can find for learning. When duck hunting you can use heavier loads because there will normally be more clothing and the excitement of the moment reduces the recoil affects as perceived by the shooter.

Normally, with just a little work and conditioning (meaning the new shooter simply handles and shoulders the gun until their muscles adjust to the wt) it is relatively easy to get new shooters to assume a good stance.

IMO it is essential to get the shooter to a SKEET field to teach them basic shotgunning. A close second is a back pasture and a hand or a spring machine thrower. I could go on and on, but I've taught hundreds of new shooters over the years and it would take a junior book to post all the "tips" one gives when one is instructing.

BTW, why skeet instead of trap or sporting clays? Because you can control both the degree of difficulty and the REPEATABILITY of shots. If, after shooting for a while, they have problems with say, left to rights......common because they're swinging the gun AWAY from the face......then you can shoot ALL of the targets from one spot until the new shooter gets the hand of it......obviously this has to be done on a day or at a time when other shooters are not using the field.

PS: I always start instructing new shooters with a mounted gun. It takes the "mount" (which is just one more complicating factor, especially for younger and less muscular shooters) out of the equation and once they learn to shoot with a mounted gun, they can then practice mounting and shooting. Hopefully they have been practicing their mount at home off the field to get it smoother and it will help with the conditioning.

I agree,

Good Advice!

Good advice on the skeet range, too. I teach a bunch of people how to shoot where I work on a sporting clays range, and these people are mostly just people coming to have fun for that day and will most likely never pursue the shooting sports (although some have). While sporting may be a bit more "fun" a skeet field is a good place to learn the fundamentals, especially if you're doing much pass shooting. After she has the basics down, though, take her to a sporting clays range to tune her in for more of a variety of shots, practice definately helps a lot with shotgunning, and the more shots she makes while hunting, the more likely she is to have fun and stick with it. Again, I don't know where in MD you're from, but I'm in SW PA and do some shooting either pretty close to MD and in MD, so if you need some help finding a club in that area, I can help you out (even have a key for a local skeet club that we could open up for ourselves someday). Let me know if you're interested.

For wives, girlfriends, kids, and others of all ages, getting started shooting shotguns is all about proper fit.

I spent about 3 hours turning a Franchi 20 gauge auto loader that was designed to fit a woman into a gun that really fit her. Sand, scrape, build up here, slim down here, once we got the proportions right it worked out. And she shot it really well. Of course that was a long time and many girlfriends ago, and she was also the last one that was interested in shooting. But today I would do the same thing.

I gave $400 for it, spent 4 hours on it, and made it work. I would do the same thing for any adult.

For kids you have to compramise, especially if they are on the verge of hitting a growth spurt.

My newphew is 12, his father and my sister are both 5'11. He's just barely 5 feet tall, it would be stupid and expensive to cut an expensive gun to fit him, especially in a couple of years when he is the same size as his parents. We are using a youth stock on my TC Encore in 20 gauge and it's also a rifle.

I would go with either a Rem 1100 or a Beretta 390 or 390. They are the lightest recoiling of the semiautos. A pump or double will kick much harder than a gas operated semi-auto.

The 12ga. will be harder to handle and swing for a small framed person but it will soak up a lot more recoil. The 20ga. will be easier to handle but even a semi-auto 20ga. can be brutal with 20ga. waterfowl loads.

Practice with light target loads.