12ga or 20ga for The Girlfriend

[WRXKid]

I have a girlfriend......

She wants to try shooting clay......

I want her to like shooting so I can keep shooting more often......

My question is, should I start her with a 20ga, 26'' pump or go with a bigger heavier 12ga semi? She is about 5'4'' and ~125lbs. I know she will hate the kick of a 12ga pump and will probably shoot it once and never want to shoot again. However, I want her to be successful at shooting clay so she would want to stick with it. Am I wrong to assume 20ga is harder for skeet and trap? Essentially, I don't want her to hate shooting because of the kick. Lame ha?

Your snickers and bantering is welcomed as long as you have some advice. Thanks

Kiet

[CSACANNONEER]

It's going to depend on which one fits her best! Shooting xtra lite AAs out of a 12g gas gun will be more pleasant than shooting a 20g pump with cheap ammo. But, again, if a gun fits properly, the shooter won't experience much perceived recoil from either.

[cabinetguy]

a decent 20 guage will do skeet fine. when my wife and i first started dating, i bought a ruger 10/22 so i could teach her to shoot well without getting a flinch, at the time, she was anti gun, now we have one more pro gun american. teach her well, and use the same gun so you are on the same page on skeet. after she is comfortable with the 20, try the 12. also as a side note, recommend a sports bra, i have seen some girlfriends vanish after a unsightly bra clasp bruise with shotguns.
take it easy, be supportive, and go slow, you never know, she might be a better shot than you (dont ask why i know)

[incredablehefey]

you can buy light loads for the 12g, and if you let her get used to the 20 and the light recoil she will become spoiled, and spoiling your woman is the path to the dark side. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny


I did not even know i had a personal stake in this discussion before i made the comment!!

[Recession]

Clay shooting is a lot like cars. 12GA (Stickshift) or 20GA (Automatic). Which one would you use for racing?

[xMAC1x]

You brought up some good points. Their are some good instructor's that with technic can make the recoil manageable. Go 20ga to start.

[tgriffin]

Anyone else come in here thinking this was a WTT thread :-D.

[golfrj]

20 gauge gas operated semi-auto, you should consider having her try a boys model (light weight, shorter stock).. And if you really like her pay for a lesson, she will get the Correct Basics and learn to have Fun.. Regards, Jim

ps----- Do Not teach her yourself (unless you are a Certified Instructor), if she does Not do well she will Hate you for weeks (Go ahead ask me how I Know) ...

[mjsweims]

Take her to a club, if you don't already belong to one. Ask some of the women what they shoot and prefer - you'll get a lot of input. Most of the people at clubs are friendly - you may also be able to set up a couple of people who will loan you their gun for a round.
If you are near a trap/skeet/sporting clays club that loans or rents out shotguns go there and try some of the guns first. Pros of a 12 ga semi are less recoil and the cons are its weight - remember you will probably shoot 100-200 rounds in a session. Pros of a good 20 ga pump can be its recoil and its weight. That being said you can get light loads for both 12 and 20 ga - both are more expensive than standard bargain packs but recoil is less. You get more pellets in a 12 ga shell than the equivalent 20 ga so chances of hitting a bird are better, and when you're a beginner it builds confidence hitting a few.
Taking a couple of lessons from a pro also helps.

[Sheepdog1968]

I am in a similar situation (except she really llikes to shoot). We plan to go to a local sporting clay range where you can rent shotguns. I plan to ask them if we can rent the lightest recoiling 20 gauge they got. I worry more about the recoil turning her off than I do missing clays. Also, I plan to pay for an instructor for the the initial few sessions so she is comfortable she is learning how to do it prorperly. If she likes it, she can always decide later to see if a 12 gauge has too much recoil.

[Newshooter]

My wife is 5'-6", weighs 125 pounds and shoots a 12 gauge Beretta 391 semi-auto. She has no issues with recoil. I would recommend the semi over the pump any day.

[WRXKid]

Awesome guys!! Thanks for the great comments. I will start her off on a 12ga semi first to see what happens. If not, we'll go to a 20ga.

I can also see how important an Instructor will be for her, instead of me teaching her myself. I would probably see alot of these
We are doing the "Learn to Shoot Skeet" day on Nov 14th and I am waaaayy excited.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Kiet

[chumrunner]

My wife is 5’ 1” and 120#. She shoots a 12 gauge semi-auto Benelli Super Sport. Recoil has never been an issue.

She shoots 1 oz. loads for skeet which helps a little.

What bothers her most is missing 2-3 clays in a round and not shooting a perfect round of 25yet.

Get her some time with an instructor to learn the basics; it will pay off when she starts hitting targets consistently.

[Steyrlp10]

I'm 5'2" and have shot both. For me, it was good to see the difference in an automatic (Benelli) and an 870 pump. When I tried a Mossberg with an adjustable stock, I really understood why it's nice to have a recoil pad. I'm not a girly girl (ok, maybe I squeak once in a while - lol,) but at the end of the day, the Mossberg made me look like I was a backstop for a fast pitch.

There's a reason God wanted me to stick to shooting pistol

[westcoast362]

The idea is to lessen the perceived recoil. I think the simplest way to achieve this is to spread the recoil over a longer period of time. An auto shotgun will do this.