Not necessarily Finger

My son killed his first buck when he was 8 with my 30.06 shooting 180gr bullets.He is 12 now and has killed 5 more deer since then with that 30.06 and isn't bothered by recoil at all. He thinks that rifle is a death ray and I'll probably end up having to give it to him rather than buying him a new one someday.

He took his first gobbler on the TN youth hunt this year with a 20 gauge youth 870 shooting the 3", 1.1/4 oz, Nitro 4X5X7s. I helped him sight in that gun and, because it is so light, I think the recoil from that little gun is sharper than my Mossberg 835 shooting 3.5", 2.25 oz Nitros.

So what's my point - a heavier 12 gauge, especially a semiauto with a ported choke and a good recoil pad, may have less perceived recoil than these very light, short-barrelled 20 gauge 3" magnums, expecially pumps like the 870.

We were blessed with great waterfowl hunting in NW Tennessee where I grew up (Reelfoot Lake). I started out with an old Fox Sterlingworth 20 gauge double-barrel that belonged to my grandfather. That damn thing kicked like a mule and I hated it with all my being. I later graduated to a Browning A-5 20 gauge magnum and that thing would hit you pretty good with the 3" magnum heavy loads I shot at geese and ducks. When we had good days my head would kill me because that gun kicked so hard my head was hitting the back of the blind and I didn't realize it in my excitment.

When I was finally old enough for a 12 gauge, another Browning A-5 Magnum, I was surprised at how mild that heavier gun shot compared to my "smaller" 20.