I'm very small. I'm 4'7" and weigh 73 pounds. Although I'm 19, I'm the same size as a ten-year old girl. So the recoil of a gun is important. It turns out that heavier guns kick less than the lighter ones. My favorite is a .50 caliber Hawken style muzzleloader. It weighs a ton, but I've learned how to hold the heavier guns and steady them for an accurate shot.

I have a 20 ga. NEF and it works fine for me, but I can't handle a
12 ga. Your son is a little bigger than I am, so can probably handle a bit more kick. Be careful you don't discourage him though by going too big and making him afraid of the gun or flinching when he shoots.

Why wouldn't he be able to handle your 12 ga? I was getting my son his gun when he was 9 years old and around 70 lbs. I looked at the junior shotguns, but decided on a regular pump 12 with two barrels (normal and turkey). I'll never forget taking him directly to shoot five stand. The guy working the controls made a comment it was as big as he was. LOL. I said, don't worry, he'll figure it out. Guess what, he did. I told the guy not to push the other clay until my son completed the pump. Half way through his first round of 5 stand, he said just go back to normal launches. He hasn't looked back since.

I looked at it this way. A junior gun would fit better now but for how long? It costs the same amount and you know you will want to move him up sooner than you think. The 20's kick a lot of times more than the 12's, so they were out. I bet your son would do just fine and the 12ga will give you more versitility to do other kinds of hunting.

FYI, my son just said get him a 10ga.

I started my grandsons with a youth .243 NEF and couldn't be more pleased with the little rifle. IMHO it is more efficient than a 20 guage. Dang nice caliber. A couple of times one of them wanted to shoot my .270 last year so I grabbed the .243 and sat with it.

Either would do, but the 20 gage would be a little safer for all. I shoot a 20 gage pump with Foster slugs myself, knocks 'em on their asses no problem.

MY son will be 13 this month, he has a Rossi 20ga single shot. He is great with it bird hunting, but the accuracy shooting a slug outta that gun SUCKS!! Go with the 243 it will boost his confidence in the deer season.

The shiny stuff helps ignite the pellets.

I understood what he was asking.What I meant was after trying pellets he should use whichever the gun shoots best with.

.243 for sure, what is your budget ?

My son's deer rifle is a Remington Model 7 Youth chambered for .243. Ran about $500 with the scope. When he outgrows the youth-sized stock (probably already has), I'll swap on one of the full sized ones, and he's got a deer rifle that he'll be able to pass on to my grandkids...

Mossberg makes a pretty nice youth model. Saw one yesterday at Academy for $289.

OK...that was not clear from your post....you mentioned energy/load ratings which were not part of the original question, he just wanted to try pellets and was asking how the 2 loads compared.