vadeerkiller

My son is getting ready to turn 8 and this was his second year deer hunting. He carried a single 20 guage and while he never noticed the kick, I sure could notice it. Plus I never let him shoot a high brass shell in practice for fear of him disliking the recoil and becoming afraid of it. With that said, this yearafter doing alot of research I am going with the Charles Daly youth 20 semi-auto. It is super lightweight because of the alloy receiver and doesn't kick much.

cjwink

For Deer, Turkey and smaller game. I would say a 20 Guage.. Like VA dk said above.. Look at the Charles Daly 20 guage auto.. I have one and I really like it.. My nephew who is eleven killed his first duck with it this year..

Allen Denton

My son used a single shot 20 gauge until Christmas this season and when Santa brought him his 870 pump he finish off the season with it. He had to prove to me that he could shoot and shuck the shell and keep the gun pointed down range before I let him take it in the woods. We shot many shells at the range until he was confortable with the pump. My son is a big 8 year old and I think that he was just on the fence for handling the recoil. If I would have let him shoot the buck shot at a target he probably would not have wanted to hunt with it. We shot 7 1/2s at the range except for me checking the pattern with turkey loads and the buck shot. With the Kick's Industry Govlin Thunder he has got a great little turkey gun. I might use it if he lets me. He carries a .22LR for squirels and coyotes. He shoots every Fri. night with the rifle team at our gun club so he is very comfortable with the gun.

hossdaniels

This is why god made single shot 410's! The slugs will take deer to 35-40 yds. He will outgrow it in a couple years, then you can play with it a few years, then later he we appreciate the challenge of hunting with one. I say a single shot 410 first and a semi 12 when he is about 13-14.

edit, this in addition to a 22, he needs to be a good rifleman too!

handloader1

T/C Encore. Good luck.

millerhunter13

i think a .410 would be good for a first gun, with turkeys they would have to be within 20 yards IMHO, and for deer, if you could get slugs to shoot out of it accurately, you could use it for deer. and it would be good for small game, but if you want to use a 20 gauge, try finding light recoil loads (i think remington make em) they will reduce the kick on the 20, and i would go with a single, that is all i got, it will never jam on me

vadeerkiller

For those of you that advocate a .410, when dove season rolls around, you try using one. Just ain't practical. A young person is already handicapped just for being young and inexperienced.I use buckshot to hunt deer and with a .410 you only get 3 pellets. Some of youmight say use a slug, well alot of clubs here in Virginia only use buckshot for safety reasonsplus when hunting deer with hounds you want buckshot anyway. My 2 cents worth for advocating use of a 20 gauge for youngsters.

GTOHunter

2years ago I bought a Rossi Single Shot Youth Gun Combo for my 12 year old Daughter in the 3 barrel combination of a 22 LR,a .243 barrel and the 20 Gauge Shotgun.You simply take off one barrel and put another one that you want them to shoot with.I put a Tru-Glo Red Dot scope on the 22 LR for her to practice with,then when the Youth Deer Season came around I put another Tru-Glo Red Dot scope on the .243 and let her shoot it.She got a nice Doe and was able to handle the gun really well and the recoil wasn't too bad for her small petite frame to handle.I lined up the 20 gauge shot gun with the 3 inch Turkey load shells and after 3 shots at the target I had one helluva bruised shoulder....so I'm not so sure the 20 gauge with the short youth barrel is a good idea for a Youth to be shooting?......maybe a lighter loaded shell or switching to the .410 would be better for a young shooters first shotgun or like everyone mentioned it would be better to get a good 20 gauge shot gunthat is gas operated or even with a longer barrel would be better than the short barreled gun on the Rossi?My old Mossberg 20 gauge shotgun doesn't have 1/2 the recoil as that dang Rossi Youth Gun has!

P.S. on the Rossi Youth Gun the 22 LR barrelhas a real nice open sight with the optic type bead on the front end of the barrel and it came with a nice carrying case for the extra barrels.The company NEF (New England Firearms) had some nice looking Youth Guns also that I looked at.

bobfm10350

I dont know too much about shotguns and stuff but i've had my 22 hornet since i was 6 years old. It has no recoil and you can hardly hear it.

MichiganWhitetails74

8 years old? You're like me...when my girls hit 8 I will be asking the same questions...22LR for sure....next I would do a 410 with a cut down stock....I would do a pump...the single shot may rock'em a little bit.... to each his own...