Youth Gun
 

With shots around fifty yards what would be better a 410 slug or a 44 mag.? Basically recoil and terminal performance on a whitetail. I have a 20 ga. youth model also but Im not sure if he is ready for that kind of recoil.

.410 rifled slugs leave a lot to be desired. You will be better off starting a child on something that gives them a good chance of success. Buy a .243, potent and with almost no felt recoil and can be used for the childs whole life. I have never fired a .44 mag from a rifle so I don't know what the recoil is like, I suspect not bad and I will kill a deer and if you are limited to those two choices, I would go with the .44.

.410 rifled slugs leave a lot to be desired. You will be better off starting a child on something that gives them a good chance of success. Buy a .243, potent and with almost no felt recoil and can be used for the childs whole life. I have never fired a .44 mag from a rifle so I don't know what the recoil is like, I suspect not bad and I will kill a deer and if you are limited to those two choices, I would go with the .44. I am asuming you are not planing to use a .44 mag bullet in a .410 shotgun, that would not be a good idea.

I agree about the 243 but unfortunately they are not legal here. I also agree about the 410 slug. I know that some people here in Indiana have used them but wasn't sure about what kind of results they have been having. I have shot 2 deer with my 44 Winchester lever action and neither one took a step after the shot. Thanks for your input!

Years ago, I had a buddy the used to use a Ruger 44 mag. rifle . Most of our shots are going to e 100 yards in. Personally I did not care for the effectiveness of the rounds past about 50-75 yards. The 410 slug ... I have no experience.

I think maybe you might want to stay with the 20 ga. Probably the recoil will be a factor at the range, but you can sight it in ... then let your son shoot a few times .... and I would bet that the adrenalin kick-in and concentration on his part to make the shot would ward off the "recoil" when he pulls down on a deer. Maybe the next day he might be sore, but he drops one I suspect all he will be is elated !!

If you can use a rifled barrel on the 20, that would be my suggestion. Much more effective range.

I agree that he wont feel the recoil when shooting at a deer. my hesitation comes with the fact that I want him to learn open sights first,no scopes. And that i think will take some range time. He has been shooting a pellet rifle for a while now so maybe it wont take as long as I think. And also 50-60 yards is going to be the max I allow him to shoot a deer. Maybe the best thing to do is wait another year and see if I think he is ready for the 20 ga. because I agree that is a way better choice than the other two. Sure glad I hadn't mentioned it to him yet! He shot his first dove last weekend and was very excited, as was I ,he told me that it wouldn't be long before he could go deer hunting with me. Maybe i am getting over anxious. lol

I have both a 20g slug gun (rem) and 44mag (Rem). Both are pretty much the same in recoil IMHO.
You could always purchase reduced recoil ammo for both guns and install recoil pads on the stocks.

I installed a recoil pad on my 12 slug gun and it made a world of difference.

DITTO... my sons first rifle at 10 was a savage Y11 in 243, he is 21 now and still hunts with it, heck I even hunt with it myself some times..lol

52 years ago my first deer season my dad had picked up this old single shot Ivers Johnson 410 to be my first hunting firearm. Stamped on the barrel was 410ga. 2 1/2 inch shell 44 lug in one. I shot my first deer with a 410 slug my first year which today I think of as pure luck. That is the only deer I shot with 410 slugs as my dad used to get 44 ammo after that year. Don't know if all 410's will handle 44 ammo?

We it me who had a son or daughter of age to hunt deer I would use the 20 ga. Of course you need some range time, so figure out with in a couple shots if the recoil is a factor if so you have choices you can make at that point intellectly. My wife is recoil sensitive so she has a shooting vest she bought that has pockets in the shoulder area where the gun stock fits that hold gel packs. you can buy them in a few different thickness. We also installed kick ese but pads on her guns. She now had no problems shooting her shot guns even the 12ga.
My son started with a 20ga at 10 and was fine with it with just a good butt pad.
Also helps to spread out the range time, rather than do 5 shots as fast as you can reload the firearm spread the 5 shots out to a half hour. gives the youngster time to recover from a shot and also gives you time to talk about the shot (use a spotting scope or good binocs).

:D Al

My son is 7 and I dont want to expose him to the 20 ga. slug recoil yet and have to over come flinching issues later. Especially from a lighter youth model. Maybe in a year or two. My dad let me shoot cans at the age of 8 with a ithaca m66 12ga and high brass shells. It hurt me and I had flinching issues for several years after