been working on a combo for my 14 yr old daughter and want a pattern good enough to kill but not so tight she misses. what kind of pattern do you try and get in your kids guns? she will be shooting one of my 12 ga guns. she is 5'10" so it fits her but too skinny to handle the 3.5 hevi's i normally shoot .
best compromise i have found is golden pheasant 2 3/4 #5 nickle plated. light recoil and puts almost the entire load in a 10" circle at 20 yards and in the 90's at 30 yds. i don't want her trying to shoot past 30 yds but i did shoot 10 shells at a turkey target and got an average of 20 in the head/neck with no less than 8 in the spine/brain at 40 yds.
not opposed to buying another gun if a 20ga with 3" hevi shot will perform better.