Youth set ups

[Woodsman4God]

Hi guys,

My oldest son wants to go hunting, ( He is almost 8 ) I am not sure he is ready yet however I am starting to look at getting him setup. I know I could add shooting sticks to my 20 ga and he probably could do it however what do you guys do to setup a youth comfortable to be able to accurately shoot? His ability to shoot accurately is my biggest concern

[mightyjoeyoung]

I have a trgger stick and I just bought a V-Pod. It attaches to the gun and uses short v supports on the bottom to keep the gun very stable and still be able to be a monopod.  A pistol grip type stock will also aid in keeping him accurate and comfortable.

[yelpy]

 A friend of mine uses a tripod for his daughter and hunts from a blind with her. She is shooting old Rem. Hevi shot # 6 or 7's out of her 20. He used a 410 her first time out and she shot and lost a bird so he went to a 20. I found that if not in the blind to have them sit in your lap and shoot off your knee so you can look with him and help handle the gun. My nephew shot his first off of my knee at 9 years old.

[RaspyD]

I have a Bushnell Trophy scope with the Circle-X reticle on a 20 gauge that my son uses.  The Circle-X reticle makes it easier to get on the bird and increases the chances of making a good shot.  I also use a shooting stick to help him hold the gun up.  So far he is 2 for 2.

[redleg06]

I'd have some kind of red dot site on the gun. I did this for my wife cause she had a hard time with open sites and just telling her to "put the dot on his neck and pull the trigger" was easier for her.

I also think the pistol grip like a shurshot stock or a knoxx stock makes it easier to control and hold the gun for longer periods of time.

[bbcoach]

For a youth to be comfortable shooting, he needs a gun that fits him, not a gun already in our gun safe adapted to a much smaller frame.  Check out the Mossberg 500 Super Bantam.  It comes in 20 guage and will fire 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells.  The best thing about it is the stock has spacer blocks to shorten the LOP and can be added back as the youth grows.  A friend of mine bought one for his 9 year old and he is 11 now and it is growing with him.  He shoots it extremely well and is confident with it but the best thing, it fits him.  A couple of other things that will help is start with low recoil loads so they don't develop a flinch and make sure they wear double hearing protection when shooting so they don't flinch from the sound.  Start him slow and he'll grow to love shooting.

[Clay]

I got my son the 870 youth model last year and it has worked great.  Comes with the additional shims to add as he grows, but we haven't needed them yet.  His setup is the 870 with a Primos Jelly Head choke and I've patterned it out to 40 yards with a couple of nice loads. 

He carries it with an unloaded chamber and one in the mag, so I can jack one in when we set up if needed.  That way I can continue to teach him about gun safety and muzzle awareness in the woods, without having the danger of one in the pipe..

The one thing I've done and that I'd say has worked great is that I've never let him shoot the 3" mag loads through it unless it's looking at a turkey (I did all the pattern work).  He never feels the recoil in a real hunting situation and has never thought a breath about the kick because of it....