The boy (9) has been practicing with my 12 ga for last cpl months regularly. Not bad, shows what a little 2 3/4" shell can do out of the right choke. Same gun and choke Im shooting, but I use the hevishot mag blend in 3 1/2". Although after seeing all his great patterns I'm not sure why, LOL! Remington high brass #6 Pheasant load. He'll actually be shooting Federal Heavyweight #7's on hunt day, which look even better on paper. This was most likely our last shooting session before the hunt and confidence is running high.