Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Light recoiling 20ga for small stature shooter with short LOP ?

Beretta 390,391 is softer than the Rem's, and I have all the rem's.

Beretta A400 in a 20ga would be a perfect child's and woman's gun, have the stock cut to fit LOP.

Hard to believe how little this shotgun kicks.

I do not like most youth guns, they seem to have too much recoil, and I hate pumps for starters. I started my daughter, first learning the nomenclature of the shotgun, and lots of dry drills. Than she started to shoot my Model 1100 Remington, 20 24 inch barrel, she LOVED that little gun, and could not wait to shoot it..... the stock fit her well

whatever you get, it needs to fit her

I have 3 but can never seem to get them all in the picture together. Anyway, mine starting hunting at this age...



...and here they are now:



Two of them shoot auto's, one is an 1100 20, and the other an 11-48, and since 11-48's have a recoiling barrel, they kick a bit more, so we went with a 28ga.



My youngest is a true Daddy's girl and oddly, she outgrew both of her sister's stature wise.
She only wanted to shoot what I shoot, and that's an 870. I love them. So I scaled one down in 28ga for her.



Then I personalized their shotguns for them, which they really liked!

Family's are a great thing!

Just like the "Family" here on the Fire....


DMc

Great pics of family, job well done!!

TY Sir..

Just get a gun that fits her. I haven't read all through every post,but what matters most is that the gun fits her. It doesn't matter what action it is,as long as she is OK with it. Don't buy a pump if she just insists she doesn't want one. Just get whatever she likes,as long as it fits her.

Main thing is that she won't know what fits her. You will have to talk her through it.If you don't know how to tell,do a little research and find out. Show her some different guns and tell her the advantages and disadvantages of each,AND LET HER DECIDE.

Yes,a gas operated action will have slightly less recoil, but I HAVE FOUND THAT FIT AND A GOOD RECOIL PAD,WITH A GOOD SHOOTING VEST, combined with a gun that fits her,and that she likes, will matter much more to her shooting, and shooting comfort,than which action she shoots.

If anyone gets into competition where they are shooting thousands of rounds ,then the discussion of which action becomes relevant.

Perfect fit....









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Good job, DMc....

Jack

Thanks Jack,

It's a hoot building these personalized shotguns for the kiddos.

These are the son-in-laws shotguns.

My oldest SIL works for Arctic Cat and their colors were green & black before Textron bought them.



Son-in-law #2 is a lefty..



SIL #3 prefers an auto..





...and a couple more.




DMc

Another option would be the Franchi Affinity compact in 20 gauge.

Start with lessons from a sporting clay shooter that can teach. He/she will have a reasonably good handle on how to make the 1100 fit which comes secondary to her being taught proper technique. The gun can fit, but if one doesn't know how to take advantage of it little will be gained.

I see it all the time with adults. The gun fits, but they don't know how to use it.

it is no different than with a rifle. You can have the most accurate rig ever made, but if you don't have the skills you won't be hitting much at LR with any consistency.

Raising this back up. Shotgun came in. Finally fitted wood furniture to it. Cycles hi brass without issue. At this point, will not even eject low brass field loads. From reading on the web sounds like some 1100's when new need a certain number of high velocity rounds thru them to break in or wear in. Apart from burning up a flat of hi brass loads, any suggestions or recommendations ?

I have pulled it apart and confirmed that the piston, piston seal, barrel seal activator (20 ga), and O-ring are installed in the proper order and orientation. The original barrel was about 20". I replaced it with a Remington 26" barrel. Confirmed that the replacement barrel has two gas ports just like the original barrel. Same issue when I swap back to the original barrel, so, not thinking that the issue is directly related to the barrel length.

All constructive suggestions to get this shotgun to cycle properly with low velocity field/target loads greatly appreciated. Thank you !

Sell it, buy a 391 12ga and shoot light loads. No handicap very light recoil and cycles anything. That 20ga kicks harder then the 391 in 12ga will.

A finicky 1100 is a continuous source of frustration. Take MCH's advice and find a Beretta.

I've mentioned the Beretta A300 before as my daughter used hers for trap before getting an O/U. They can be found for reasonable prices, in wood or plastic, have adjustable LOP, decent triggers, and forend weights are available. Hers has been perfectly reliable and I find it relatively soft shooting. We used a stick-on cheek riser pad that worked great.

You've put some time and money into this project. If it was mine I'd find a gunsmith, probably older, that knows 1100s and have it checked out before dumping it. Could be something simple. The 1100's an old design but IMO is still plenty adequate for the average hunter and occasional clays shooter. There's a lot of shooters still using them. None of the semiauto brands are perfect. Check the various shotgun forums, there's plenty of non 1100 semiauto owners with complaints.