reduced 12ga load for use by kids?

[emsdial911]

I bought my daughter and son a Rossi 12/22 combo. They love the 22 but the 12G shells from the store are too strong for them to shoot. I have recently bought a reloader and have reloaded in my younger days.

My question is, what is a good load for them to shoot and still be able to bust clays?

 

[CountryBoy19]

I bought my daughter and son a Rossi 12/22 combo. They love the 22 but the 12G shells from the store are too strong for them to shoot. I have recently bought a reloader and have reloaded in my younger days.

My question is, what is a good load for them to shoot and still be able to bust clays?

I think the first thing to do is to reduce the shot load. 7/8 oz still puts a decent amount of shot out there. You can also decrease velocity to drop the recoil a little more. The problem with all of this is that the lower shot load will make it harder to hit the clays reliably. For a child this may be very discouraging. If they don't get discouraged, and they actually pick up on it, they will grow up learning to shoot these really slow rounds, and when they graduate up to normal velocity rounds they will find it challenging to lead their shots correctly.

I'm not saying that it can't be done. I just wouldn't do it.

What I would do, is get them a different gun, in a smaller gauge. Break action guns are notorious for having more felt recoil. Pumps are close behind them; autos are the best IMHO. The autos change the dynamics of the recoil, and spread it out over a longer time so that there is less felt recoil. Also, a shotgun in 20 gauge will recoil significantly less, but still put the shot out there at a reasonable velocity. I've also found that sometimes a 12 ga. shooting a light shot load will create a "funky" pattern depending on the gun. The 20 ga. is designed for a lower shot load and will pattern much better. If you pick up a 20 ga. auto I think your kids will come to cherish and love it (maybe even fight over who gets to shoot it). You don't have to load multiple rounds in an auto, they work just fine single feeding. I still occasionally shoot trap with the auto that I got when I was 13, and I've "single-fed" many thousands of rounds into it. The only time it gets multiple rounds is when I'm shooting doubles, or I'm hunting.

How old are your kids? Maybe they just aren't quite at the age that they desire to shoot the shotgun. Allow them to work up to it. There are many guns that fall between a .22 and a 12 ga when it comes to recoil, and putting a few intermediate steps in between should help take some of the shock out of their transition to a gun with more recoil.

I was probably about 9 when I first started shooting shotgun occasionally, and 13 when I started shooting regularly. By the time I got my license at 16 I was shooting trap weekly. It just takes time to get used to it.

 

[Randy Divine]

Try a box of the Winchester AA Featherlites. They are 7/8 oz loads and advertised as low noise, low recoil. The kids shouldn't have any problem busting clays with them. You can find load data that approximates the Featherlite load here...Hodgdon's Winchester AA Lite Powder for Featherlite shotshells

 

[kycrawler]

How about a chamber adapter or briley tube to shoot 20 or 410 gauge in the 12 gauge you already have . i have a set of tubes for a ruger red label overunder to shoot 410's in and they work great

 

[Chance]

Light 12ga loads

You can actually buy 24 gram loaded shells for 12 ga. These are used in skeet shooting and several companies load them. For loading you own check out the supplies from Midsouth Shooters Supply, they carry Claybuster wads in 7/8 oz for your reloads.

For informal, backyard tye ranges the 7/8 oz seem to work fine for us. I even use them for regulation skeet and sporting clays.

 

[CountryBoy19]

How about a chamber adapter or briley tube to shoot 20 or 410 gauge in the 12 gauge you already have . i have a set of tubes for a ruger red label overunder to shoot 410's in and they work great

Good point... I'm not sure why I didn't think of this.

I'm not sure how well these hold a pattern, but they may be worth a try.

 

[singlesix]

I bought my son a 20/22 Rossi combo and I can tell you that in Rossi has one of the worst recoils. Gun's too light in shotgun configuration for more than a few shots. OK so what type of clay shooting? Formal or just throwing some clays in the back yard? Asking because the avg distance you break clays varies between Clay Shooting disciplines. I know some of the older shooters use loads that push only 1100 fps and still break straight 25s all the time.