Shotguns and Young Ladies

[Bondhead88]

Before anyone makes a crude remark, this is specifically about my daughter and her friend.

They are going to be renting a house at the end of the college year for the summer. The other girl's father and I are talking about putting a shotgun in the house for home defense.

They are both 21 around 5'4". They are maybe around 135 lbs (please don't tell them I pu that here)

They both have been raised around guns and they would like to have one as well. I am thinking about a Benelli Tactical 12 guage pump with shoulder stock and pistol grip. If anybody has a wife, girlfriend, daughter, mother who uses a shotgun for home defense and has an experienced opinion I would love to hear it.

 

[TheWabbit]

My wife refuses to shoot the 12 gauge due to recoil. I bought her a 20 gauge instead.

 

[rgrimm01]

I have been seriously considering getting my Lady a 20 gauge coach gun. They have 2 shots, simple to operate and seemingly shoulder intuitively.

 

[stack23]

why not get them a handgun?

 

[snapping turtle]

It should be a pump. The sound of racking a round in a shotgun is a good thing. Everyone knows what that sound is.

It should be easily accessable but out of the way, Ladies in an apartment don;t normally hang them on the wall.

It should fit them. At least the smallest of them.

It should have a nice recoil pad.

It does not need to be expensive or have things hanging off it.

It does need ammo.

My vote goes to a 870 wingmaster built in the 1980's when they had the nice dark wood and deep blue, that is to me what a shotgun should look like not something used in a mad maxx movie.

As far as 20 verses 12 or 410 I don't think that matters much as long as it hits where it is aimed. A double gun my friend bought hit targets well with one barrel and the other was off 8 inches left of the right barrel, It got sold and was mentioned in a post above.

 

[MrsGungho]

Remington 870 12 GA with a Knoxx recoil reducer adjustable stock on it. Low recoil buckshot for the load.

My daughter is 5'2" and 100lbs soaking wet and has no issues with this set up

 

[snapping turtle]

My wife uses her fathers model 870 12 guage by the way. Mainly because her father owned it. Makes it special to her that it was her dad's gun. She is setup with #4's and #4 buck one after the next.

That might be the best bet, give her yours and buy yourself a new one, She will have her father gun around to protect her just not her father,

 

[Bondhead88]

why not get them a handgun?

Because in my opinion a shotgun is probably the all around best tool for home protection. It is loud, intimidating, and hard to miss the target espesially in halway and close quarter situations.

I will be sticking to pump and as short a barrel as possible.

 

[Bunnykid68]

Remington 870 12 GA with a Knoxx recoil reducer adjustable stock on it. Low recoil buckshot for the load.

My daughter is 5'2" and 100lbs soaking wet and has no issues with this set up

Once again I have to agree with the gun lady...well....because I have no idea

 

[Mgderf]

If they're both comfortable with a 12ga. then go for it. If they are new shooters, you may want to start them out with a 20ga.

The biggest thing is to make sure they are both ready (mindset) to use it. The last thing you want to do is arm an intruder.

Look at the Mossberg Maverick.

 

[DRob]

Good choice

I like your choice of guns to begin with. I'm going to assume you're talking about a shorter barreled shotgun like the Mossy 500 Persuader (light gun) we have and that both girls are right handed. We had to play with the gun a bit before we came to the final conclusion. My wife is slightly larger than the girls you're speaking of and is stronger than the average woman her size. The first thing we did was change to a youth stock because the LOP was a little long for her. Sounds like a good idea until you shoot the gun and get whacked in the nose by the base of your right thumb. It happened to her and to me. I'm 6'2" and 280, by the way. Obviously, the last thing you want is to have something like that in the shooter's mind when they NEED the gun. So, the factory stock went right back on along with a Streamlight TR-1 mounted so the left thumb can easily operate the switch when the gun is held normally. She learned to mount the gun with the longer stock and is now comfortable with it. The next decision was ammo choice and here's where you'll get the macho stuff from some guys. A full house 3" load of 00 buck has a great chance of making a smaller person fairly trigger-shy. Another thing you don't want. The soluton to that is what Mrs. Gungho mentioned and the solution was purchased from her. Remington 2 3/4" Managed Recoil 00BK. We're most likely talking about a shot of less than 30' and this round will do the trick and still allow the girls to easily recover from the recoil and get an effective second shot off. Since they aren't going to be carrying it around with them...................Get a gun safe for when they aren't home and make them get in the habit of locking it up when they leave and getting it out when they're home. Practice!

 

[Exodus]

My wife (5'3", 120#s) hates shooting 12 ga. She does good with 20 ga. I'm partial to 870s.

 

[churchmouse]

I would do the pump gun and agree, the sound of a round going into battery is something that can not be mistaken. You can start them off on a low powered 2 3/4" rabbit round to get used to the sound and recoil. Move up in power until you get "The Look" and go back one step. You load up someones butt with some buckshot (don't care what the load) and they loose interest quickly. This is how I trained my daughter. She can run an auto loader with light 3" and a pump with a serious 2 3/4 " shell. Get them to the range and put some rounds through it. Bigger is better. Mostly, sometimes, well sorta.

 

[VUPDblue]

Because in my opinion a shotgun is probably the all around best tool for home protection. It is loud, intimidating, and hard to miss the target espesially in halway and close quarter situations.

I will be sticking to pump and as short a barrel as possible.

You will really need to get them practiced on whatever you settle on. it is likely that smaller stature folks will short-stroke the action on a pump gun under stress. this will cause a malfunction and that's not good. also, I would be careful calling a shotgun something that's "hard to miss" with in a close quarters situation, actually the opposite would be true. yes you do have to aim, even with a shotgun and especially at close distances. your girls need to learn how to use the shotgun but more importantly, what it will and will not do.

 

[samrothstein01]

You will really need to get them practiced on whatever you settle on. it is likely that smaller stature folks will short-stroke the action on a pump gun under stress. this will cause a malfunction and that's not good. also, I would be careful calling a shotgun something that's "hard to miss" with in a close quarters situation, actually the opposite would be true. yes you do have to aim, even with a shotgun and especially at close distances. your girls need to learn how to use the shotgun but more importantly, what it will and will not do.

Ding! Ding! ....we have a winner

 

[Newbomb92]

I'm a bodyguard for hire.

 

[Bondhead88]

You will really need to get them practiced on whatever you settle on. it is likely that smaller stature folks will short-stroke the action on a pump gun under stress. this will cause a malfunction and that's not good. also, I would be careful calling a shotgun something that's "hard to miss" with in a close quarters situation, actually the opposite would be true. yes you do have to aim, even with a shotgun and especially at close distances. your girls need to learn how to use the shotgun but more importantly, what it will and will not do.

I have two young ladies one who has some experience with shot guns and i have another who is a red neck who has a lot of experience. I do not mean shoot blindly, not take time and shoot at the floor.

We will run them through the paces and put them through some situations. Maybe I'll take a trip out with the girls and visit with Hoosierdood for an afternoon.

 

[BoomstickBuff]

Remington 870 12 GA with a Knoxx recoil reducer adjustable stock on it. Low recoil buckshot for the load.

My daughter is 5'2" and 100lbs soaking wet and has no issues with this set up

^^ this. Could also go with a Mossberg 500, but either way, the Knoxx recoil reducing/adjustable stock and a nice short (18.5") barrel make all the difference.

 

[daspurlock]

why not get them a handgun?

In time of a crisis you don't have to aim, point and shoot.

 

[atvdave]

?