Woman's trap gun recommendation

[IditarodJoe]

My wife has decided to give trap shooting a try and is currently using a borrowed 20 gauge Mossberg pump while we search for a gun of her own. The problem is finding a gun that fits her. She's a fairly average size for a woman but it seems that virtually all reasonably priced trap guns are sized for men (e.g., she could probably use a 13-inch LOP). Can anyone recommend a good 20 gauge model that might be suitable for a smaller person without going to one of the "youth" models or spending serious money on having a gun custom fitted? Any thoughts would be welcome.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

I know you don't want to hear about youth sized guns but that may be your solution. I bought my adult daughter (5'2") a used Remington 870 Wingmaster (blued steel, nice wood) that came with a 30" full choke barrel. Since it is a left hand model, replacing the barrel wasn't an option. I sent the barrel to R&D Custom Barrel Service in Los Angeles and they shortened the barrel and installed screw in choke tubes. We stopped by a Cabelas on the way home from shooting clays because Angela hadn't been comfortable shooting with a full size shotgun. She tried a bunch of youth shotguns at the store and a Remington fit her best. There is no standard length of pull for youth guns, they're all different and you need to "try them on." Since Angela is left eye dominant and shoots leftie, I kept my eyes open and found her shotgun at a gun show.

[jgaynor]

Have her try a 20 ga over under maybe one of the Berettas. You also might to google sporting clays New Hampshire. There seems to be an abundance of facilities all over the state. I suspect some of them may have loaner guns and instructors.

[leftyo]

dont mess with 20g guns. if you believe they kick less, your fooling yourself. 12g with 1oz loads or light 1-1/8 will not hurt the smallest woman shooter if the gun fits her. gun fit is the key both to comfort, and being able to hit your target. best recommendation i can make is to shop for an older used browning BT-99, they can usually be found reasonably priced. then have the gun fitted to her (not by some joker who thinks you put it in the crook of your arm and your finger should touch the trigger lol). cut to length, a quality recoil pad (kick eze or limbsaver are good choices, much better than anything pachmyer offers), and if needed have hardware for an adjustable comb added. if the gun fits her i guarantee it will not hurt her, even with 1-1/8@1250fps

[bd1]

Get her a 12 ga Citori O/U that fits her well with a full set of Invector Plus tubes and never look back. Long barrels, 30 or 32 inches, are good.

[IditarodJoe]

Thanks for your replies. Ditching the idea of a 20 ga in favor of a 12 may have merit. She's not terribly recoil sensitive (been shooting matches with her 1903A3 for a number of years), but managing recoil is still a priority. Looking at 12s would certainly open up more buying possibilities, and anything that increases her success on the trap field would improve the odds that she stays with the sport. I've been told that semiauto shotguns have considerably less perceived recoil than break action or pump guns. Any truth in that?

We're both retired and, although comfortable, still have to watch our spending. Buying a $1500+ used gun and putting another $300+ into it for custom fitting only to find that trap isn't her "cup of tea" isn't likely in the cards. One major problem with youth models is that they generally only come with barrels of 26" or less. As I understand it, this isn't conducive to successful trap shooting.

Has anyone had any experience with these? http://www.atigunstocks.com/shotguns/mossberg/mossberg-12-gauge/stocks/mossberg-akita-adjustable-stock

[n64atlas]

Trap guns are special shotguns. Years ago, they used pumps, now it's OU and semi-auto's. All depends if you are just shooting singles or want to also shoot
doubles. Beretta makes some very good dedicated Trap guns:
https://www.google.com/search?q=beretta+trap+shotguns&biw=1600&bih=789&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCUQsARqFQoTCMfx_c7e_cYCFUOGDQodYloN_w
A Friend of mine used to shoot Trap for Beretta. He is a Grand Slam winner. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997
http://www.traphof.org/
He stressed proper shooting form in improving your scores. See if there are any instructor's in your area, or attend an organized shoot
and talk to the top shooters. Go to the State shoot :
http://www.nhtrap.org/
Someone there can help you find the right shotgun for this game.

[IditarodJoe]

n64atlas, that's sort of the direction we seem to be going in. Her first time out with the borrowed 20 ga. she only broke three clays (of 50) which was a little discouraging. All of the other shooters were extremely supportive and helpful, but at that point I think she just had too little knowledge and experience. This past week power was out at the club so we didn't get to shoot, but she has spent some time over the last two weeks watching youtube videos and practicing her shooting stance.

On the advice of leftyo and bd1, this morning for the heck of it I dug out our old 12 gauge Mossberg house gun and put the 28-inch barrel on it. We took it to the range and I used the mechanical launcher to launch clays for her. She went through a couple boxes of shells and said she didn't have any problem with the recoil. She was also breaking just under 50% of the clays. :cool: Next Tuesday, weather and the power company permitting, she plans to shoot one round with the borrowed 20 ga, and one round with the old 12 ga. Then, on Wednesday morning we're going to stop by a store that has a used 20 ga Franchi Affinity Compact with a 26-inch barrel - mostly just to see how the shorter stock fits her.

So that's the plan - shoot once a week in an organized shoot getting as much advice as she can from the other shooters. We'll also go out as often as possible to practice using the mechanical thrower. (I need the practice as much as she does.) And meanwhile we'll keep checking gun shops looking for a gun that's a better fit for her.

Many thanks to all who provided responses to this post.

[PhillipM]

My mother shot skeet for many years with a 20 gauge 1100. She's a lifetime member of NSSA and used to take the sport seriously.

[Art]

I've shot a lot of trap in the past and proved that if you do anything long enough you can become at least competent. Trap is the long range game of shotgun shooting, especially "Handycap" trap. A 20 gauge puts you at a significant disadvantage, not just because they throw less shot in the target loads but because the 12s have shorter shot strings. Guns for trap usually aren't really lightweights and 12 gauge target loads don't kick substantially more than 20 gauge field loads, at least in my experience.

I would suggest a good 12 gauge full choke or improve modified pump (I shot most of my trap with a Rem 870) with the stock cut down to fit her as the minimum. Over and unders are shorter because they don't have a receiver, buying one of those would shorten the gun up and save buying another gun if she wants to graduate to International or "doubles trap." If her LOP is 13" that would require removing about 1 1/2" of wood. Save it, it can be re attached later. If she gets really serious wants to shoot competition especially international she'll need an autoloader or over and under, a Citori is a good choice in a starter competition gun.

Once upon a time the companies that made fine double barrel shotguns also made single shot trap models. Ithaca made a fine one barrel trap gun into the 1960s, I learned from a fellow working at Ithaca now that these 1960s guns were made up from spare receivers and mostly spare parts left over from the time that production of finished guns ended much earlier. The Ithaca "One Barrel Trap" was one fine looking but extremely specialized gun.

31820

[jgaynor]

Has your wife actually tried out the various types of wingshooting sports - Skeet, trap and sporting clays? Does have any plans to hunt?
She might like something like sporting clays better than trap. A lot of the shooting venues can provide both types of ranges.

[Art]

One more thing...

To me one of the endearing things about trap is that it's relatively inexpensive, even if you're really serious about it. It's the only shotgun sport that, in the American versions at least, you can be serious about and shoot a pump (or even a single shot) in one choke only. Skeet, if you're a competitive shooter and serious about it requires a gun, or guns for all four gauges.

As jgaynor says, if your wife does want to try other games, most shooting centers can let you try all of them.