My 11 year old nephew, Logan, has been showing interest in getting into shot gunning, specifically, the local trap range, he's tried out my H&R Topper Deluxe Classic with some light loads, and seemed okay with it, but wanted a little less recoil.....
So, long story short, for his birthday, in October, we got him a really nice condition Gardner MA. manufactured NEF Pardner Compact/youth in 28 gauge, an older style model with some nicely charactered pallet wood furniture and tiger striped false case hardening...
Needless to say, he was thrilled, a few days later, I picked up a box of clay targets and an EZ-Throw 3, to get him into the swing of things, as it were
We did well with the hand thrower in the back yard (it helps to have 50 acres of lightly wooded fields behind the house
) , but he was really looking forward to hitting the local trap range....
The first week he shot 9 on the first round and 8 on the second, turns out he was doing the same things I did when I started, stopping the gun when the trigger is pulled, and over-analyzing his shot, rather than going by instinct.
Second week, he was able to keep the gun moving and not over analyze the shot as much, scores went up a bit to 10 and 12
Saturday was his third trip, and he's doing well, he hit 14, has good form and follow through, is starting to trust his instincts, and just needs to be smooth and consistent with his trigger pull, he tends to jerk the trigger sometimes which takes him off target....
This Saturday's trip was especially memorable for him though, we got there late, and only had time and ammo for one game, but on that game, near the end of the round, the trap machine threw the special, fluorescent yellow "free game" bird......
And he utterly SMASHED it with an instinctive shot, the entire line cheered him on, and I gave him a high-five at the end of the match, you couldn't wipe that grin off his face if you tried
So, Logan, feels good to smash the free game bird, doesn't it?
Yeah, that was AWESOME!
That was a great shot too, you were dead on, completely dusted it
Yeah, I just wish I had more ammo, I know I should I have bought two boxes, I'm going to start saving my money and stockpiling 28 gauge ammo....
(Of course, what he doesn't know, is that we already have his Christmas gift, a MEC 600 Jr 28 gauge reloading press)
in the meantime, I've been teaching him to reload shells on my 20 gauge press, so he'll have some hands on experience when he gets his 28 gauge press (yes, he will only hand load/reload under my close supervision, and all shot and propellant loads will be verified with my reloading scales (one for shot, one for propellant) before they are crimped closed
