no guns here: You brought up a good example of what not to do with the shotgun. Each year near the end of our class we ask the kids if they are interested in learning to shoot skeet. We make arraignments to take them to the local skeet range. Some of the kids flat out don't want to go, they talk about how their dad's took them out and had them shoot his shotgun. (Usually a 12 ga) They don't ever want to do that again. Peer pressure usually gets them to come along. We know none of these kids are not going to make it for a full round of skeet, because all they have shot with us up to this point is .22RF. My plan is to take them to station 1 and 7, where the birds are going straight away or moving toward them. I take my son's little 28 ga H&R, also his 20ga H&R, and the wife's cut down 20ga over and under skeet gun. I take very light loads, in fact they are so slow you can actually see the shot going out to the target.
I spend a little time teaching them about recoil, and how to hold the shotgun in good and tight against their shoulder. Then I let them shoot, starting with the 28ga. It's usually about the third round that brakes the first target. Being able to see their shot string helps them adjust their shooting to where they can hit the moving target. That's when the girls and smaller boys usually want to quite for the day. Not the bigger boys, once they brake a target they want to do it again. The next class we usually go to the Skeet range again, and some of them are hooked. When the kids shoot paper in the indoor range you can tell they are proud of their results. But when they brake a clay target, there is a gleam in their eye that is unmatched with a .22 and paper.
