Howdy,
i have a small dilemma, consisting of two facts,
1.my wife wants to learn to shoot pretty much everyting i have both an interest and reasonable acess to, including the clay games. this means that a shotgun is in her future (she also fell in-love with the Mossberg 590A1 a few years ago and wants one for her own)
2. for reasons beyound her control she is now physically at least somewhat recoil sensitiveint eh wake of surgery on her right shoulder. Doc says she can shoot any and everything SHE feels comfortable shooting. But i want to try and reduce the "impact" on that shoulder from shooting.
so i need advice, alternatives, etc. based on the above and also on my own personal biases....
those biases.....
i HATE .410 shotguns i think they are a waste of time in trying to start a new shooter. all they lead to is frustration for a newby b/c teh pattern is so realatively small.
I don't like Auto shotguns, everyone of them that i've ever messed with has been more trouble to me than the possible reduciton in recoil was worth.
and more importantly than ANY of MY biases/prefs, SHE wants a pump gun and not an auto, very vehement about it too. i've told her the upside (reduced recoil in most gas guns) and the downside (tend to be a PITA to clean compared to the pumps).... and she states she wants a pump ~Shrug~ her shoulder her decision. i think it has someting to do with her being issued a pumpgun for guard duty while in the army
i am leaning toward a 12ga pump (rem 870) for the following reasons,
12s tend to be built on larger and at least slightly heavier, frames than the same gun in 20ga,
ultralight loadings such as the winchester "low noise, low recoil" AKA "featherlight" are readily available in 12ga, where as i have yet to see comparable loads for 20 (these are all that's needed for 90% of what we'd do with the gun)
and lastly she's just as stubborn as me and she is GOING to get that 590 eventually so she may as well start out with the same guage she's gonna get in THAT thing..
she's got one of those PAST "Herean Sheild" recoil pads to use, and i plan on adding a really good decellerator or similar type of buttpad to any such gun.
Also thought has been put toward the possibility of adding either some sort of fixed weight (lead plug) or one of those mercury filled recoil reducers to any shotgun we bought for her use.
so what is the advice of the gurus. are their better ways to do this, ideas that should be considered, am i off in left feild, or am i ont eh right trac and just ahve to follwo through as time/money permit??
as always,
Thank you for your time and patience.