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Which .410 For My Son?


oilyrag
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Looking to introduce my 7 year old son to the world of shooting this summer and was thinking of something along the lines of a .410 for his first gun.

 

I'm only really familiar with 12g and don't have any .410 experience. Could anybody suggest which type of gun would be best suited to a youngster ie bolt action, folding or even an o/u or even point me in the direction of suitable models?

 

Thanks in advance.

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Looking to introduce my 7 year old son to the world of shooting this summer and was thinking of something along the lines of a .410 for his first gun.

 

I'm only really familiar with 12g and don't have any .410 experience. Could anybody suggest which type of gun would be best suited to a youngster ie bolt action, folding or even an o/u or even point me in the direction of suitable models?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Simple solution ? What about a cheap single barrel baikal, pick s/h for £80 or new I believe £180ish

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I have just got my kids a .410 single barrel folder. It's light and only having the one barrel it's a bit safer. It's an old Belgian gun but it's just the job and when they are done with it ill sell it for the same money.

My 7 year old is very big for his age but an o/u is to big and heavy for him.

I would avoid a bolt action. They are a bit heavier and I want to get him used to handling a traditional style gun.

 

Harry

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Simple solution ? What about a cheap single barrel baikal, pick s/h for £80 or new I believe £180ish

 

can't argue with that. I learnt with one and so did my brother. Cheap and you can teach safety with it,(plus one shot is easy to keep track of). As soon as we could hit anything flying we both went onto a 20 so I wouldn't spend a fortune on a .410,(I very quickly wanted a bigger cartridge so I had a better chance of hitting something).

 

 

I bought a yildiz once I could shoot for an extra challenge. Nice gun! :good:

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One point worth mentioning is - whatever you buy - take it out yourself and try a days shooting with it and see if YOU can hit something - they can be difficult to shoot and it may put your lad off if he has no sucess with it.. :good:

 

Regards,

 

Gixer

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One point worth mentioning is - whatever you buy - take it out yourself and try a days shooting with it and see if YOU can hit something - they can be difficult to shoot and it may put your lad off if he has no sucess with it.. :good:

 

Regards,

 

Gixer

 

Excellent advice Gixer!!! a whole lot of single barrels have way too much drop at the heel causing problems hitting anything with them. Hard for a youngster to get enthused about shooting if he never can hit. Sako may have some advice as his son shoots an O/U .410, and pretty well I might add. He is a bit older though than your son. Take your time selecting --don't let anyone push something on you. His first impression only comes once!

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I learn't to shoot with a bolt action Norica. I was lucky that it was only a small shoot so the trappers would release singles for me and pairs for everyone else. Once I had progressed to 12 bore, the bolt action would still come out as a bit of fun with my Dad on pairs (you gotta be quick).

 

Anyway, enough of memory lane: I am currently running a Yildiz side by side .410. I would suggest going down the o/U or SxS route for the second shot. On the safety front I don't think it matters whether you go for bolt, folding etc. They are all dangerous if not handled properly it just means slightly different procedures for each. For shells I would go for shot size 8 or 9 to help make up for the lack of pellets on clays or 6 and 7 in 3 inch flavour for pigeon. If your lad is big enough and you don't mind even more expensive shells have a look at a 28 bore.

 

Above all try and select the type of shooting to closer targets if it is possible until a bit of confidence is built up then start pushing it.

 

Hope this helps

 

Brian

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I had a .410 o/u for my lad when he started at the age of 9, lovely little gun but he was really struggling to hit much with it. You could see that he was pretty much right on the clays but they just wouldn't break consistently, sometimes you could even hear the pellets hitting the clay but it would fly on unbroken.

I decided to take the .410 out on a round of 50 sporting, i went around first with my 12g and scored a normal for me 40, i then went around again with the .410 and really struggled scoring 19 :no: .

A few weekends later found us in the gunshop getting some cartridges and my lad picked up a s/h 26 inch barreled Fabarm 12g skeet gun, it fitted ok and the deal was done to part ex the .410. That was about 12 months ago and he now shoots approx 50% of the clays he shoots at, managed a few pigeons last harvest and even had his first duck and pheasant on beaters day this year :good:

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That is a clever piece of advice....

 

in my opinion the single barrel shot guns are pretty useless unless a carry gun for snares etc...

 

Regards,

Gixer

i would disagree with that one i went out this morning with my little single barrel 410 round the barns at work using 2" 9g carts fired 17 shots and ended with 12 small rabbits and 3 pigeon and 2 missed shots,

just got to know your limits for me it is 20 yard max

this is just my opinion

 

colin

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I dont get this .410 for begginers stuff. The only advantage is the lack of recoil. You would be much better to start a begginer off with a light load 20 or 28 bore. Begginers want to be using open chokes and lots of shot to get them hitting targets. They will soon become bored and loose interst if there missing.

 

Cheers

Ben

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Looking to introduce my 7 year old son to the world of shooting this summer and was thinking of something along the lines of a .410 for his first gun.

 

I'm only really familiar with 12g and don't have any .410 experience. Could anybody suggest which type of gun would be best suited to a youngster ie bolt action, folding or even an o/u or even point me in the direction of suitable models?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

oilyrag

 

Just bought one for my Grandsons to learn with ( Both 8 years old ) Breda .410 single barrel folding gun from ....Adam Partridge Gun Auction. Other 410s available ( S.b.s / Over / Unders ) but decided on the single because of weight and safety.

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My 9 yr old uses a 410 at the clays no prob if it's in the middle of pattern and close enough it will break :good:

Ask bakerboy as he will vouch for him.the only reason we are looking for a 28g now is so it will last him a few more years in my eyes if you can make a clean kill with a 410 you can easily kill it with a bigger calibre :yes: So you should use a gun that fits well and they can handle the recoil as that's one less thing to worry about while they are learning :yes: I also personally would add to use a single shot for a beginner as they tend to make more if the shot rather than just blasting away :good:

Edited by mad1
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I dont get this .410 for begginers stuff. The only advantage is the lack of recoil. You would be much better to start a begginer off with a light load 20 or 28 bore. Begginers want to be using open chokes and lots of shot to get them hitting targets. They will soon become bored and loose interst if there missing.

 

Cheers

Ben

 

Because a 28 or 20 bore is to heavy for a 7 and 5 year old to handle. It's not the kick that's the issue but they are never going to be able to hit anything with a gun the cant shoulder and aim properly.

I have the .410 to get them started and and have a 28 for them to move onto when they are big enough.

 

Harry

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Because a 28 or 20 bore is to heavy for a 7 and 5 year old to handle. It's not the kick that's the issue but they are never going to be able to hit anything with a gun the cant shoulder and aim properly.

I have the .410 to get them started and and have a 28 for them to move onto when they are big enough.

 

Harry

A single barrel 20/28 isnt going to be much heavier than a single .410 and you will have a better kill ratio with there being alot more shot.

 

Cheers

Ben

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A single barrel 20/28 isnt going to be much heavier than a single .410 and you will have a better kill ratio with there being alot more shot.

 

Cheers

Ben

 

7119 shotguns on guntrader and 0 single barrel 28's

If you could find one they might not be much heavier but it's enought to make a big difference to a 7 year old.

 

Harry

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I was lent a baikal 410by a mate of mine for my at the time 9 year old son to try, I think it weighed nearly 6 lbs. It was far to heavy for him to hold up and swing. Did some looking around and found him a yildiz single barrel had the stock cut down and it only weighs 3 lbs, took him out on the clays a few times, easy incomers, by the end he was hitting 50% of them. On beaters day I stood with him in front of the main line of guns, he managed a few shots on most drives, hit a few, that where cleared up behind , and got one down. Just wish I could still get the same excitement as he did that day.

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