Wife's gun

[hawkfanz]

i used lots of 21g no7 in my yildiz 28g,a great little cartidge for decoying,but lots to choose from down to 16g if needed.

[Scully]

23 hours ago, welshwarrior said:

Just hate all the opinions based on ‘experience’ of teaching one or two people to shoot.  

 

The Op is asking for a light walking gun for rabbits and woodcock.  people are suggesting 12s with small loads 21g mostly come in in 7.5 8s not really a rabbit load.  20 bore easy to find 24g 6s 28 bore 16-21g of 6 easy to get can even up load if wanted as well being much better suited to rabbits.

 

 

 

 

I have loads of experience in teaching people to shoot, not just one or two. You know nothing about me. But that aside, let's face it, if the OP's wife is a beginner as we have all assumed, she isn't going to hit anything anyhow unless she is given lots of good tuition and practise prior to walking the hedgerows.  In the adrenalin fuelled rush when that bird clatters out of the hedgerow or that squatted rabbit suddenly makes a dash for the hedgerow, she will struggle to get that safety off and the gun ANYWHERE near her shoulder before either disappears, whether she's using a 28 or a 10. 

Familiarisation and tons and tons of practise on the clays is needed before venturing out. 

In my experience, beginners ( especially young ones ) rapidly lose interest when they repeatedly miss. If you can handle a 12 I'd opt for it everytime; leave the small bores for young beginners on static targets and those who can already shoot. 

The OP has opted for a self loader; even with a soft cycling auto his wife is going to have a LOT to remember while walking that hedgerow. 

 

[islandgun]

On 07/05/2018 at 14:48, islandgun said:

Thanks very much for your replies everyone. Tried her with a few different guns, she said the 12's, a Fabarm euro s/a and Beretta o/u with 26" barrels, were heavy, !  a very light 20g single was nice and a 410 single without butt pad seemed to be the best length fit at 13" although the comb was way too low,  

Her motive to start is for the enhancement/encouragement of a good walk more than the marksmanship, we would be covering a lot of ground, mostly heather moorland. grassland and dunes, hence my thinking for a small/light s/a,  coupled with the low recoil of light loads, We would probably only use a few cartridges,  The Armsan seems to be very practical allowing adjustment via shims etc and two stocks ! and reviews comment on it being well balanced.   I guess the 20g is the sensible choice but feel drawn to the 28g, It is difficult to try a few as we wont be leaving the Island together until late October and I would like to get her started on the clays before the season starts

Cheers IG 

So to reiterate, I want a light walking gun for my wife,  for occasional outings walking moorland and dunes. she will get plenty of clay practice over the summer using our own trap,  I very much doubt she will mind missing, and suspect her motive is more to do with watching over me in case i break a leg down a rabbit hole, than winning a bottle of Bols. We dont have hedges, pigeons or pheasants,  there will be no clay competitions. I will try and post some pictures and report back on the suitability, or not, of a relatively cheap and light S/A

cheers IG

[oldypigeonpopper]

3 hours ago, islandgun said:

So to reiterate, I want a light walking gun for my wife,  for occasional outings walking moorland and dunes. she will get plenty of clay practice over the summer using our own trap,  I very much doubt she will mind missing, and suspect her motive is more to do with watching over me in case i break a leg down a rabbit hole, than winning a bottle of Bols. We dont have hedges, pigeons or pheasants,  there will be no clay competitions. I will try and post some pictures and report back on the suitability, or not, of a relatively cheap and light S/A

cheers IG

hello, worth putting a shoulder strap on to so the less need to carry under arm, good luck to you both 

[Dave at kelton]

I use a light Ou 28g on game with 21 or at most 24 gm loads. The recoil is not at all noticeable and would expect less in a semi auto. I use 7 on patridge and 6 on pheasant. My preference is eley vip but have also used others and never had a problem. I know you can use heavier loads but see no point or you defeat the object of a small bore in  my view. I am sure you, sorry I mean your wife, will enjoy using this.

[Scully]

5 hours ago, islandgun said:

So to reiterate, I want a light walking gun for my wife,  for occasional outings walking moorland and dunes. she will get plenty of clay practice over the summer using our own trap,  I very much doubt she will mind missing, and suspect her motive is more to do with watching over me in case i break a leg down a rabbit hole, than winning a bottle of Bols. We dont have hedges, pigeons or pheasants,  there will be no clay competitions. I will try and post some pictures and report back on the suitability, or not, of a relatively cheap and light S/A

cheers IG

No offence intended. Like I said; have fun. 

[islandgun]

1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, worth putting a shoulder strap on to so the less need to carry under arm, good luck to you both 

yes mate good point, I was going to get a quick release one, so that she could take it off when we got to the more productive areas 

30 minutes ago, Dave at kelton said:

I use a light Ou 28g on game with 21 or at most 24 gm loads. The recoil is not at all noticeable and would expect less in a semi auto. I use 7 on patridge and 6 on pheasant. My preference is eley vip but have also used others and never had a problem. I know you can use heavier loads but see no point or you defeat the object of a small bore in  my view. I am sure you, sorry I mean your wife, will enjoy using this.

exactly re loads,  If she feels under gunned she can borrow one of my 12's...

22 minutes ago, Scully said:

No offence intended. Like I said; have fun. 

No problem..... Im sure we will

[ChrisPCarter]

I can certainly recommend the new Browning 525 Liberty Light which is designed for ladies and smaller people. It's a 28 or 30" 12 gauge O/U with alloy action and short monte carlo stock with the toe rounded off.

My wife (who is 4' 9 and a size 6) and a couple of her friends tried one at the Shooting Show last weekend and they all absolutely loved it. They are all new to shooting and haven't found a gun they really get on with until this one. Browning would be onto a winner if it weren't for the price of £2400! Blaser and Caeser Guerini also now do similar guns but the pricing seems to be way too high on them all. I guess it's a captive market with few other options.

https://browning.eu/mediacenter/products/mresult.php?group1=1&group2=1&group3=107&submod=A-525LIBERTYLIGHT

[button]

2 hours ago, ChrisPCarter said:

I can certainly recommend the new Browning 525 Liberty Light which is designed for ladies and smaller people. It's a 28 or 30" 12 gauge O/U with alloy action and short monte carlo stock with the toe rounded off.

My wife (who is 4' 9 and a size 6) and a couple of her friends tried one at the Shooting Show last weekend and they all absolutely loved it. They are all new to shooting and haven't found a gun they really get on with until this one. Browning would be onto a winner if it weren't for the price of £2400! Blaser and Caeser Guerini also now do similar guns but the pricing seems to be way too high on them all. I guess it's a captive market with few other options.

https://browning.eu/mediacenter/products/mresult.php?group1=1&group2=1&group3=107&submod=A-525LIBERTYLIGHT

These look rather nice

https://www.guntrader.uk/mobile/gunDetail.php?NewGunID=171031191401006&skipNo=0&perPage=15&Filter[NewType][Shotgun]=1&Filter[NewMechanism][Over+and+Under]=1&Filter[Calibre][20+gauge]=1&Filter[Make][Sauer%2C+J.+P.]=1&Filter[Model][ARTIMES]=1&sortField=poa&sortOrder=asc

[buze]

Actually guerini were on the market before browning -- my wife shoot her Syren for 18 months or so. Fabarm has just released one as well, and it's more of a 'low end' syren, at a much lower price point...

 

[figgy]

In fact there have been ladies and girls guns for years before C&G or the current crop of ladies guns. Cynergy Acid Pink and Some bright Yellow version then Hatsan just for girls pink camo auto in a 20g to name a few.