Newbie with lots of questions

[JTaylor91]

27 minutes ago, girlwithagun said:

Hahaha great advice. I have a 3 gun safe that’s ready and waiting to be fitted. On the topic of safe fitting, I live in a terraced house and the optimum place for me to fit the safe would be against the wall of the adjoining wall. Would that be okay? 

If it’s a solid wall it will be fine. 

[girlwithagun]

20 minutes ago, JTaylor91 said:

If it’s a solid wall it will be fine. 

Oh it’s solid alright. And it’ll be drilled into the steel in the ground too! 

[JTaylor91]

5 minutes ago, girlwithagun said:

Oh it’s solid alright. And it’ll be drilled into the steel in the ground too! 

You’ll be fine. Mine isn’t even bolted to the floor and is above the skirting.

[Scully]

I don’t know if you’ve already tried a 12 bore and found them not to your liking, but if not don’t dismiss the possibility of a 12 bore. Cartridges are much cheaper if you’re going to shoot a lot of trap, and there are lightweight models with good recoil absorbing pads/butts nowadays, and also very effective but low recoil 12 bore cartridges. 

[Zetter]

12 hours ago, Scully said:

I don’t know if you’ve already tried a 12 bore and found them not to your liking, but if not don’t dismiss the possibility of a 12 bore. Cartridges are much cheaper if you’re going to shoot a lot of trap, and there are lightweight models with good recoil absorbing pads/butts nowadays, and also very effective but low recoil 12 bore cartridges. 

I am going to back what Scully says here. Dont dismiss the 12 bore if you can find one that fits and there are quite a few that are the same weight as some of the cheaper 20 bores.

My Daughter started out with a 28 bore (thats an expensive few rounds of clays I can tell you!)  but as she got towards 18 she moved to a 12 and she is not heavily built at all. She was concerned about recoil but she tried several guns with 21 gram cartridges and the felt recoil was less than some 20 bores she was using. 

The bonus for this is depending on your circumstances cartridges are a hell of a lot cheaper especially when rattling through them on a clay ground.

[ehb102]

All good advice about the 12G. Trouble is decently light barrelled 12G tend to be expensive. Later Browning 525s, DT10s, Beretta 682 Gold Es are all nice when you have a short stock. Got that tip from Hamster, who always had great technical advice on this kind of thing. 

[Rob85]

In my experience having a heavier 12bore with a light cartridge is less snappy than a lightweight 20bore, but then that experience was a pretty heavy browning skeet gun and a 21gram load, not so easy to heave around all day.

You could always go down the traditional route for your first gun and buy a Baikal, owning a Baikal is a rite of passage for all shotgun owners 😉

[Walker570]

Very little I can add to what has already been advised, other than to go with the one that feels RIGHT when you pick it up, dose it feel light  which will usually indicate it is nicely balanced for you.  I'm over 6ft and a bit over the weight |I should be so a gun which feels right for me might not for you.  I have been shooting shotguns for 70years, all sorts for all reasons but still know straight away before I mount a shotgun if it is going to work for me, but that experience has come over those 70years.

My input on gauge would be  to go for a 20 gauge initially and don't spend all of your £1000 in one go.  I shoot a Yildiz 410 almost exclusively for driven game and it has served me well for the last four seasons. I would look at the 20 gauge model and try one out. New they retail around the £600 mark. Then after a year or two you can look for that second gun in 12 gauge for specific use, skeet, trap, sporting whichever you enjoy most and by then you will have more of a feel for what you need.

Price of shells is irrelevant considering the price of a pint in a London pub.

Finally, welcome aboard.  I am pleased to see another lady coming into the sport.  In the last few years I have seen more and more ladies enjoying a days driven shooting and they add to our days out without a doubt and they are all very good shots.

Have fun.

PS  From reports I have had would avoid KOFS.

[JTaylor91]

My other half is only small, when she shot she used a kofs 12G. She never had any issue with recoil it was the weight of most guns that was the issue for her. Her kofs is very light. Out of interest are you shooting left or right handed? My other half is right handed but shot left handed due to being left eye dominant, apparently most women are left eye dominant.

[udderlyoffroad]

Glad you're giving the Chelsea bun club a go - got my ex into clays and she found them really helpful.

On the 12 v 20 bore question:  I often wonder about this 'strength in the fore arms'  - It's only when you begin your clays career that you hold the gun mounted for long periods of time.  If you're shouldering a gun to try it, and keep perfectly still,  and feel your forearms begin to ache, remember that isn't how you shoot  (not a shotgun anyway).

As others have said, there's a fine balance between mass reducing felt recoil and a gun being on the heavy side.

My advice would be, go to a gun shop with an attached clay ground.  They'll let you try a few secondhand models.  Before that though, shoulder as many as you can within your budget; whichever one feels 'right', ask to take outside to try.   Note that normally they don't let you shoot the new guns, only s/h.  That shouldn't be a problem if you're set on new though, as with some research you should be able to find a s/h model of any particular gun to try.  Put your postcode into guntrader's dealer search and look at the stock of your local(ish) dealers.

If it all possible, stick to 12 bore.  I've introduced 3 ladies to clays - all have started on 12 without issue and their build varied between 5' 10" and 5' 3".  There's so much more choice on the secondhand market, and yes the shells are cheaper.

[girlwithagun]

Thanks everyone for such great advice and for being so welcoming. 

I've tried a few 12 bores but haven't found one that I've enjoyed shooting with more than a 20 but I'll definitely try some more before I make my decision. 

In any case, that decision won't need to be made for quite a long time as the Met still aren't accepting new SGC applications and when I popped into my local police station yesterday to ask if they would accept physical applications, the officer behind the desk didn't know you need an SGC to purchase a gun in the UK! Not the best sign! 

[bottletopbill]

Can you not post it to  Met police SCO19   Firearms unit Floor 21, Empress  State Building, Empress Approach, Lillie Road, London, SW16  1TR. , ;  PLEASE PUT IN YOR CHEQUE  MADE OUT FOR THE MAYOR sorry it will tell you how to word the cheque  and the fee all the best