How old before shooting 12 gauge?
 

I'm thinking 14 is the youngest I am comfortable with.

What is your opinion?

I'm talking about kids that have never shot a shotgun, and have probably only shot a rifle once or twice under supervision.

That sounds about right.

Probably girls could do it at 12. They're so much more mature than boys at that age.

We've always started the boys on a 12 gauge at 14. The 11-13 year olds could shoot either a 410 or maybe a 20 gauge, depending on how big they were.

can you realistically shoot clays with a .410?

Mike, I (and my brothers as well) started hunting upland game with a 12 gauge at age 12 and I see no reason to deviate from that with my own kids. As a matter of fact, my most successful bird hunting season, even to this day, was when I was 13.

That said, you mentioned kids that have never shot a shotgun and have little or no experience with guns, that could be different. It's hard to say. There was no question I was ready at 12, but then I'd been around guns my entire life.

yes.

have you done it? yahoo answers says it is very difficult to hit clays with a 410 because of the small pattern.

I did it all the time with my .410 when I was a kid. The size of the pattern depends on the choke, of course, but mine was a full choke and I used it for shooting hand launched clays.

As to the thread query, it would depend primarily on how big the kid is, not his age.

I was thinking about buying a $120 Rossi combo .22 / .410 single-shot, so that the boys could use it. I'm not likely to buy a 20 gauge.