Buckarette shotgun - advice please

[W.J. Cogg]

Good morning,
Just to touch base, the wife and I are new to the CAS world, and are gearing up. All the firearms are in, leather almost all in. My 12 yr old daughter Kennedy went to watch a match and now she is all bitten by the bug.
Kennedy isn't a new shooter, she's been shooting since age 8.  She is a very good shooter with AR, her Glock 34, her lever action .357, .22 you name it.   A great guy at our range let her shoot his .45 Uberti '73 and she was very accurate.
She has her pistols now in .38
I am worried about the shotgun portion.  Our 97 and SxS have too long of LOP for Kennedy, and I worry about recoil (12 gauge).
I don't mean to sound cheap in the least, just more bang for the buck with 3 of us starting out at the same time.
I hate to spend money on a 20 gauge, cut the stock for her LOP, then have to replace that stock she grows.
In a year and a half she has to shoot 20 gauge or bigger anyway. and she is dead set on going to at least regional matches next year.
Single barrel .410? I've only shot 12 gauge so I'm not sure of recoil.
advice please?

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

.410's are neat at any age. The recoil is quite reasonable.  Doubles are available, but the price is in the same range as a 20 or 12($450 or so where I live?).  If you can find .444 Marlin cases, they can be loaded up as .410 very easily.  By fireforming, .303Brit or .30-40krag can be made to work.

If money is your limiting factor get the gun she wants to have down the road and reload light and get a short stock for now. keep the sawd off bits to add on later and disguise the glue line with a leather stock-boot. 

I HATE the concept of sawing off barrels on perfectly useful shotguns!  keep it as-issued and be able to use it hunting or clay shooting as well. 

[rickk]

If you consider loading for shotgun yourself, you can turn a 12 gauge into a mouse gun and save $money$ in the process.

As time goes on and she gets bigger, you can up the loads a bit.

Same savings in dollars and pain goes for yours and your wife's shotgun of course. That would be one of the major advantages if you are all shooting the same gauge.

Rick

[1961MJS]

Hi, I teach 4H shotgun.  We don't use .410s because they have so few pellets.  It is VERY difficult to shoot skeet with a .410. 

Just my $0.02

[Coffinmaker]

Unless you reload, DO NOT even consider a 20Ga.  Target shooters and upland bird hunters have asked the ammo makers to match 12Ga performance in the 20.  The  ammo makers have complied and 20Ga  target and field loads in a 20 are brutal.
The "average" 12 year old can deal quite well with light loaded 12Ga as long as the gun fits.  The one gun you all CANNOT share is the shotgun.  An ill fitting shotgun, regardless of load level will beat you black and blue.
My personal recommendation would be a '97, cut to fit, recoil pad, Winchester Feather Lite ammo
Should you wind up with a 20, search for or special order Fiocci (spell) "Trainer" ammo

Coffinmaker