kid gun need advise

[razorbritches]

I recently received an offer to build a gun for a eight year old boy, he is big for his age and already handling a pump gun on ducks. His dad wants to build him a smoke pole and I like to help kids who are interested. Only problem is I don't know nutting about hunting ducks. The dad wants it to be a smoothbore in .54 cause he already has a mold for that caliber and about a 36" long barrel. From what I am led to understand the young man is showing real ability as a wing shooter and I want to provide a gun that will shoot as well as he can.

My questions are as follows

1 is .54 sufficent for duck
2 will 36" be long enough to perform the task
3 will jug chokeing be needful

any other advise will be appriciated

 

[Ranger1759]

both the barrel and caliber seem small to me for the intended purpose......54 is basically a 28g shotgun....and a 36" barrel seems short for duck....upland birds maybe, but ducks with that small a caliber...is going to lack the reach....I would suggest at minimum a .58 or .62 with a 40+ barrel and jug chocked....

 

[Rifleman1776]

Dad might have ideas other than ducks.
But, for a waterfowler, bottom line is: No.
Try to talk Dad into letting you build a 12 ga. something.

 

[BrownBear]

Watch the muzzle weight along with the LOP. In my experience with kids, muzzle weight is the big dividing line. They can't deal with much at all. "Zero" muzzle weight would make the gun a lot more friendly to them.

As for "ducks," that's a big topic. Decoyed inside 20 yards, a lot of calibers/gauges will work. But you don't have to move far past 20 to thin a pattern.

My instinct would be to go for a 20 gauge, jug choked, length of barrel determined entirely by barrel wall thickness. If it's a heavy barrel, you're going to have to keep it short. Thin barrel can go longer. I'd have no qualms about barrels as short as 32", even 28" or 26" for a kid. It would be okay fine for ducks inside that 20 yard line, but useful for a whole lot of upland hunting too. I wouldn't think of sending a kid into the uplands with a long barrel.

Bottom line, you want the kid to be happy and successful, rather than feeling like the gun is just too much.

 

[biliff]

False economy. Dad is trying to save $20 on a RB mold and in the process is compromising the primary purpose of a custom made duck gun.

There are other components to consider. Duck hunting requires non-toxic shot, which in turn requires wads that protect the bore. Going with an "off" size bore is going to make getting the wads problematic. Yeah, you can try and find some of the "soft" non-toxic stuff, but Dad is likely to gag at the cost.

Duck hunting can be a close range game when hunting over decoys with somebody that know's what they're doing. Even at that you're likely to be wanting something that shoots more than 20yds. Choking is a good idea.

If the kid is doing well with a modern gun, then take a look at what he's already shooting and try to get the same general dimensions,particularly stock fit and balance. Frankly, having a custom gun built for a fast growing 8 year old is going to be frustrating. Just like a new pair of shoes, he's going to grow out of them fast.

Quite frankly, you need to go back to Dad and have a sit down to find out what he really wants.

 

[razorbritches]

Yea that's about what I expected 20 gauge or better and 40+ inches. I really need to meet them in person and watch him shoulder a few different things and like you fellows suggested look at what he is shooting now. I really like working with kids but that first experience is important everything needs to be right.