What youth 12ga to go with?

59nolimit · Sep 28, 2016

My 12yr old daughter really enjoyed her first pheasant hunt last year which got her out shooting doves here a couple weeks ago. She has a 1187 20ga she does pretty good with but I would like to see her using a 12ga. She likes my 930 except for the fit but I don't think with the recoil spring in the stock I can get it short enough. I really like my M2 but I can't justify spending $1k+ on a gun for her but have considered it. Being lightweight would be nice for her. Although a gas gun recoils less they are heavier. She has a good stance and handles the recoil well and I would like to get her a quality gun she can shoot for a long time and just add a longer stock as she grows. Eventually I would like to see her 3gunning with us but a good hunting gun is the main focus. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

jtischauser · Sep 28, 2016

The Franchi affinity is lighter then an M2, costs half as much, can be setup for 3-gun just like an M2/M3000, and can be had with a youth stock.

59nolimit · Sep 29, 2016

The affinity was defiantly on my list of possibilities. I have never seen one in person tho. So do they shoot similar to a M2 as far as recoil I would assume? I will defiantly look at those harder. Thanks Jesse

jtischauser · Sep 30, 2016

59nolimit said:
The affinity was defiantly on my list of possibilities. I have never seen one in person tho. So do they shoot similar to a M2 as far as recoil I would assume? I will defiantly look at those harder. Thanks Jesse

Recoil is a little harsher then the M2. It's comparable to the M3000 or M1 because the M2 has that flexible stock. I don't notice it while shooting on the clock but you can tell when shooting them a few rounds at a time side-by-side in practice.

jtischauser · Sep 30, 2016

Dang I just got really excited because I thought the youth stock gun could be had with a lighter, shorter 24" barrel. Unfortunately that's only on the 20 gauge.

http://www.franchiusa.com/affinity-compact-shotgun

jtischauser · Sep 30, 2016

Here is the cheapest 26" affinity I've found at $665 shipped.

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/587117195

Midwest gun works has the youth stock for $112.50

http://www.midwestgunworks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=&Product_Code=51113&Category_Code=franchi-stocks-forends

JoeF · Sep 30, 2016

My brother had his Affinity shipped straight to MOA Precision, the man does really nice work. One suggestion though to anyone else sending him an Affinity,order all of your work separately,things like the mag tube polishing and set screw trigger job either aren't needed or aren't feasible.

59nolimit · Oct 22, 2016

Thanks for the replies. I got busy and sidetracked but wanted to get her a new gun before pheasant season. I ended up going with the Affinity. I handled a couple along side the M3000 and a couple others and I liked how if mounted and the weight seemed well balanced. I got a lightly used one for $500 and going to order a youth stock for it. I was leaning towards a m3000 but it was heavier out front. I hope she likes it. Thanks for the info and help deciding Jesse.

jtischauser · Oct 23, 2016

59nolimit said:
Thanks for the replies. I got busy and sidetracked but wanted to get her a new gun before pheasant season. I ended up going with the Affinity. I handled a couple along side the M3000 and a couple others and I liked how if mounted and the weight seemed well balanced. I got a lightly used one for $500 and going to order a youth stock for it. I was leaning towards a m3000 but it was heavier out front. I hope she likes it. Thanks for the info and help deciding Jesse.

Nice! Keep us posted on how it turns out please.

59nolimit · Nov 4, 2016

Ok I am a little excited to be able to give a partial update already. As I said on FB Franchi has youth stocks but they won't sell them because they didn't get hardware kits and it could be forever until they do. Nobody have them in inventory of the 12 places I checked. Anyway a friend replaced his m3000 stock with a youth and had the idea I should try the fit and see what the chances were. Well I'll be damned!!!!! With the slightest bit of modification to the alignment pin holes in the stock a m3000 stock fits almoat perfect. It will only be able to use the 2 bottom alignment pins but the top one wouldn't be functional as it falls into a cavity in the stock. Also the center hole is a little larger on the m3000 so I will need to do something there to make it fit tighter because otherwise it will not be solid at the top. I think this will work and the m3000 youth stocks are avaiable and for 1/2 the price. I am now curious and going to try my M2 stock tomorrow and then order a youth m3000 stock from whoever can get it to me the fastest. I want to get her trying it out before next weekend when the pheasant hunt begins here.