Getting kids into hunting is tough. They have to get up early, travel far, wait long, and dad’s guns are heavy, long, and poorly fitted. When it comes to shotguns, there’s not really a lot of choice for youth shotguns out there, but the Mossberg 510 Youth is one of them. While this one is in 20 gauge, they also come in 410 and 12 gauge. They’re around $400-600 in Canada, and about 300-500 in the US.
Mossberg 510 Models
Mossberg offers the 510 in a pretty wide range of styles:
- Barrels from 18.5″ to 24″ with chokes, or with fixed chokes
- Capacity from 3-6 rounds (this one holds 4)
- Weight from 5 – 7.25lbs (this one is 5 lbs)
- Mossberg Accu-set Chokes
- Tang safety
- 10.25-11.25″ Length of Pull for the Super Bantam, 12 or 13″ for the Youth models
- 12 gauge, 20 gauge, or 410
- Forearm further back (EZ Reach)
- Stocks in Wood, Synthetic, Synthetic with muddy girl camo pattern, synthetic with Mossy Oak pattern
Youth Features
The Mossberg 510 Bantam is made as a youth’s shotgun. It’s lightweight at only 5 lbs, and offers an incredible 10.25″ or 11.25″ length of pull with a large plastic shim in the stock. The EZ Reach pump extends far back so that youth can reach it and work the action. All in all, it’s a very diminutive shotgun.
510 Mini Super Bantam vs Competition
Is it a cop out to say there isn’t really much for competition? As a cheaper alternative, you could get a single shot 410 or a Turkish single shot 20 gauge I guess. Those are right around $250, but lack any kind of follow up shot and you’d still have to hack the stock to get it to fit a kid. A Stoeger Condor 20 Gauge over/under Youth still wouldn’t have the LOP options of the 510 Bantam, but at least you’ve got a second shot advantage over the single shot options. Still, that Stoeger is 1.5 lbs heavier than the Mossberg option, which might be a make or break for a kid. The Remington 870 youth and V3 compact models are difficult to find since Remington keeps going bankrupt from making poor quality guns that no one buys, but maybe you can find a nice older one.
Issues
I had a few issues crop up on this shotgun:
- The safety bumped off when fired and needed to be tightened down more
- The action was stiff enough that it frequently failed to spit a shell out onto the lifter
- My fingers got in the way of shell ejection sometimes, causing the shell to bounce back into the action. My fault, but still something to watch for since the pump goes so far back.
Conclusion
For practical hunting shotguns that are suitable for youth under 14, there are very few shotguns available. The 510 Bantam has the shortest Length of Pull (LOP) available, the pump is easy to reach, and it’s a very practical package. The one I’ve got could use some smoothing out of the action to be truly usable by a youth.
