Just picked up one of those. Decent shooting gun. Can't go wrong with an 870 either.

That’s gotta be a scam site. They haven’t made those guns in several years and they’re $1100+.

Thank you. I should have known.

@ALASKANFIRE

It doesn't do any good if you don't edit your post as well.

done

Anything other than 12ga is hard on the wallet. 12ga trap loads in my opinion are super light recoil. In my opinion it's insane to buy anything other than 12ga for trap.

Look into a used .20 ga Citori.

OP, the first thing you need to do is go through this thread, and disregard any of the advice from anyone who didn’t include their experience shooting the gun they recommended in a youth trap league. That’s almost all of them. You didn’t ask about a “good” shotgun. Or a “reliable” shotgun. Or a “cool” shotgun. You asked about a trap shotgun for a youth. That is a very niche gun for a niche task.

My two boys both shoot trap. Oldest will be in his 6th season this spring. Started with my stock field 870. Did “okay” but not great. I got him and his brother both Winchester SXP Trap Compact shotguns after the second year. Scores immediately went up dramatically - oldest has shot several 25s. Youngest is almost there.  Both shot at nationals last year. There are specific things (stock angle, higher vent rib, etc) that make a shotgun a “trap” shotgun. A really nice bird gun can (and probably will) be a lousy trap gun. The SXPs are very nice and my boys do very well with them, but they are the absolute bottom tier I would recommend.

You could almost buy 2 of the SXP Trap guns on your budget. (Our could at one time, at the price I paid for mine)

Go to the trap club where your nephew shoots, or talk to his coach. He’ll tell you exactly what guns are recommended, and which to stay away from.

The BT99 is a pretty well-regarded starter gun around here, but again - talk to someone at the league where he will be shooting.

Stay away from 20 gauge. 12 gauge trap loads are light. My 120lb son has no problem shooting 50 straight, and has had a few days where he’s done that a few times. Our league doesn’t even allow anything other than 12, now. 16 gauge is a joke. Good all-around load, but expense and lack of availability make it impractical.

Of course, if your nephew isn’t shooting in a league but is instead just busting clays in his backyard, then any old 870 will do.

If you intend to start a 125lb kid with a 12 gauge pump at the very least search out some low recoil shells.

Personally I load 1oz at 1200 fps for my OU.  Recoil flinch or simply quitting all together is a real possibility if you stuff that gun with 1 1/8 handicaps.

Used BT99 or 3200.

Excellent. Thanks for taking the time to post sir.

I shoot about 10K targets a year.  Almost none of them are Trap.  

So, I'll just step away from this one.

Pump is silly. If he decides he likes other clay disciplines it will put him behind the curve. Go get him a Stoeger Condor over/under for $500 and shoot the shit out of it. I shot one for years before buying a Citori. My scores didn't go up with the Citori either. Trap/skeet/sporting clays is 99.9% the indian and the arrow is nearly insignificant as long as it fits him properly. In fact...last time I went to that sportsmans club I still held the Junior class record with a 24.3 average for our league in my last season of shooting almost 20 years ago.

Again I'll reiterate...I put over 40k rnds (at a rate of approx 250rnds/week) through a $350 (at the time) Stoeger Condor over 6 years. I wore out a few parts on my Mec 650 before I wore that shotgun out. Was it the best shotgun in the world?  No. But it was perfectly functional and suitable for playing clay games. The safety finally failed after all of those rounds (detent wore out) and it was an inexpensive repair to get it shooting again. Let him shoot a cheap O/U for the first year and see if he sticks with it. Make something like a Citori the reward for improving and dedicating time and patience to practicing.

Get him a real trap gun don't fuck with field guns.

SXP Trap youth .
https://www.academy.com/p/winchester-sxp-trap-compact-12-gauge-pump-action-shotgun-115136637
Will be cheap (as trap guns go ) and will actually fit him .

And depending how things go
You'll be able to sell it easily , or get a full sized stock for it as he grows

what makes a trap shotty a trap gun?

Any shotgun that fits you reasonably well and you can hit clays with it. I've watched some "not so financially well off" guys with single shot H&R break-action shotguns with electrical tape wrapped around the forend to hold it on consistently shoot a 23-ish average for the season. At the stage he's at right now a $450 O/U and $550 in extra ammo will make him a far better shooter than a $1000 shotgun. Or better yet...a lesson or two. There's some technique that can make you a much better trap shooter when applied.

Typically high rib with a long barrel.

Idk you, but I like you

Great post

And not parallel like a sporting clays gun would be.

That was good advice OP. There is a reason trap shotguns have high combs and ribs. Skip right over field guns and anything but 12GA. You can buy light or low recoil rounds which are perfectly fine for singles. Most people shoot light loads for singles anyways even as grown adult men. I've done ATA shoots that were 500 singles in the same day. Theres no reason to beat yourself up with handicap or heavy loads until you get further back.

American trap is always a rising target which is why the shotguns are setup the way they are. Field guns or other clay sports have more neutral or even falling targets. A trap shotgun will shoot something like 70/30 up to 100/0 of the shot above the line of sight. Shooting trap with a neutral gun means you always have to cover the target with the barrel which is not a good thing. You want to be able to see the target above the beads for a repeatable sight picture.

When you go out to shoot something like singles and then handicap you also have to think about fatigue. An unsingle with a high rib is a lot more comfortable to shoot hundreds of rounds a day than a field gun will ever be.

A used BT-99 would be a great trap gun for many many years and was my first real trap gun when I started shooting as a teenager. I shot with a Briley modified extended choke.

If you guys ever do shoot trap with a semi-auto make sure to use a shell catcher. Its just a little clip on plastic piece that keeps the shell from ejecting completely out of the gun. Its really annoying to the person about to shoot to have the empties bouncing at their feet just as they're about to shoot. People will bitch if you shoot competitions and mess up their flow.

As long as the gun is setup for trap most of a persons success comes down to fundamentals, focus, and finding what works for them. There are people with $20k shotguns that struggle to shoot a 95% average and theres people with $1k used guns that shoot 98/99%. Trap is competitive but also meant to be fun and a social event. A lot of retired dudes with money like to shoot because it keeps them active in something and they have the money to spend on something like a Perazzi and a motor home to travel the shoots. They have fun and get to hang out with the guys.

Is your nephew already shooting trap or is it something new he wants to try?
Will it be a once a month thing or a school team / league thing?

I started shooting trap with a used Rem 870 TB in 1991.  Every weekend and various regional tournaments
I had bought that gun earlier in life to hunt doves and pheasants for $150 in a hardware store.

It worked ok for 16 yd targets but was not ideal for doubles.
I "upgraded" to a used Beretta 303 trap model a few yrs later.
I shot that for a few yrs but it seemed rather clunky and slow for dbls so I found a used Win 101 Diamond grade trap combo.
I eventually reached AA-27-AA with that gun.
In 2000, I treated myself to a Beretta 382 Trap Combo.
In 2010, I treated myself to a K80 Trap Combo.
I have 44 State Champion Titles and various past regional titles.

As you can see, once dedicated, you tend to go down a very expensive rabbit hole.
It all depends how excited or dedicated he will be.

If he is truly dedicated I would suggest a used rem 870, 1100 or Beretta 300 series.  Trap models preferred.
He would at least be able to keep these for many years to come.
If he is good and sticks with it, it will be a good incentive for "better" guns.

If he's just going to shoot a couple times a year, buy him anything that goes boom. Or better yet, borrow one.

That's nice dear.

So you got a diamond in the rough.  This will be my seventh year coaching with one of the largest high school teams in the state. The problem rate of the cheap O/U guns has been much higher than an other.  I would rather see a kid roll in with grandpa's Model 12 than a new cheap O/U.

Just sharing my personal observations.

20g O/U for a new shooter.  If he has some experience a 12g O/U.

I have done the same thing with a Stoeger Condor supreme.   The only issue I realty had was every 1000 rounds the gun had to be cleaned really good.

This times 100.  The A300 Ultima is in that price range and will make a much better, softer shooting competition gun. Comes with the kick-off system, larger action release.  I believe the stock is adjustable.

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One on GB

This is the correct answer to your post.

Don't use a field gun for clay sports.  You're handicapping your son if you do.

We see a lot of TriStar TT-15 at our local range that caters to high school shooting teams.
TriStar TT-15 Trap guns

Not going to comment on the best,that's subjective.As a high school trap coach, and having 2 boys in the sport for over 8 years now,I know what's the worst,Mossberg bantam.This single shotgun has caused more kids to give up on shotguns then all other.You want to talk about recoil? Fukin ouch.The next is these cheap hammer fired single barrel non vent rib guns.Dont do this to your kids.

I don't like trap but love skeet.  My experience with trap shooting is to recommend that you get one that fits and has a rib that will do for trap.  With my skeet gun, sometimes I cannot see the clay because the barrel is obstructing.

I agree with skipping Turkish OUs.  Bought one a my first skeet gun and it didn't last one full year.  Ended up with a Browning Citori which has been going strong for 20 years.  Buy once, cry once, but I was too happy with the Citori to cry.

Most of the serious trap shooters where I shoot Skeet are using Krieghoffs. Check the prices on those.

I still have and use the 12 gauge 870 I bought when I was about that age and size to shoot trap with. It was the first substantial thing I bought with my own money.

Truth is trap shooting was a phase for at that age. Still the 870 has been a good, dependable, multi-use shotgun for decades.

In hind sight the bog standard 870 in 12 gauge was probably a little to much gun for me at age 12. It's part of the reason I didn't peruse it.

I recently got back into clays shooting and quickly found the 870 to be limiting. Shooting doubles with a pump sucks. Plus my length of pull is a lot different than it was when I was in junior high. I bought a used Beretta 686.

Depending on his interest, I would look at a CZ O/U in 20 gauge. Yes, there are better guns out there. If he is serious about it he will probably outgrow it before he wears it out. If he is not serious he will have a nice gun for upland game.

If he's already serious, then he needs to be involved in the decision.

Field gun shoots point of aim
Trap gun shoots high

Trap targets are rising, with a field gun most times you have to cover the target and that makes things a bit more difficult and less precise

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Thanks a lot, assholes

Bought a new Tristar combo set at Gamaliel today