I'm taking a 10 yr old out hunting and all he has is a single shot 20ga. He has little to no experience hunting or shooting but I'm trying to give him his best chance at taking ducks. What would be the best shot size and shell to give him to shoot? What would be his range for good quality shots? I shoot 12ga. and cheap shell's but I know my limitations. If spending more to get really good 20ga shell's will give him a better edge it would be worth it. His gun is a fixed choke and I'm not sure what it is.

#4s will get em, I've killed lots of ducks with a 20 gauge over the years

I saw a kid make a 50 + yard shot on a mallard a couple weeks ago with 20 ga #2 heavy metal. I doubt he would have knocked that bird down with regular steel.

2 3/4 #3's or 4's

3" #4

3" will kick hard if the gun is light weight, so make sure he shoulders it good and wears a coat! On the other hand it's probably a full choke and will stroke out to 40yrds.

2 3/4 nr 4

This but they are hard to find on the shelves.

You need to find out with choke is in the gun

#4 shot is good allround, short shots, and also long shots, kent I use, I shoot the same shell all the time.

Really I good quality shell is a starting point, but throwing money at more shell will not help. The key to dropping the bird is not the shell, but putting the pattern on the bird. Yes good quality shell is important, but the best shell in the world will not help if the little guy does not have the proper training to put the pattern on the bird. This training is best at the shooting range, and with a pro. If you have been trained yourself by a pro, then maybe do yourself, but really a pro is the best, they can pinpoint issue and correct much better.

It is really sad when little guys are taken duck hunting, never had proper training to have success, have ducks in their face and whiff on everything. I told my son any time he wants to take a friend hunting, that is fine, but lets do some training with them at the shooting range first.

3" #4s or 6s

Pattern the gun so he knows what it's doing at what range. The ducks will die

Good luck, and have fun

I think I'm going to get him to do 4H shooting during this off season. I've told his dad that a couple of lessons with a trainer would put him on the right path for the rest of his hunting life. I dont think a trip to the range is going to happen before we go out. What is the range that I should hold him to? Im not going to encourage him to take crossing shots. If possible I want ducks setting at 20yrds.

I shot a 20 this past weekend loaded with Winchester X expert # 4 in 2 3/4. It was fine out to 25 - 30 yards

I shot a 20 this past weekend loaded with Winchester X expert # 4 in 2 3/4. It was fine out to 25 - 30 yards

All my gf shoots is a Mossberg 500 20ga. I give her Winchester experts #4s and it gets the job done just fine. If hes new to bird hunting at all, I think it would be best to go with the cheaper shells just because he'll probably be doing a lot of misses if he's like most of us when we were first starting. Let the birds finish and those experts will do just fine. Idc if your shooting a bunch of #4 rocks, at 1500fps any trama to the head will be deadly. Especially if you make him wait until the birds are at 20yds feet down, back pedaling. At 20 yds, backpedaling its pretty much point and shoot. It takes all the guess work out of it.

Spend a little more money- don't buy the crap- heavy metal 3-4s great shell in 20ga

I prefer the 3 1/2 1.5 oz #3 on first shot followed by BC 1 5/8 #2 on second.

Shoot their beaks off!!! W Mod

# 4 at around 40 yards. The gun is probably full chock. 4H will be a good program also.

I bought some Rio 3" #4 and some 2 3/4" #3, both pattern well and are about $10 a box + shipping.