Youth Target Guns
Not only do young clay target shooters represent the future of the sport, but they are an important market right now.
By Phil Bourjaily
The market for youth target guns keeps growing—and changing. Not only do young clay target shooters represent the future of the sport, but they are an important market right now. The Scholastic Clay Target Program comprises over 950 school-based and club teams and 19,000 athletes ranging from fourth graders through college students, according to SCTP. In addition, 4H Shooting Sports coordinator Scott Stuhr estimates that 30,000 to 35,000 4H members participate in shotgun sports. With kids aging out and being replaced by a larger number of young shooters every year, there’s a constant demand for target guns, ammunition, and accessories.
Although trap remains the most popular discipline, scholastic competition now comprises single, handicap and double trap, skeet, double skeet, sporting clays and 5-stand as well as international trap and skeet. As the market has grown, so has demand for target guns, even some higher-end guns.
“We really noticed our business among young shooters ramping up about three years ago,” says Caesar Guerini’s Wes Lang. Interest in Caesar Guerini and Fabarm guns is so high the company maintains a permanent building in the vendor’s row at Cardinal Shooting Centers in Ohio, home of the SCTP Nationals. “It’s an important market for us,” says Lang. “We have gunsmith trailers at major shoots to maintain our guns, and we give good customer service to win brand loyalty. It’s a great opportunity for us to make customers for life.”
That can be true for you, too. Not only do you want those young shooters coming back to your store for ammunition, accessories, and possibly their next gun, you also want to make long-term customers out of them—and out of their parents.
Selling to the Youth Market
Several things make the selling to the youth target market different. Consider these ten points.
- Athletes often come from non-shooting and non-hunting families. It’s up to you to be the expert and help them find the right gun. You’ll have to know which disciplines the local clubs compete in and be able to educate buyers about the right target gun for them.
- Shooters unfamiliar with target sports will want a short, light gun because it feels good when they pick it up. Be able to explain how a longer, heavier gun swings more smoothly, points steadily, and absorbs recoil better than a light gun.
- Athletes participate at all levels. Some may shoot 500 to 600 shells a week at several disciplines; these shooters will need a durable, versatile gun that can shoot all the clay target disciplines. Others may only shoot 100 shells a week at a single discipline, most often 16-yard trap. Take that into account as you help them with a gun. The gun that holds up to moderate amounts of shooting may work perfectly for a more casual participant on a budget, but not serve the serious shooter well.
- Parents don’t want to buy a lot of guns. They will pay sometimes surprising amounts for one versatile gun that can do everything. “We don’t make a specific Caesar Guerini or Fabarm youth model, because most kids don’t start with one of our guns,” says Lang. “Typically, our guns are second guns. We succeeded not by making youth versions of our guns, but by making guns that meet the needs of these serious athletes who are mostly adult-sized by high school.”
- In general, it’s easier to shoot trap with a gun designed for skeet and sporting clays than it is to shoot skeet and sporting clays with a trap gun. A trap gun set up to shoot high makes it tough to hit falling targets, but it’s possible to shoot trap reasonably well with a flatter-shooting sporting clays gun.
- Used guns can be a win-win: your customer gets a bargain, and you make a bigger margin than you would on a new gun. But there is a catch; people unfamiliar with guns are more comfortable buying new. It’s up to you to explain that used guns aren’t damaged goods and that you stand behind any gun you sell, new or used.
- Some parents want to buy their son or daughter a versatile gun for hunting and target shooting. Put them in a gas-operated semi-auto hunting gun that will work for targets and will also make a good hunting gun. Over/unders light enough to work as field guns will kick too much to make good target guns and be harder to break clays with.
- Athletes can begin shooting SCTP in fourth grade, though joining in six or seventh grade is more common. For those very young, smaller shooters, fit and comfort is more important than a dedicated target gun. A “compact” model gas semi-auto may suit them best.
- Clint Hartsock of Fin and Feather in Iowa City, Iowa, says he has found cheap O/Us aren’t worth carrying. “They don’t hold up well, even over 100 targets a week,” he says. “When I sell a gun I don’t want it to come back.” He steers shooters on a budget to a reliable semi-auto if he can, though many want O/Us because that’s what they see people shooting at clays.
- Carry accessories. Shooting glasses, some form of vest or pouch, and shell catchers for semi-autos used in singles trap are all required. Hearing protection is required, too, though mostly athletes prefer earplugs and won’t wear muff-style protectors because they knock against their gunstocks. And, there is no shooting without 12- and 20-gauge target ammunition.
New shooters will be better served with a longer, heavier gun that swings more smoothly, points more steadily, and absorbs recoil far better than a light gun.
There is no shooting without 12- and 20-gauge target ammunition. Keep ample quantities in stock.
As the market has grown, so has demand for target guns, even some higher-end guns.
Guns for Young Target Shooters
Here are some guns to consider selling:
Winchester SXP Trap
A dedicated trap gun based on Winchester’s slick SXP rotary-bolt pump platform, the SXP Trap comes in both full-size and compact models, with the compact available in 20 gauge as well as 12. It has a Monte Carlo stock with the excellent Inflex recoil pad, a raised rib with front and middle beads, and the barrel is overbored for better patterns. It’s a good, reliable shooter and a great entry-level gun for trap singles and handicap, and it can shoot doubles in a pinch and it’s priced right around $500.(winchesterguns.com)
Winchester SX4 Compact
Although a field gun, this soft-shooting, gas semi-auto comes in a short-stocked Compact version that would make a fine starter gun for young/small shooters. The synthetic stock includes length spacers, and you can shorten it to as little as 13 inches. You can buy it 12 or 20 gauge with 26- or 28-inch barrels. Encourage people to choose the longer barrels. They may feel awkward to a young shooter, but in no time they will be used to it and better able to hit with it.
SKB RS300
SKB has built a solid following among scholastic target shooters for the value and reliability of their guns as well as prompt customer service. The highly adjustable RS300 accommodates a wide range of shooters. It can grow with its owner, and it can change from sporting or skeet gun to trap gun with its adjustable butt pad and comb. A gas semi-auto, the RS300 is tuned to shoot very light loads so that new shooters can start with a low-recoil 12-gauge and move up to heavier ammo without switching guns. Twenty-gauge RS300s are also available. It’s a versatile gun at a reasonable price. (skbshotguns.com)
CZ-USA All-American Single Trap
Well known for offering solid, Turkish-made guns at attractive prices backed by great customer service, CZ-USA has a target gun lineup that includes the fully adjustable, break-action, single-shot All-American Single Trap. It has both an adjustable comb and buttplate, a host of competition-ready features, including barrel ports and extended chokes, good-looking walnut, and a great price point. (cz-usa.com)
Browning BT-99
Many scholastic target shooters only participate in singles trap. For them, there is no better choice than the BT-99, a venerable single-shot break-action that is simple and foolproof. Starting at $1,699 and creeping up over $2,000 as you add adjustable combs and buttplates, it’s a reasonably priced gun that will last a young shooter an entire lifetime. (browning.com)
Browning Citori CX
Browning’s Citori has a long, proven record as a durable, shootable O/U. Priced well below the Citori 725 line, Citoris include several CX models intended as reasonably priced, built-to-last guns that will see an athlete through all the disciplines. The line comprises some high-rib, trap-stocked models for those who will primarily shoot trap as well as low-rib models closer to sporting configurations that can be used for trap.
Browning Citori 725
With a receiver trimmed of extra height and lighter, more responsive barrels, the 725 is a livelier version of the famous Citori. It has better fit and finish than the Citori lineup, too, and it comes in several dedicated trap and sporting versions, including an adjustable, high-rib sporting gun that can handle all the clay target disciplines.
Beretta A300 Ultima
Last year Beretta gave its excellent A300 Sporting semi-auto a makeover as the Ultima, redesigning it to appeal to young shooters. It has a gray composite stock with a black dribbled paint finish, and lime green grip cap, mag cap, spacer, and bolt closer. It also comes with the very effective Kick-off recoil reducer. Underneath the new finish it is still a version of the great 391, and it’s a soft-shooting, reliable 12-gauge that can work across all clay target disciplines. (berettausa.com)
Beretta A400 Excel
Beretta’s top-of-the-line semi-auto is practically the only semi-auto you’ll see in serious sporting clays competition due to its legendary reliability. The A400 comes in both a sporting model and an Ultra-Target gun that features a high rib and complete adjustability. It, too, features the recoil-gobbling KickOff system. Although the Ultra Target costs as much or more than a decent O/U, it’s a great gun for someone who will shoot lots of rounds and doesn’t want to get pounded by recoil.
Fabarm Allsport N2
The Fabarm Allsport N2 and N2 XL O/Us feature two quickly interchangeable ribs that let the guns switch from flat-shooting sporter to high-shooting trap gun and back in about a minute. It comes in two versions, one with a slightly shorter, 14-inch length of pull and a grip curved closer to the trigger, and the XL, with longer stock and more open grip. (fabarmusa.com)
Caesar Guerini
Caesar Guerini guns have a deserved reputation for quality backed by top-notch customer service. Priced between high-dollar guns and production target guns, Guerinis have become popular among serious competitors. The company offers a number of sporting and trap models, and high-rib sporting guns like the Summit Impact that adjust to shoot all disciplines and fit a number of shooters. (caesargueriniusa.com)
The Browning Citori CX line of built-to-last over-under guns are priced well below the Citori 725 line, making them eminently affordable for youth shooters.
The Winchester SX4 is a soft-shooting, gas semi-auto. It comes in a short-stocked Compact version that would make a fine starter gun for young/small shooters.
Many scholastic target shooters only participate in singles trap. For them, there is no better choice than the BT-99, a venerable single-shot break-action that is simple and foolproof.