The Five Best Shotguns
for Women Shooters
Shotguns have been a popular style of gun for a very long time. Recently they’ve had resurgence among women shooters. Finding the best shotgun for a woman has similarities to a man’s preference, but there are many different nuances as well. It’s one of the few firearm related terms that has entered the common language. How many times have you heard someone in a group shout, “I’ve got shotgun” as they approach a vehicle? It is in reference to the stagecoaches of the Old West, or more likely, the movies and TV shows about the old west that have the state driver on the left, and his trusty partner on the right with a double-barreled shotgun at the ready.
Which Shotgun to Buy?
Finding the best shotgun for women shooters was once a challenge, but since more women have discovered the benefits of being able to handle a shotgun, it is a relatively easy decision. But it remains a decision that should require a little thought before making a purchase. We’ll take a look at the Beretta A400, the Mossberg 500 Youth, and the Remington 870 as well as a couple of others in a detailed review of each later.
Male and Female Shooters – There is a Difference
You can find tall, strong women who shoot in similar styles to most men, and you can have shorter, slighter men who don’t fit the standard male oriented decision of the shotgun. With that being said, there are a few attributes that make a shotgun more appealing to a female shooter who will be shorter, slighter, and not as strong in the upper body as her male counterpart.
Shotguns for women considerations:- Length of pull – (LOP) -
- Overall length
- Gauge
- Recoil pad
- Balance
- Weight
- Action
We’ll take these seven criteria into consideration and explain why each one is important for a woman shooter in the next section. Having a shotgun that feels right when you hold, aim, and fire it is the goal.
Finding the Balance – What a Woman Should Look for in a Shotgun
Finding a shotgun that fits your needs, meets your expectations, and delivers the performance you’re looking for is a personal choice, but we’ll try to help.
Length of Pull (LOP)
You’ve probably seen LOP listed in the specifications table on a shotgun. The term LOP is rarely explained but it’s one of the most important criteria in shotgun ergometric design for women. LOP is the distance from the trigger to the butt plate on a shotgun. This is a key factor for shorter women to consider.
Your trigger arm should rest naturally with a comfortable bend at the elbow when firing a shotgun. This makes it easier to track a target, easier to focus while sighting, and easier to pull the trigger at the right moment. A “scrunched” up hold on a gun that has a LOP that is too short is hard to maneuver, the opposite is true as well if the LOP is too long and your arm is extended too far, making it difficult to sight, guide, and fire a shotgun.
Overall Length
Overall length isn’t as important a factor as LOP but it remains a major consideration in a shotgun design for most women. The overall length affects a couple of other criteria, weight, and balance in particular.
Some shotguns, especially ones designed for goose or turkey hunting can extend well beyond four feet in length, making them unwieldy for shorter shooters. Others are designed for home defense and have lengths from 42 to 48 inches. Just because a shotgun is marketed as a home defense platform doesn’t mean it won’t be an effective hunting gun.
Finding the right overall length makes your shotgun easier to use, and more comfortable when you’re using it.
Gauge
Conventional wisdom always has a woman shooting a 20-gauge shotgun. There is nothing wrong with a 20-gauge, it remains the second most popular gauge after the venerable 12-gauge, but it shouldn’t be the only gauge to consider.
In my experience, some 20-gauge shotguns produce more recoil than a different design in a larger 12-gauge. Recoil is determined by weight and force when a shotgun is fired and the gauge has a lot to say about this.
In general, most women prefer a 20-gauge for lesser recoil, and an overall lighter weight, but differences make the world go round. Two other gauges often overlooked for women are the 16-gauge and the .410. Depending on what you’re using your shotgun for, the 16 and the .410 can be viable options.
Recoil Pad
I grew up on a single shot 12-gauge Iver Johnson shotgun with a steel butt plate. Shoulder bruises were a way of life for me as a skinny teenager. Recoil is the number one complaint women shooters have when talking about shotguns, they don’t enjoy that jarring force when they pull the trigger.
A recoil pad can take some of that force away by absorbing the recoil into the pad rather than taking it all into the shooter’s shoulder. Recoil pads come in various designs and can be a great aid in comfortable shooting. One caveat to add on a recoil pad is that it can affect LOP. The extra inch or two supplied by a pad increases LOP and can create problems in a shotgun the shooter is already familiar with by adding additional length.
Balance – The Ballet of Shooting
Balance in any sport is essential, in shooting sports it’s the difference between hitting or missing a quick moving target. Balance in a shotgun is the ability to move from a resting to a shooting position, lock on a target, track it and fire all in one smooth motion.
When a shotgun is balanced, you don’t even realize you’re using it. Balance is akin to being “in the zone” you are one with the shotgun and aren’t even aware of the overall length, LOP, or weight of the gun as you use it.
For most women, balance is found in a shorter overall length, a lighter weight, and an action that is easy to use.
Weight
This criterion is perhaps the most obvious. A heavier shotgun is going to be harder to use for a smaller person. That’s the obvious point, what isn’t so obvious is how weight affects many other considerations.
If a shotgun is balanced, one that weighs six pounds isn’t much different for the shooter than a heavier eight-pound shotgun. The extra two pounds will reduce the recoil substantially. This “yin and yang” of shooting is an eternal consideration for women shooters. More weight is less recoil, but more weight can be extra fatigue if packing the heavier gun all day on bird hunts. If you can handle the weight, a heavier shotgun usually produces greater accuracy with shooter’s flinch eliminated.
Action
This consideration is entirely based on the taste of the shooter. Does she want the simplicity and reliability of a single shot? Or is she more attuned to the classic style of the over-under shotgun? Does she like the reliability and fast action of a pump? Or is she more interested in getting lead on the target as quickly as possible in a semi-automatic?
These questions have to be answered by the woman buying the shotgun. Single shot shotguns are the best way for a person new to shooting to learn accuracy, gun safety, and proper technique. Many shooters say the over-under is the most accurate, and well balanced of all shotguns. More game birds and rabbits have been taken with a pump than any other style over the last half-century, but it takes a little dexterity to handle properly. The semi-automatic features point and shoot with the pull of a trigger, but is the most jam prone of the four designs.
The ultimate choice is just that, a choice for the woman shooter to decide before she buys.
Usage – Hunt, Home, and Range
Shotguns can be universal. I use my Remington 870 for ducks, geese, turkeys, and pheasants, it is also my choice for home defense, but I don’t shoot clays as well with it as I do my Stoeger 16-gauge over-under. Some shotguns are better than others in certain applications.
Hunting
Women who hunt have the same preferences as men, only usually in a smaller gauge, lighter weight, shorter length shotgun.
Many female hunters enjoy the elegance and accuracy of an over-under, especially when hunting upland game birds. An over-under is perfect for quick flushing pheasants, quail, or chukars.
A pump or semi-automatic is a good choice when hunting ducks over decoys, or just enjoying an afternoon of jump shooting ducks while walking canals, small streams, and sneaking up on pothole lakes or ponds.
Home Defense
When a shotgun is no longer a recreational tool but can be the difference between life and death in home defense situations, the style of shotgun can vary from the hunting world.
A home defense shotgun must be easy to access, easy to load, and be quick tracking. In a home invasion or attack, there isn’t much time to think about balance, recoil or length of pull, you just need to get a shot into the middle of the attacker’s body as quickly as you can.
Any shotgun is better than no shotgun, but for home defense, second and third shots are important in the tense, adrenalin filled situation you are likely to encounter. A pump or semi-automatic is the best choice in home defense. Point, pull and repeat if necessary.
Target Shooting
Sporting clay shooting represents the greatest jump in female shotgun use. The range is a great place to enjoy an afternoon. You set your own pace, shoot as many clays as you want, then load up and go home.
Skeet shooting is growingly popular with women, and many females now have their own throwers and shooting ranges at home.
In target shooting it’s all about speed, acquiring the target, locking on, and firing in just a second or two. When you’ve conquered the intricacies of this great sport, it is easy to transfer those skills to the hunting world or to call on them if a home defense situation arises.
Target shooting can involve any style of shotgun, with the elegant over-under a preferred model for women. You can find a lot of semi-automatics and pumps as well at your local range, but you’re not likely to see many women shooting a single shot shotgun in this setting.
The Five Best Shotguns for Women Shooters
We’ll take a look at semi-automatics, over-and-under double barreled, and the venerable pump shotgun in the section below. Not everyone has the same style, the same needs, or even the same interests in a shotgun but we’ll try to give you a few examples to look at before you purchase one.
1. Beretta A400 Xplor Action Semi-Auto Shotgun
Beretta is renowned for quality semi-automatic shotguns and the A400 delivers on that promise. Light, at just 6 pounds in one 20-gauge model, and only 5.5 pounds in another version, and just a bit over 46 inches in total length in both, this is a great choice for women shooters.
It has a 26-inch barrel and a modest 14.5 LOP.
The shotgun is on the upper end of the pricing scale, but it arrives with four chokes. It has great range for duck or upland game bird hunting with the full choke and is a great choice for target shooting or even home defense with one of the wider patterned chokes.
The magazine holds four rounds that can be quickly emptied with a fast trigger. It handles three-inch shells well but works best with higher energy, high brass shotgun shells.
Available in just a right hand model, the A400 can spread a lot of lead in just a few seconds. The 20 gauge isn’t as powerful as the 12-gauge version, but it still delivers a lot of power, is easier to handle, has less recoil, and is a better balance shotgun for a smaller shooter. This is a great all around choice in a shotgun.
2. Mossberg 500 Youth Super Bantam
Its title is a little misleading, a 500 Youth Super Bantam swings you back and forth on an adjective roller coaster, but while the name is confusing, the shotgun is not. It comes from a familiar shotgun manufacturer, renowned for both quality, and low price. This Mossberg shotgun is an ideal choice for many women. It is light, quick, has a short overall length, and has a short barrel in comparison with competing models. The best part is that the Bantam is the lowest priced shotgun we’ll review here.
The 500 Youth in 20-gauge style offers a five-round magazine capacity, a smooth operating pump, and a short pump length of only 12 to 13 inches.
Weighing just 5.25 pounds, it is very light. Light enough for even the smallest woman to operate, and with an overall length of just 40 inches and a short 22-inch barrel length, it is a quick weapon on the water, the range, or in home defense.
The 500 Youth chambers 3-inch shells. Modern 20-gauge, 3-inch shells offer great energy in a compact platform. Ambidextrous in design, it is available in either left or right-handed configurations.
3. Remington 870 FieldMaster
If you’ve read any of my shotgun reviews for Sportsman’s, you already know the Remington 870 is going to make the list. I’m a fan, no excuses, I just love this shotgun. I started hunting with my dad’s early 1950s vintage 20-gauge 870, the one with the circular grooved grip. I moved on in later years to my own 12-gauge 870 and spread the insanity to my son as well a few years ago. The 870 is the perfect shotgun in my opinion. I like it better than my Stoeger over-and-under for waterfowl, and I’m one of those “old school” hunters that enjoy the action of a pump, over the quicker rate of fire offered by a semi-automatic.
The modern FieldMaster is built for the larger three-inch 20-gauge shells. With an overall length of 48.5 inches, and a 28” barrel this is a fast action shotgun, that in the hands of a skilled shooter is nearly as quick as a semi-automatic. It has a four round magazine, is finished in American walnut, and arrives with an improved cylinder, modified, and full choke. The ventilated rib on the new model is a standard feature and aids in greater accuracy whether jump shooting or hunting over decoys.
Made of dark walnut with a satin black carbon steel finish, this shotgun is a classic. I’ve hunted ducks, geese, and upland game birds with it in temperatures from 30 below zero to 95 above, and never had an issue. Mine has been impervious to rain, snow, ice and just about every form of moisture Mother Nature can throw at you. Best of all, the 870 is one of the most reasonably priced shotguns on the market. The only issue with this shotgun is the 14-inch LOP, which might create a front heavy feel in very small shooters.
4. Stoeger Condor Supreme Over and Under
They might call you an elitist, but there is a special feel to a well built over-and-under shotgun. The Stoeger Supreme is a gun that catches the eye. The 20-gauge has classic designs and carries a very reasonable price tag.
Image aside, many shooters consider an over-under style shotgun the most accurate design. The over-under style is among the fastest growing shotgun designs. The enthusiasm has spread from upland game bird hunting to waterfowl.
The 20-gauge chambers have three-inch shells, with a black finish. The Walnut stock with the black metallic finish creates a striking color combination. Overall length is a tight, easy to maneuver 42 inches, and the balance is extraordinary. A 14.5 LOP augments rather than detracts from the shorter overall length and the 28-inch barrel delivers tight patterns on fast moving targets, whether at the range or on a 0 to 60 pheasant breaking from cover.
The 6.9-pound weight is remarkable at reducing recoil in the 20-gauge, leading most shooters to not even consider a recoil pad. This classic arrives with an improved cylinder and a modified choke.
5. Browning Citori 725
This final shotgun is going to be a little like those toys on the back cover of the Sears or Montgomery Ward Christmas catalogs if you are old enough to remember them. This is an excellent shotgun that carries the price tag usually reserved for a used car. It is an expensive choice in shotguns, but it represents the finest technology in the industry.
The 725 has a 32-inch barrel, the longest in the reviews written here, but it weighs just 7.2 pounds, making it a lightweight 20-gauge shotgun. The overall 50-inch length reflects the longer barrel, but the length of pull is only 14.75 inches, longer than the others, but still within reach of the average woman shooter.
This over-under is a thing of beauty, with classic polished blue barrels, augmented by a silver nitride finished receiver, and a high gloss walnut finish. It will catch your eye as quickly as it grabs your wallet. It chambers three-inch shells, and comes with six different chokes, creating the widest choice of patterns in any of the shotguns listed here.
You can’t argue with Browning quality, but you’ll need to hold one of these beauties before purchasing it to see if the heft, balance, and LOP fit your needs.
Conclusion
There are more women shooting shotguns than ever before. Though they still represent a small minority in comparison with men, the market for women’s shotguns is one of the fastest growing on the market.
Whether she enjoys target shooting, is an avid waterfowl or upland game bird hunter, or is just looking for a reliable home defense weapon that leaves very little room for error, the shotgun is a popular choice.
Whether you select the classic lines of the over-and-under, the reliability of the pump or the rapid fire of the semi-automatic is clearly a case of personal choice. But, there are many choices, take your time and enjoy the process.