Help! I’d like some suggestions for a youth semi auto shotgun so my wife and kids can do some bird hunting with me next year. I have a Stoeger 2000 and love it but they don’t make it anymore. Any thoughts? Also, I don’t want to break the bank. I want something that will go boom reliably but doesn’t need to be fancy. Thanks for the help!!

Stoeger replaced the 2000 with the M3000... they also have a M3020 (20 gauge). Weatherby also has a youth gun that gets good reviews, the Weatherby SA-08 youth.

Bought my son the Weatherby SA-08 Youth 2 years ago and it hasn't had a hiccup yet through several cases of shells. I would recommend it for sure.

Very nice solution without much recoil.

Little story:
My dad and uncle bought me an emergency shotgun in 2009 for a released-bird pheasant hunt that they needed a filler for. The gun was a 20 gauge TriStar Youth combo. It came with a youth stock, full size stock, barrel extender, 3 chokes, and a choke tool. That pheasant hunt went amazingly.

I did many more hunts with it, both released bird and dove, and during one pheasant hunt, the bolt came out of the action after a rapid succession of shots. We finished the hunt off by cycling with a key. Upon getting home, my dad ordered a new bolt, and it came in free of charge, as it was still in the 5-year warranty period. Key differences? The catch on the bolt that locked it into place had been made much stouter; product development I guess.

Time passed and another issue came up: the hammer broke. I have no idea how that happened, but it did. The shotgun stayed in my dad's closet corner for a number of years, which I've totally forgotten, as I was gifted a 12 gauge in its stead and enjoyed that shotgun, forgetting the old one.

Late last year, I decided to fix up my old gun. The warranty had been expired (I think) 3 years, so I paid full price for shipping and the part; it was about $28 for the new hammer. Got it working again but a previous problem reappeared: 10-lb trigger pull. The day after it had been bought, the trigger was so hard that I had to use both my index and middle fingers to shoot it. The guide managed to teach me well enough that it wasn't an issue, but none too pleasant to deal with either. Over the years, the trigger softened. Now, with the new hammer, we were back to the problem. But I'd grown 8 years worth so it wasn't a big deal.

A couple of weeks ago we did a tower shoot for pheasant. I brought this gun along for fun, with my Yildiz 12ga as my primary or, if need be, loaner gun. The hunt went well and I didn't need to use the 20 gauge. But on clay birds it was a beauty. Like it shot 8 years prior, the cheap-o TriStar Youth (now with the adult stock, I might add) dusted and clipped doubles and singles. It shot all it was fed, following tradition. I never had any malfunctions or failures to eject or anything when the gun was brand new up until the hammer broke. 8 years of closet time with a broken hammer didn't dampen the extractor or action at all.

I would probably vote for the Weatherby SA-08 too, though, considering that they're all essentially the same gun. But my TriStar has done very well for the sub $500 for which it was purchased. Check Academy, that's where we got it. It will boom reliably, in my experience.

Broke a bolt, broke a hammer, and terrible trigger issue twice... yet you say it is reliable? Hmmm...