5ft2
She shot my 12 gauge and said that’s not bad.

Over and under.

In my opinion....take it for what its worth but I would get her a O/U that fits well and teach her a proper mount or a soft shooting gas gun.

I think most women can handle a 12 gauge just fine with the proper gun fit and mounting technique (implying she can't handle a 12 ga because she is a girl is a recipe for trouble). The upside to a 12 over a 20 or 28 is she will undoubtedly hit more targets sooner rather than later.

I think there is a trade off in shooting, in that when people don't see success they quit and success usually makes recoil a byproduct to ignore. Now with that said after 100 rounds with a 12 she will be fatigued but the same holds true for 20s as well. If she shot your pump action and handled it well then a soft shooting gas gun won't hurt her at all.

7/8-1 oz light target loads are easy to shoot. To me my 20 and 12 feel the same when shooting 1 oz loads.

She told me she wants to shoot skeet and trap during the off-season and Dove along with me during the fall.

Saturday we are going to hold

Browning Maxus
Beretta a400 xplor
Beretta a400 xcel

Both beretta have the kickoff. I don’t know much about the xplor however I do know the xcel focuses more on skeet I’m not sure how it would be for upland bird hunting.

I hunted for years with a Beretta 391 'skeet' 20 ga. Never noticed the doves not dying when I did my part. Swapped it for a 686 20 gauge target model to get the longer barrels. Love that little gun.

As has been stated before, fit will be more important than gauge.

A gun no one has mentioned before now is the Weatherby SA-08. Copy of the older Beretta 301,302,303 models. At 5' 2" she will most likely need a shorter LOP though.

Those Beretta shotguns can be a bit heavy. She'll know right away if she likes them or not. The Maxus on the other hand is easy to shoot and not very heavy and it has the auto load feature which is a bonus for clay use.

There actually not heavy my A400 Explor if just under 6lbs. The OP said it would be used for Trap/Skeet. You want those gun to be heavier since they will be shooting many rounds. If it was a field gun yes the lighter the better. The A400 Excell has and end cap that you can change out and add weight. It also weighs about 1.25 lbs more than the Explor. Brilley’s also makes a weighted end cap for it.

First off good for you getting your wife involved shooting with you. I've been shooting a shotgun for 50 years. Shotgunning is and has always been my favorite form of shooting over the years, it is what I have put the most time and effort into. I would go with a 20 guage for your wife. I would go one of two ways.
1. A gas operated semiauto.- they are the lightest recoiling of the semiautos. My first choice in a semi auto would be a beretta A 400. They are sweet handling, low recoiling, and come with a shim kit to adjust the fit to your wife. You may still need to cut down the stock to get the length of pull to fit her. Many women also benefit from a toed out stock to accommodate their anatomy.
2. If you opt for an OU, something with a little more weight like a browning will keep recoil down. Steer clear of the little light shotguns that find the greatest favor with upland hunters. With an over under you also need to factor having the stock fit to her, into your budget.

I really like a 20. It is versatile. For big birds like wild pheasants or ducks, you can shoot 3" 1 1/4 oz loads for 12 guage like performance. For low recoiling target loads, you can shoot 3/4oz low brass at around 1200 fps for 28 guage like recoil and performance. For your wife, and clay targets, I would stick to 3/4 oz loads.

Hey everyone I would like to first start off and say thank you for taking the time and assisting me in question that I have had yesterday we finally got to put her hands on a few shotguns and we decided since she will be shooting trap and skeet as her primary reason with this gun We went with the more heavy shot gun that she can handle that was designed around trap and skeet!
We went with the beretta excel! I’m sure she will love the shotgun very much as it seems to be a very good quality shotgun .

The funny thing about this whole ordeal is we go looking for her a shot gun and we walk away with buying her and myself one
I have always shot my Benelli sbe II during waterfowl and dove season however I figured I could buy myself A designated shotgun for dove/upland hunting!

Since the wife was already looking at shotguns and I had my hands on them as well I liked the Beretta A400 explor action in 12 gauge with there kick off technology.
I do see it doesn’t care for certain smaller loads so I need to figure out what I will use load wise for Dove or pheasant.
Being that it is so light weight with a soft kick it should be offer years of enjoyment in the field.

Now to look forward to both of us getting enjoyment with them.

Jeffbird, those are great looking medals, were they for skeet? What events?

Thank you. Yes sir, the ones on top are bronze medals for skeet for my gauge and class in 12 gauge.

OP,

congratulations to you and your wife. Somehow I missed trap was in the lineup. So 12 was the right call. Good luck and hope y’all have fun.

My 28 year old daughter has been shooting a Weatherby SA-08 compact 20 gauge for 15 years. She uses it for everything but but ducks and geese. For waterfowl she has a Winchester SX3 Compact 12 gauge. Using light loads the Winchester recoils less to her but she prefers the lightness and pointabity of the Weatherby.

Another solution is to reload shells for the 12 gauge gun using 3/4 ounces of shot. Cut the stock back to achieve a good fit for her. As she becomes more comfortable shooting a shotgun you can increase the shot charge to 7/8 ounces and then later to one ounce.

This ^^^^. Wife and daughter love theirs

X2