John,

That's the tack. I customarily have plenty of Unique on hand because it's... uniquely adaptable for a huge range of uses in everything I shoot, push come to shove. And I'm aiming for a bit less velocity - anything near 1000 fps is plenty - even as low as 900 fps if I must. I could use 700x (on hand) or Green Dot or a number of thers on hand and get the powder charge down a grain or two - we'll see. I need to burn some older Unique anyway... yeah, it burns dirty - no confusion about needing to clean after shooting!

I'm not averse to shortening the case if need be, or putting a precut filler under the shot charge. The main thing will be keeping velocity low and shot charge light. I think the 11/16 oz or 5/8 oz range is on the money, although I may try some 3/4 oz loads as well. Hard to find reduced load data these days of one piece wads, but no worries.

My first gun was a beauty of a Savage M220 single shot hammerless 20 gauge with a factory polychoke. Still have it. It still has pretty fierce recoil with factory field loads and you don't want to go there with short magnums... I shot a couple of truckloads of small game with it over many years and make a few yards of gravel out of clay birds. I never noticed the recoil when I was a kid, but that's an imponderable variable. It fit me well.

My nephew's opportunities to shoot and/or hunt will be seriously constrained until he's old enough to drive himself afield - they live in the Chicago NW 'burbs. Most of his opportunities will come from visiting here and visiting Grandpa in Colorado. We'll be keeping a close eye on stock fit as he grows and fit a recoil pad as soon as it is time - that's an easy and pleasant evening's work. Or if it holds up, I may order an adult replacement buttstock from BrazaTech and set it on the shelf for now.

I don't shoot much trap or skeet nowadays, so I rarely reload shotgun anymore - too lazy and in the springtime I get great prices on cases of last year's ammo. My time is worth more to me than it used to be... and I'm starting to drift that way on most pistol ammo now, too. But about the only rifle I shoot factory ammo in is my Ultra Match Garand. Not much point in loading for it - it likes everything factory and loves Federal Gold Medal Match.

I know! I need a Dillon set up for several calibers! <grin> Maybe Santa....