I took my 8yo gun shopping the other day. The goal was looking at a shotgun he can use for turkey/grouse. He ended up handling a Franchi 20ga compact. Price was around $750 and he seemed to like it. LOP was very short and fit him well. I am a Beretta guy and know nothing about the Franchi models. I’m assuming this is an inertia system copied from Benelli? And along that note, how is reliability with lighter loads and how is recoil? We tried to start him off with a 28ga Stoeger uplander but he never fell in love with it and honestly it recoiled worse than my Beretta auto in 12ga. He’s a little recoil shy after the Stoeger and I’ve heard that the inertia guns have a little umph to them. The upside is how well he was able to shoulder it which I know will help some. What are your guys thoughts?

My hunting buddies son has one and it is an excellent gun the recoil is a little stiff and initially it had a little difficulty cycling light loads such as Winchester white Box but eventually it broke in and would run light loads well.

I for a  growing kid for 4 seasons then he grew into a full size.

This is another good option   No a famous name brand but a friend's daughter has this and it's held up well.    soft shooting as well compared to the inertia guns

Tristar youth combo

I know two folks with 20's (one is a mossberg, SA-20 i believe?) And the other is the a400 lite.  The a400 lite is a little pricey but a sweet shooter. Never seen issues with the mossberg but it kind of is what it is.

Have you considered buying a smaller sized 12 and shooting reduced recoil loads through?  LOP may be a little difficult but nowadays weight may be about the same.

I’m not even sure what to consider with a smaller 12. I haven’t saw a compact/youth A300 which is what I’d like to have. I’m not sure if you could install a recoil reducer in the synthetic stock and shorten it? I have saw the tristar/Turkish Mossberg autos but I don’t want to get him one of those. I’m honestly leaning more to just break down and get an A400 with kickoff and be done with it but I haven’t saw a compact in 12ga

Beretta makes a a300 RL (reduced length) model.  I believe it has a 13" LOP.  It is the sporting model however.  So its going to draw you closer to that a400 cost but is still a sweet shooter.