Good point Tod, as a FAS instructor I see plenty of 11 year olds that are ready and a whole lot more that are not. I have been playing with some 1/2 oz. 20 ga. loads that really are creampuff loads and do just fine at 16 yd. trap if I do my part. Which brings to mind another very important point- Kids like to break targets and the .410 is much more of an experts gun than a kids gun. Of course we don't want our kids to be introduced to the gun as I am sure many of us have been, getting bruised and probably knocked on our butt. Against all common knowledge I recommend a first gun to be a 20 ga. autoloader. Sounds crazy I know but you have a lower recoil, better chance of breaking targets, a gun to grow into and you can limit the shells to just ONE. A full length plug can do that or just close supervision. One more point is I am not sure a "low recoil".410 is even possible, I'll look in my loading manuals. Good luck and be happy to have a kid wanting to shoot.