My grandfather did the exact same thing. That shotgun is still very special to me. The gun he bought was an 870 pump. Nice gun, not a short barrel kid gun, but and this is the important part if you do that.
Rick wrote:That, and the .410 is an expert's gun. I've taken far, far too many kids wielding them afield and have yet to see one anything but discouraged by it
To learn to shoot targets, it was great. However, hunting it was very frustrating.
This is what I think of most when I think of the .410. We would go to my grandparents most Sundays. There were 2 pigeons that lived in the barn. I was about 10. I'd take the .410 walk up to the barn with my Dad. He'd go in the barn and chase them out and I'd shoot and miss. Sunday after Sunday. One Sunday my grandfather says take the 16. He had a 16 side by side. We walk up to the barn like every Sunday. The pigeons instead of coming out the end they normally do went out the far side. Circled down around the pasture came up over the roof of the barn where I was standing. Bang, one pigeon folds up.
And then the true miracle. I swing through the 2nd pigeon, bang, holy crap a double
And then there were no more pigeons and my Sunday fun was over
A great gun to start a kid shooting shotgun and I hope it is as special to your grandkid as the .410 was to me. However, before he starts hunting transition him to something better.