Well, I hope I was not being dishonest in my original post, but I'm thinking about setting up a rifle for my soon-to-be 12 year old son. I had originally mentioned this in the first sentence of my post, but then I deleted it before posting. Because he will be hunting close to me, the intended use and conditions still apply.
I wanted honest opinions based on the merits. It seems that often when someone asks for advice on outfitting a kid, some responders feel the need to recommend gear that they would not recommend for an adult. That's okay, I guess, if the recommendation is based on fit, but often it seems as though people feel that kids have not yet earned the right to use the good stuff. Or, maybe they think that a variable scope is too complicated for a kid. If the latter is the case, then I figure he deserves to make some mistakes and learn from them. Using a variable scope is not rocket science, IMO.
I'm a working class guy with a limited budget, but I figure that this rifle/scope is something my kid may have for life, and I want him to want to take it out of his safe to go hunting 50 years from now because it's decent gear and works well.
