My son will be ready to hunt with his own gun in a couple years. He's starting with a crickett to learn the do's and dont's about firearms. I'm looking ahead to deer season and looking into what he will be shooting. I like the Rossi Trifecta. Does anyone have opinions about this gun? Are multi-use guns like this a good choice? Here is a link to the rossi.

http://rossiusa.com/products/product-details.cfm?model=S2022243RS&category=MATCHEDSET

There is a saying about a tool that is a jack of all trades and master of none.

I've handled a few of the rossi rifle/shotguns and I wasn't impressed with the quality.

If you can afford a dedicated rifle and shotgun I'd recomend going that route. A stock that is set up for a shotgun won't be the same shape as that for a scoped rifle. And a compromise stock will make it more difficult for him to learn to master the skills of wing shooting vs. rifle shooting.

I'd look at the NEF's before I bought anything Rossi.

A relative of mine bought a Rossie 410/22lr combo and it sits far back in the corner of the safe. We had a hell of a time getting the saftey to work on it.

I do agree with 458lott though. A youth 870 and then a cut down rifle would be a much better way IMO.

I know that money can be an issue, but I bought my 10-year old an 870 youth model in 20 ga that he can use forever. When he grows, I can put a standard length stock on it. Ditto for the barrel. Here is a picture of him with it last Saturday, the first time he shot it. After a couple practice shots at a plastic bottle, he was ready for the birds. He did manage to hit a Valley Quail on the wing - and we were both mighty proud! A single shot, multi-purpose gun would quickly be discarded, I think, and then the money would be "wasted." Just my 2 cents. I think Remington is still doing the $50 rebate, so find one on sale....that's what I did. The recoil pad it came with was pretty hard, so took it off and just put a slip-on Limbsaver on it that I bought at Walmart. That way, I didn't add anything to the length of pull, which was about right for him.