Sorry to hear about your boy, this thing is a monster. The friend I got from well I guess it was a little to much for him. When he bought it the gun came with wood grips and when you shot it, it would almost come out of your hand. I haven't got my grips yet and I am here say that I will be getting rubber grips. I am not sure what scope I will get yet, I would like to put a Leupold compact on it. I am in debate whether to even reload for it or not I only plan to hunt with it, but as much as I love reloading I probably will. I only paid $125 for it I really want a 7mm08 barrel sure would like to find someone to trade with or someone who would buy it.