Guys:
Been there, Three kids, Three grand kids, Two left handed right eye dominate. Tried the contender, Very difficult to cock for little hands, especially in a tree stand. One time the hammer slipped when letting it down and frighten Number one daughter pretty bad. All of my kids and Grand kids like to hunt. In cold weather it is really difficult for them to pull the hammer back on a Contender. My solution was to buy Three Youth model Remington 700, 7-08's, Three Remington youth model 700ML, Three Remington youth model 1100's. I scoped the 7-08's and 700ML's with Fixed 4X leupolds (Longest eye relief I could find). I bought 3 extra Hasting slug barrels with cantilever mounts for the 1100 and scoped them with leupold fixed 4X's also. Bought Turkey super full chokes to the 1100 barrels. With these guns I took away "he's got a better gun than me" and my kids and grand kids can hunt anything in the continental US.
Yes, the whole thing cost me more than I want to admit, but it safely achieved my objective and the carry over skills from ML to bolt gun was easy. Oh when the my kids grew up (they do you know) they bought what they wanted with their nickel, but they borrowed their old guns to teacher they wifes, husbands and kids.
The down side is I load a pot full of 7-08 with mininum powder charges and 20 ga light loads. Total cost of reloads has to have past the original cost of the fire arms.
