I taught my son on a Winchester 57 “gallery gun” I picked up at an auction for IIRC $50. Single shot bolt action .22, with a manual hammer.
My Father’s first gun was a Winchester model 57. Daddy was born in 1918 and he probably got around age 10. They ordered it out of the Sears catalog but made the mistake of ordering it with ammo.
At that time the U.S. Post Office would not ship ammo so they had to drive from leonia, Florida to Florala, Alabama to pick it up.
Daddy’s was a very good one, it was about as accurate as you could ask for. We still have that gun but it needs a little work.