They live in Oklahoma and I live in NW Florida. The last time they visited, I let him shoot a Daisy springer barrel cocker. It was made in Spain and is light and handy, Accurate too. It has a scope.
I set up a single can on top of an old brick and had him shoot. He had trouble holding the barrel up so I let him rest it on the handle of a lawn mower. Of course that would be a little detrimental to accuracy but we are not talking about minute of angle here.
He hit the can his first shot which made me happy. Actually he just barely did but it was enough, the can went spinning with two holes in it.
His Father cocked the gun for him and loaded it. Thorne was really really enjoying it but in a quiet serious way. He improved and eventually began hitting the cans somewhere near the center.
Now that particular gun was highly accurate but only shot around 650-700 fps. Still that is enough to be dangerous. It will put a hole through both sides of an insecticide can.
When they left he took it home with him but I am afraid he has never fired it again and I know he wants to.
I was around five when my dad took me to the beach with a .410 over/under to teach me to shoot. I had nagged him constantly since it was winter and h kpt coming home with wild ducks he had shot. I had a relationship with my dad like Trump has with his daughter. Inseparable! Anyway, he set a tin can on a little mound of sand, loaded a shell and helped me aim. When i said I was ready he told me to pull the trigger and when i did it smacked me ob my little fanny. Sure he had closed the issue, he asked me if I’d “had enough.” I said no because i hadn’t hit the can! A few shots later, I did hit the can and that can full of lead shot stood on the top of my dresser until I went away to college. Every once in a while i’d pick it up and shake it to hear the shot rattle. Needless to say, it wasn’t but a couple of years and i was hunting with Dad. That was over 70 years ago but i remember it like it was yesterday. I still love to hunt and my guns are my prized possessions. I think I am extremely lucky to have had a dad like I did.
Gunpowder is still my favorite “perfume.”