I'm in the same sitution with my nephew who is 11 his dad told me he could handle his 06, I tried him and he was flinching so bad he couldn't
hit a bull in the ---, also he was not strong enough to work the action(742 semi)
and there were safety issues. He was scared of the gun, a few sessions
with my marlin lever 44 mag with light loads and he is grouping good. He does notknow he is shooting light loads yet, am thinking about just slipping a hunting load in at the moment of truth.
I have 30-30 and 7mm-08 but the shot will be under 100yds so the
44 will be ideal, also he can work the action.

Martinfaw