My son just turned 12 last year. He went to the hunters safety course and the instructor had a 30-30 to let the kids practice with. The hammer was way too hard for most of the kids to operate. Try some of the reduced recoil ammunition. I cut down the stock on one of my 30-06 rifles and bought some of the Remington reduced recoil bullets and it worked pretty good. My son only weighs 100lbs soaking wet and he wasn't scared to shoot the gun. He would up killing a doe last year.