RE: side by side question
I have a Baikal SxS and it works fine for me. I'm not sure the length of the barrels but I used it to shoot sporting clays. Everybody else was using auto's and O/U's but I managed to shoot prety much the same as them. If your son likes the SxS's it should be no problem for him to use it for hunting. Like was mentioned it might be better to get one with the longer barrels. Also the Remington Spartan is made by Baikal and them just put the Remington name on it. If you can find a Baikal it might be cheaper since you don't pay for the Remington name for the same gun.