Personal opinion would be a 30-30, my ten year old twin girls have shot my 50 cal smokepole with 100 grains of pyrodex, they were not thrilled with it, but they handled it. They love shooting my model 94 30-30. Every kid is different, but my twins after experiencing the kick of the smokepole have no problem with the model 94.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club