I think Chuck's point concerning .410s is spot-on. My son broke his first target (H7) two weeks before he turned 7 using a Win M-20 with full choke. Before we got a 20 ga 391 Y-model he had broken every skeet single presentation with the M-20...all of them.
Starting with the .410 did not hurt him. But I think a useful distinction is made between starter guns and beginner guns. The former are appropriate for intermittent familiarization with recoil, stationary targets, non-squadded non-competition flying clays, and for reinforcement of safe handling. The beginner's gun is what I want when it is time to progress as a shooter, when volume practice lies ahead, when contemplating shooting with squads. I don't think a .410 fits the bill there.
The question here, for me, is age 10 is at the tail end of "starter", and maybe too soon for the serious "beginner". Sounds like GW's son can be more accurately placed in the "beginner" category, though.
So I would suggest a 20 ga 391 or 1100 with shortened field stock. I think the arguments against repeaters have validity only in a context I would never permit, ie., unsupervised use. We use 20 ga autos for our youth shooting group, and the recoil mitigation benefits greatly outweigh any break-open action advantages.
Sam
