The shorter barrel may actually make it better suited for your son for the conditions you are hunting in. The barrel may have been cut and re-crowned in its lifetime, maybe your buddy knows? I'd shoot it with a couple of different weight bullets and see how it prints on paper. What I'd be looking for is each set of bullets should have a nice tight group and each bullet weight change will group differently on the paper, oviously you don't want flyers all over the paper for a given bullet. If all goes well then it should make a great rifle for the son. Good luck!
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