wouldnt the occasional feeding or extracting malfunction be a good thing and part of the learning experience should one occur?... wouldnt want someone to be in the dark if they purchase a rifle of their own and experience such a scenario
With a new shooter, there is also a safety issue. Loading single rounds mean when the gun has been fired, it is no longer loaded and less of a problem should the shooter momentarily forget safe gun handling practices.
Loading single rounds also makes the shooter slow down and work on the basics of good marksmanship rather than "pray and spray" techniques that semi-auto arms with a magazine full of ammunition fosters.
While a 10/22 could be loaded with one round per magazine, a bolt rifle is much easier, less time consuming, and fewer loading issues.
Ideally, if the new shooter could experience a couple of different firearms once he becomes proficient, his choice of purchase would be better. That is frequently not an option though.
While I do not feel a 10/22 is the best for a beginner to start on, the early learning of the basics is usually fairly quick and can be done on a 10/22 (single loading). Then the instruction can move on to more fun activities.
Now, for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say.
My daughter went to a summer camp a number of years ago where that had a shooting activity for campers. They used 10/22s and most of the campers were not familiar with firearms before beginning the activity.
I do not remember how they started the shooters, but they were taught to remove the magazine and cycle the action to make sure the gun was clear before setting the gun down. Since the factory 10/22 leaves the bolt closed on an empty magazine, this is a good practice. My daughter still does this when she shoots her 10/22. (Some ranges may have different requirements and the operation of a 10/22 may need to be adjusted to match)
