Now all you folks with your kids presently growing up...
Let me give you a few words of warning concerning passing your guns on to your children...
Before they turn 21 -- let them know that you will pass a gun on to them!
My father was really disappointed when I brought home my first handgun that I bought, a K-22, the exact same gun that he was going to give to me...
I feel pretty foolish about it, but it wasn't his fault. From about the age 14 to 21, I didn't have much interest in guns, then at 21 my internal martial clock went off with a vengeance and I just had to have my first gun. I felt it was something that I had to do on my own, my first truly big, responsible, adult purchase of my life. (Due to my hectic work schedule when it was time for me to buy my car, my father did most of the business when getting my car -- I just showed up with a check and drove away).
So you young fathers, don't let this happen to you. If you want it to be a surprise, "educate" your children on the necessity of the 30 day return policy.
But on the bright side, my father and I both have the same model revolver to go shooting with now. It turns out, when I was a young lad, that was the gun he taught me to shoot pistol with and I apparently loved the gun (I must have been very, very young because I don't remember it or him even having that gun); when the time came around, it must have been fate, because that was the gun my gut told me I had to have. Some kind of freudian thing there or something, lost memories bubbling up subconsciously.
Anyway, even if they seem to lose interest, pass the gun on before they can go out and come home grinning with a surprise for you!