To wrap this thread up.
Luke Moffat ended up finding me a mint used Tikka SL 1:8 twist. I purchased it for a fair price and out pulled a spare factory stock I had under the work bench to cut it down to youth length. In the interest of keeping everything lightweight for young arms I mounted a 3-9x40 Leupold in Talleys.
Zero'd it in four shots with bulk 55 gr stuff, and then switched to Hornady 75 gr HPBT. First five shots landed in 0.7" just like a good Tikka should.
With the fluted barrel, it's not particularly muzzle heavy even at 22". I think we should have some fun with it this summer. Conveniently, 55 gr shoots to the same POI as 75gr at 100yds. When the kids get bigger, I have the original stock that can go back on.
Thanks for all the advice and input everyone.