Love mine... light, accurate, non-restricted, easy to pack, easy to clean, lots of accessories, and 7.62 X39 is a nice cartridge, affordable, and something your nephew or niece aren't intimidated by, offerring close to 30/30performance.
The Scout rail is a really solid choice for mounting optics, and the Fabarms furniture and accessories are great.
At close to or over a buck a bang for my other rifles, (like my .3006) the 858 gets lots of range time. The corrosive ammo/non chrome barrell isn't a big deal, just clean you rifle everytime you get back, and there is a ton of info on that in this forum.
Also, I like the looks, it's the meanest looking non-restricted rifle out there!