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By this time, I suspect the OP may have made a choice already, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway.
I'm seeing a lot of suggestions for a pump instead of a single shot and I agree than a pump is more versatile. But I started with a pump and, now as an adult, I would rather use a single shot for grouse and woodcock (the very purposes the OP listed). It's rare that I get more than one good shot at either of those birds anyway given their habitat and tendency to put trees between you and themselves in a hurry.
And, because single shots don't have a receiver, they tend to be about 4" shorter overall (handier in dense woods) than pumps with identical length barrels. In my estimation, a compact H&R single shot would never be outgrown as a grouse/woodcock gun. The 22" barrel seems just about right for snap shooting in heavy foliage, and for less than $50, a person can easily add a full size stock as the user grows.
I realize the OP said he'd prefer a hammerless design, saying a hammer is "too sketchy" (whatever that means), but I feel safer with and H&R with its hammer lowered than I do with my Mossberg on "safe". And with practice, cocking the hammer and raising the gun in the same motion becomes very easy.
My only hangups about the H&R guns is that the stocks don't fit some people well, and they mostly come with fixed chokes that are probably on the tight side for grouse and woodcock.
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