Lefty's or people with kids that are left
 

I have been taking my son out shooting a bit the last little while, he's 5, and appears to be left handed, writes left throws left but does the odd thing with his right, so maybe a bit ambidextrous, either way he wants to hold the gun right but can't seem to figure out the trigger, he always wants to use his left hand, I have attempted the eye dominance thing with him and it seems like he is right eye dominant, but I don't know what to do for him, correct his right handed shooting or try and get him shooting left, if anybody else has been through this or has any input I would sure appreciate it, thanks

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My thought is to go with the dominate eye

Go dominant eye and shoot with that side.

Ask him to look through a roll of toilet paper or paper towel


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I had a couple kids (and a wife) who had dominant eye and strong hand reversed. It was easier to get them to shoot 'weak' handed then to get them to shoot with weak eye. Got to go with dominant eye. That was with archery and rifles.

And now my youngest daughter kicks my butt busting clays with a sweet little Remington 1100 LW in 20g I found here. So I'm gonna quit shooting clays with her. :lol:

I'm kind of like your son, pavilion, I'm all mixed up with handedness. :lol:

At this point, I'm good with shooting with my dominant eye and the hand on that side.

Good on ya to train them young! :)

I said I 'had' a couple kids and wife....I actually still have them. Everyone is alive and well. :)

Get him shooting with his dominant eye. This weekend I put in a lot of time with a BB gun and getting my left handed left eye dominant 5 year to shoot left. I made him have bad habits and let him shoot for the last year right handed. I threw the gun in a miter saw cut her down to his proper length of pull. After some complaining and one large tantrum he was hitting the cans every time and couldn’t believe how good he could shoot using his dominant eye. Now to break him shooting a bow right handed. :argue2:

Yea definitely get a stock that fits the youngster. That will help with how the gun fits and make it more natural.

Thanks for all the advice, everything I have read has said go with the dominant eye so I guess that's what we will go with, luckily he is young enough it can just be natural for him to shoot right even if he's a lefty,... I think its more me than him, as a righty I think about shooting left and it just throws me off....but I guess if I did I could buy one of those sweet m70s off chuck haha

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Eye dominance can change in a youngster , my son is left handed and he was left eye dominant when he was young. When he was about 10 years old or do his eye dominance changed to his right eye.
He shoots right but writes with his left .
Cat

I'm left handed, and shoot right hand.

I have a son that is left handed and it was just more natural for him to shoot left handed. I tried to get him shooting right hand, and just gave up and bought him a lefty rifle. He would shoot the 10/22 right handed, and then just switch to his left shoulder, and was more confident with his shooting that way.

I even use his lefty bolt sometimes, but shoot it right handed. Just takes a bit to get used to running the bolt left handed.

Talk about confusing things. The rest of the kids are all shooting right hand.

Keep him practicing on the right shoulder, and it will get natural. Remember the 22 LR is a cheaper practice round as well.

My son is left handed. At the start he was shooting left. He was small the the guns didn’t fit well. He was not shooting good. I started comparing our targets. Then he was trying harder to be accurate and switched to right hand. Now he just does right hand and is very accurate.

My son does most things right handed but he is left eye dominant and picks up toy guns to shoot left and shoots his bow left. He’s still quite young, but I’m curious what you lefties would suggest when he’s getting into rifles: how much does it matter to have a left hand bolt action? Assuming you’re shooting with left eye dominance, what is your experience using right hand vs left hand rifles?

All I have are right-handed rifles. It works okay, but now I'm thinking I want to get a proper left-handed one. The main advantage is that you can cycle the action while holding the forestock with your right hand - so it's easier to stay on target between shots, and you tend to not skin your thumb knuckle with the bolt as well. :) Oh, and the hot brass isn't flying across your nose.

That being said - my one nephew used to hold his rifle right-handed but was left-eye dominant - so he really struggled. I think at some point that changed and he is shooting his bow and rifle right-handed quite comfortably now.

I asked this very question about six months ago. My son is left handed and left eye dominant. I’m right handed and have a safe full of right handed rifles. From the advice I received here I went to town and bought him his own left handed .22. He has took right to shooting and hitting targets with it.

If I was you I would buy your son his own left handed rifle and let him shoot both. If your son ends up preferring right handed rifles I’m sure the left handed one would sell easily.

I was in Leduc Canadian tire the other day and they had both a right handed and a left handed savage rascal with wood stocks side by side. Either one of those would be perfect to start a young guy on.

Personally I am ambidextrous so in a pinch I can shoot left or right but better with my left. I started shooting right handed and shifted to left because of eye dominance

Myself because I originally started shootings right handed bolt actions left handed I picked up a bad habit of reaching for the wrong side when shooting a left handed bolt under pressure. For myself I prefer to shoot lever or break action because of it.

From someone who grew up shooting his Dad's RH guns with left eye dominance i would highly recommend getting him a left handed gun. Once i was old enough and could afford my own LH guns it made a big difference in my shooting confidence. With that being said i can still easily pick up most RH gun and do OK with them but much prefer my lefties now.
Cheers,
Brian

If you are sure that he is right eye dominant, I would start him right handed, but I would try and be as sure as possible about his eye dominance , before making a decision.

I too am mixed up
 

I was taught to shoot right, primarily 22 RF. But then I tried duck hunting, left eye dominant, so I switched, but still shot 22 right. Then I was introduced to CF at the range, shot it right and left. When I tried pistol, all left. So I would stick with the dominant eye. BTW - all my CF's are right-handed, with a scope the difference was minimal.
I can still shoot either hand, and your son might too.

No two ways about it, dominance is the key driver. You will NEVER be as good a shot with your non-dominate eye. The mechanics of shooting left or right can be taught and learned, you cannot teach a non-dominant eye to do a better job. Shotgun, it is even more critical.

For anyone the has a left handed kid and is thinking about teaching them on a right handed gun, then switching later, do them a big favour and don't. If you doubt how much difference it makes, pick up and shoot a left handed gun. It won't take long to figure out why making them shoot a right handed gun is a bad idea, both safety wise and the amount of time it takes to then learn to shoot a left handed one.

I may have missed it or maybe it wasn't said but do people still use a eye-patch to help with this sort of thing?

I personally didn't use one as a kid but knew some kids that did and he helped set the straight eventually ironing out the dominant eye.

If he is just starting out, definitely go with eye dominance.

Dominant eye drives the whole equation.
Just be aware that eye dominance can change as we age, or have illness or injuries.
Think ambidextrous as far as action types, at this point.

Totally agree, Dick284.

Thanks to those answering my specific questions a little off from the OP.

Also remember a lot of the safeties are backwards

I'm left eye dominant and left handed but grew up shooting right handed rifles. I have recently started buying left handed guns for myself but in truth I'm comfortable with both. Obviously left handed guns are more rare so it's good to be comfortable with both.

All my rifles are left handed except I have 1 left bolt right port. Actually for single feeding off a Bench I prefer the port on the right side.