Allen Denton

My son is 4 and I was not really thinking about letting him use a lefthanded gun, but he is left handed. Does anyone think that it will be a disadvantage for him to shoot right handed or should I get a left handed gun. If there are disadvantages what are they?

PS. It will be a few years before I get him a gun but I was just thinking.

Thanks,
Al

Nomercy

Pretty much depends on which of his eye's is dominant-a right eye dom. lefthander should shoot right handed, it takes some getting used to for some, but if he learns right handed, he'll likely never know the difference...but aiming with your non-dominant eye is NOT a good idea, it takes MUCH more practice than shooting with your off hand.

I'd take him to a store and have him check them out, see which feels best to him.

If he's both left eye and left handed, then a left handed gun is a good bet-or maybe look at starting him off with a leveraction, or a single shot (H&R handi rifle, encore, Ruger No.1, etc.) they aren't necessarily right or left handed, Marlin leverguns are only righthanded because they eject to the right, H&R single shots areonly so because the break lever is on the right of the hammer, and the Ruger No.1's aren't handed at all.

There are LOTS of people out there that can shoot right handed bolt guns incredibly well and quickly from their left hand. it would take some getting used to to learn how to cycle it, but they do it-the biggest reason behind it being you can't always find a lefty equivalent for some rifles.

If he does pick a right handed gun, have him make sure he can easily activate and deactivate the safety, being left handed usually makes trigger guard safeties difficult (they're backwards), and bolt position (either rear swinging levers or side mounted slide safeties) are pretty hard to use off handed. You don't want him missing game because he's fiddling around trying to take the safety off, and you don't want him AD'ing either trying to take it off and reposition or trying to put it back on.

I'm a left handed handgunner, right handed rifleman, and ambidexterous with SxS shotguns...I can "change leads" between my eyes so when I'm shooting left handed, I use my left eye and vice versa-it also comes in handy when I'm shooting a scoped rifle-I can find and watch my target with my left eye, then switch and have the target in scope the whole time with my right eye, instead of lifting my head-helps with target acquisition and following moving targets.

Not that it's incredibly pertinent to you right now, but it's something to think about, I'm a left handed handgunner, and really don't like Double action revolvers because loading is a little awkward (cylinder drops out to the left, so I have to point it down and turn my hand inside out to load with my right hand-or take the time to switch hands.) Shooting certain Semiauto pistols is also a challenge, manual safeties either require two hands to deactivate the safety or require a shooter to unwrap their thumb, take off the safety, then replace it, and vice versa to re-activate the safety-not handy if you're shooting on a timeline-like a SD situation.

bronko22000

Lord no, not in todays gun market. You will pay a few dollars more for a LH gun (rifle or shotgun). But today, all the major manufacturers make Leftys. Weatherby, Browning, Ruger, Savage, Remington, Winchester, etc.
If your son has a dominant left eye, don't force him to shoot right handed.
I'm just a little sorry that Rem. hasn't made the model 7 in a LH. But I'm tickeled pink with my Browning Micro hunter LH in 7-08 which by the way would be a great caliber for a young shooter as would the .243 or 260 Rem.

RonM

In a few years Uncle Sam will teach him to shoot right hand. I am left handed and I use lever action and pumps. They are right hand safety, because when I started shooting that is all there was, so I got accustomed to it and it hads beeen so long that I woldbe agraid to get a left hand safe for fear of getting mixed up. I use a lever action rifle 308 and a 308 and 30-06 pump and 870 shotguns. I have a RH bolt for varmits no problem with it either.

T/C fan!

I'm left-handed and left-eye dominant. I started out hunting with a RH bolt just because LH rifles were not to plentiful on the used market and my dad couldn't afford a new one for me. Getting used to the bolt is not hard, but remember the cheekpiece will also be on the wrong side and sometimes the safety may be hard to get to. Now I use a single-shot T/C Encore rifle and an O/U shotgun.

bigbuck270

I am in almost the same boat as you. My son is four and I am still unsure which way he will shoot. I am a lefty and think he may be also. I do two things to try and get him ready. 1. I gave him an old scope and have him throw it up to his eye once and a while. 2. I bought a 24" blowgun and just use the plastic part of the dart. We shoot 2 liter Pepsi bottles at about 10-15 feet. I am not concerened which eye he is using because he seems to hit the bottle almost every time. When it is time and I hand him a rifle, I think he will automatically sholder it which ever way feels best. Good luck.

pointerDixie214

i thought i might add my two cents on this... i am right handed, so when i started shooting i was shooting that way. but i never got very good that way, and then i found out i was left-eye dominant. so now i shoot left handed and about three times as good. as far as shotguns and rifles i shoot lefty, and i shoot pistols righty. i know remington and benelli are the one two companies that currently make left handed auto loaders, i just got an 11-87 lefty yesterday and loved it at the range. rowning makes the PS which ejcts out the ottom so it is lefty friendly. more companies make lefty rifles than shotguns however. remington has a great selection of left handed rifles. anyways, he should deff. shoot with whichever eye is dominant, or he will never reach his maximum potential. good luck!!!

Nomercy

Like I said, be sure that he shoots to his dominant eye side, not his dominant hand-pointerDixie is living proof of that.