Starting out a young shooter, who's left eye dominant. Got questions..

[Lifeisgood]

I am right handedish ( throw right, bat right) but do many things that depend on vision left handed such as bow, long gun or billiards. Never owned a left handed firearm (bow is a different story) so as a kid, I actually never realized I was "making an adjustment" to use right handed stuff.
Perhaps one reason I favor the Ruger No. 1 is related to this nuance - that and my appreciation for fine wood and being somewhat of a minimalist "I just need one shot", as well as learning patience for the "right" shot.
I do struggle with pistol accuracy though as sometimes I can be way off target if I loose concentration and "switch" eyes. Perhaps someone here could school me on the pistol issue.

 

[Toolhand]

I am right handed left eye dominant. Dad made me do everything right handed when I was young or I would have been left handed. For the longest time I shot right handed with my left eye by leaning across the stock and no one told me any better. I now shoot with my non dominant eye but am forced to never shoot with both eyes open. I make it work but certainly wish this wasn't the case but I'm to far in to swap to left handed now... long story short let him shoot with his natural dominant side and eye regardless of rifle.

 

[5.56×250]

My son is ambi , doing many things right handed , but he is a strong left eye dominant.
When he was 4, i bought him a chipmunk 22 rh rifle. I stuck a simmons 4x long eye relief shotgun scope on it so it would be forgiving of form at his young age . He was a little young at the time to hold the rifle offhand and shoot, so we started with a resting position on an old rock pile in the back yard. I got him all set up in a comfortable position, but he just looked extremely uncomfortable and held his head really odd on the stock. After a few very awkward shots at the cans i started looking at his form more critically to try and make him more comfortable shooting. Whatever i did to help him never changed his weird stock weld. Finally it hit me ! I asked him to aim at the target while i covered one eye at a time. He was shooting right handed but aiming with his left eye ! I swapped him over to holding lefty on the gun. BAM ! He shot great from then on.

 

[DJ Fergus]

I am lefty and have never had any issues using a right hand bolt... I actually prefer it from a rested shooting position

I shoot left and actually prefer right handed bolt actions. I shoot from a rest all the time any way. I've often thought that if I was a right handed shooter I would want a left handed bolt action.

 

[UplandFreak]

I am left-eye dominant and right-handed. When I first started shooting, I used my left eye to look through a right-handed set-up. The view is not the best but it was OK until I trained my right eye to shoot with it. I shot better with my left eye but a bit slow and clumsy in the bolt cycling process and shooting fundamentals. However, as others noted, it is best to train him with a left-handed rifle from the start. Good luck!

I am the opposite of my son and yourself - left handed and right eye dominant. Holding the gun left handed and sighting with my right eye was fine with shotguns and 22's. I realized I had to make a change when I was 12 and scoped myself with a 270 My dad isn't a hunter and my grandpa and uncles didnt care about me enough to notice my flawed approach to looking into the rifle scope...lol.

 

[bigngreen]

Having started a lot of first time shooters in the NRA BB gun program I see this multiple times a year and these kids will change half way through the season or the next year but the important thing is to be patient and help them follow the best eye, if they are left dominant set them up lefty all the way, let their shooting position adapt and don't force their eyes and after a very short time they'll be shooting 10's much easier and with less frustration and tears for them!!

One thing that really bugs me about the left shooter right bolt is in a bad situation like a plugged barrel or primer blow stuff comes out the open bolt side, I've had a situation that had I been a lefty shooting the wrong side the parts that went through my cheek would have gone through the center of my face.

 

[skipglo]

I am a father of two young boys, ages 11 and 8 and both are learning to shoot rifles and bows. My 11 year old is left eye dominant but the 8 year old is not. I was able to purchase them a left hand bow and right hand bow respectively, but it is hard as hell to find a left hand compact bolt action rifle. I am a die hard model 70 fan and winchester does not offer left handed rifles but they offer right handed actions in a compact. Should I train my left eye dominant son to shoot with his right eye? or should I just have him shoot left hand with a right hand rifle? A full size rifle's LOP is too long for him and 24" barrels are too heavy. The compact fit just right but I have no idea if I should just have him shoot the compact right handed rifle for 3 years and then pass it to his brother and get him a left handed full size rifle at that point? Would having a right handed rifle for 3 years and then switching to a left hand rifle effect his learning development? I am taking him antelope hunting next year year when he turns 12 and we are starting to shoot weekly to prepare him for the hunt. Any input would be appreciated.

Absolutely not to training right! I'm a lefty and 63 years old. Think of what I faced years ago. Left handed rifles are far more common now. So let me give you some advice here with years of shooting There are two methods....both work....in the beginning and for many years I just reached across the gun and worked the bolt cross handed...and with not much practice...got just about as fast as a eighties......years go bye....and daaaaaa...you find something different to retrain yourself....if shooting prone or bench or off of any rest....it's actually beneficial to be a lefty.....teach your son to use his right hand to eject. This way he doesn't have to break his line of sight on target and his trigger finger is always in position on the stalk. But you can find Remington lefty new for under 500.00 and some savage models.

 

[Plinker147]

I have experienced the same, I am left handed, but right on dominant, I shoot right handed. My son is very right handed but left I dominant.

I started him shooting left handed and it took a bit for him to pick it up, bow was the tuffest. It will pay off if you teach him with his dominant eye. You can get by on scopes with either eye but when it comes to shooting shotgun or any quick type shooting using the dominant eye is a must.

Right hand bolt gun with left hand shooter is no issue, that how my sons shoot. With semi autos it can be an issue because of the ejection as stated earlier. It was not an issue with his 10-22 that he competed with.

 

[Gater]

I am a father of two young boys, ages 11 and 8 and both are learning to shoot rifles and bows. My 11 year old is left eye dominant but the 8 year old is not. I was able to purchase them a left hand bow and right hand bow respectively, but it is hard as hell to find a left hand compact bolt action rifle. I am a die hard model 70 fan and winchester does not offer left handed rifles but they offer right handed actions in a compact. Should I train my left eye dominant son to shoot with his right eye? or should I just have him shoot left hand with a right hand rifle? A full size rifle's LOP is too long for him and 24" barrels are too heavy. The compact fit just right but I have no idea if I should just have him shoot the compact right handed rifle for 3 years and then pass it to his brother and get him a left handed full size rifle at that point? Would having a right handed rifle for 3 years and then switching to a left hand rifle effect his learning development? I am taking him antelope hunting next year year when he turns 12 and we are starting to shoot weekly to prepare him for the hunt. Any input would be appreciated.

I am left hand and eye I only own one left handed rifle and that's my hunting rifle .338 win mag I don't have any problem shooting right handed guns. Now my two sons shoot different my oldest shoot right eye right hand my youngest is right handed but only shoots left hand don't know why but he does pretty good his problem is he is a little person so it's stock Length so I have a couple that we found replacement stocks and sawed them off good luck

 

[DJ Fergus]

Like I said earlier, I'm right handed but left dominant & shoot left mostly. Let him learn to shoot with his dominant eye. I personally don't think it will make much of a difference either way if he learns on a right or left handed rifle but which ever it is he needs to stick with either a left or right until he masters it. I can shoot either left or right now. I had a buddy who shoots right and he always mad fun of me shooting left. He was having a bad day shooting a bolt action. I told him to let my try. He went to move the rifle to the other side of the bench for me, I said just leave it right there. I sat down right handed and shot better than he could that day.

 

[Cesky fousek]

I am a father of two young boys, ages 11 and 8 and both are learning to shoot rifles and bows. My 11 year old is left eye dominant but the 8 year old is not. I was able to purchase them a left hand bow and right hand bow respectively, but it is hard as hell to find a left hand compact bolt action rifle. I am a die hard model 70 fan and winchester does not offer left handed rifles but they offer right handed actions in a compact. Should I train my left eye dominant son to shoot with his right eye? or should I just have him shoot left hand with a right hand rifle? A full size rifle's LOP is too long for him and 24" barrels are too heavy. The compact fit just right but I have no idea if I should just have him shoot the compact right handed rifle for 3 years and then pass it to his brother and get him a left handed full size rifle at that point? Would having a right handed rifle for 3 years and then switching to a left hand rifle effect his learning development? I am taking him antelope hunting next year year when he turns 12 and we are starting to shoot weekly to prepare him for the hunt. Any input would be appreciated.

Might be easier to train your son that's what I did with my son
I use pair of shooting glasses and put some black electrical tape over the left lens

 

[DJ Fergus]

I am the opposite of my son and yourself - left handed and right eye dominant. Holding the gun left handed and sighting with my right eye was fine with shotguns and 22's. I realized I had to make a change when I was 12 and scoped myself with a 270 My dad isn't a hunter and my grandpa and uncles didnt care about me enough to notice my flawed approach to looking into the rifle scope...lol.

My dad is left handed & shoots right but he's never really shot much in my lifetime & never really hunted. All his time was spent farming so I taught myself just about everything shooting & hunting wise. So, I talked him into shooting my 22 creedmoor last week. He's 76 years old. He hasn't shot any firearm in over 20 years. He centers up on my 500 yard gong. He says three times in a row" I can't believe I hit it". Later on my mom tells me " well he was awarded some sort of sharp shooter honor in the National Guard"....42 years gone by and he's never told me this or even shown me how to shoot anything. But Hey! I'm doing alright with my shooting.

 

[ThorThor]

Most of us left handed rifle shooters grew up shooting right handed rifles and never knew there was a choice until later in life. Left handed bolts have not been so available like they are now. I believe browning makes a compact left handed xbolt. Shooting prone left handed with right handed rifle on a bipod you can really get accurate shots off quick.

 

[ronstone09]

I am a father of two young boys, ages 11 and 8 and both are learning to shoot rifles and bows. My 11 year old is left eye dominant but the 8 year old is not. I was able to purchase them a left hand bow and right hand bow respectively, but it is hard as hell to find a left hand compact bolt action rifle. I am a die hard model 70 fan and winchester does not offer left handed rifles but they offer right handed actions in a compact. Should I train my left eye dominant son to shoot with his right eye? or should I just have him shoot left hand with a right hand rifle? A full size rifle's LOP is too long for him and 24" barrels are too heavy. The compact fit just right but I have no idea if I should just have him shoot the compact right handed rifle for 3 years and then pass it to his brother and get him a left handed full size rifle at that point? Would having a right handed rifle for 3 years and then switching to a left hand rifle effect his learning development? I am taking him antelope hunting next year year when he turns 12 and we are starting to shoot weekly to prepare him for the hunt. Any input would be appreciated.

I'm naturally left handed but growing up we only had right handed rifles so I learned to shoot right handed and continue to do so today and I'm 77 !