Home Forums Hunting & Shooting The Lefty Forum teach righty or lefty?

My daughter is 6 and I would like to get her her first 22.

She is a lefty, but more nearly ambidextrous. She writes lefty but she will use a fork or spoon in either hand.

She is master eye in the right.

I am feeling that she should learn to shoot righty. Does that sound right?

go with the dominant eye

right (eye is the key)

Took me a lot of push ups to understand that I needed to shoot with my dominant eye, but I figured it out.

That was my feeling but know I know.. next up buying a little gun

If you can find one, those T/C Hotshots are really nice. It's ambi so she can try both sides.

No question. If she is right eye dominant, teach here to shoot off her right side. It will be a big benefit to her in the long run.

^^^^this.

And obviously the rifle options increase manifold.

Taught my RH son to shoot LH due to eye dominance and he was Sub-Junior All American 2nd team in Sporting Clays. Go with the dominant eye.

+1 on this.

A whole lot easier to get her shooting off her dominant side at this age than trying to fight a cross dominance issue and possibly discouraging her from shooting altogether.

Not sure about your kids temperament but I know with mine, it may not matter which way I decide to teach them something. I'd get her a Ruger 10/22 with a single shot mag in case she wants to switch it up later, works good on either shoulder.

My 10 year old son is mostly right but left eye dominate. He started shooting rim fires right but now shoots his savage 93 lefty. Since we do the mentor hunting (we can only have one gun for the two of us until he is 12), he shoots my model 70 lefty. I have a lefty savage 110 in 257 Roberts waiting for his twelfth birthday. I was criticized for not patching him when he was younger to shoot right, but I believe I made the right decision. He also shoots sporting clays lefty with my SX2 without issue.
Keep it fun for her and you will be the luckiest guy at the range. I know I am when I take the kids with me.

go righty,I'm a lefty and wish I would have been taught righty,hate buying lh guns and limited choices.

My daughter is 6 and I thunk a 10/22 would be physically pretty big for her. I am thinking more in line with a Crickett or a savage rascal. I like that they have peep sights which will be slightly easier to teach than open sights.

The other option would be to put together a contender 22 for her. Its initially much more expensive, but has gobs of advantages. its ambidextrous, as she grows I could morph it into a deer rifle for her, (besides I have been hankering after a contender carbine myself.) On the negative side opening the action might be a chore for small hands.

In either case I think concentrating on slow accurate fire and the principles of marksmanship ( and fun) will be key.

As I will be teaching her righty its no issue, but even if she goes the other way she won't be shooting it as a repeater so a few seconds more to load shouldn't hurt.

I like the idea of the Contender, but the operation seems to make things prone to confusion about safe operation. Having to use the action lever for everything confuses ME anyway. And it seems to have resulted in negligent discharges. It does seem a great option, though, especially considering you can even get a 28 gauge barrel for one.

Another option would be a TACCOM3G .22lr upper on a New Frontier lower with a standard adjustable stock. They're very light and can be used a singly loaded to start. Moving up to .223 and maybe a WSSM would be a natural progression.

I'm right-handed and right-eye dominant. The ONLY thing I do left-handed is shoot long guns! My dad was left-handed but most of my shooting technique is self-taught starting with a BB gun that I was determined to be ambidextrous with. Over time, I just felt more comfortable shooting lefty and much of that has to do with having better control of the gun with my stronger right arm. I still can shoot decently with my right hand which has come in (excuse the pun) handy in some hunting situations like spring turkey. I'd keep it fun for her, encourage her to shoot from both sides of the gun initially, and see what works out for her. By the way, I have no problems shooting righty guns left-handed including auto loaders and bolts. I also hunt quite a bit with Encores and have the advantage of changing hands if really needed. I would suggest considering guns with a tang safety or hammer like the Contender or Encore since can they be handled easily from both sides.

I bought the Savage Rascal for a grandson to learn to shoot. Glad I did. All the basics, accurate, easy for small hands to operate, fun.

Your daughter might have great fun with it and you can teach the basics of safety and function with something she can easily and happily handle. Besides, you can get it in PINK!

Enjoy
Jim

go with the dominant eye when ever possible.

Well being a lefty born in the mid thirtys i tend to have strong
opinions over being forced to do things that are just unnatural
for you. Some teachers actualy thought they could force kids to
use the proper hand. Keep it simple and keep it fun. At some point if she's serious enough she will figure it out for herself.