Left or right

[mooretitan]

Well I have been taking my son out lately and he is doing well. I have him shooting right handed but had to make a patch to keep his other eye closed. His twin sister shoots right handed but both eyes open. What I have noticed is that he naturally left handed when shooting.
I can either keep the eye patch and over time it will solve the problem. I had to do the same when I was his age.
I can teach. I'm both eyes open. Which is probably the best
Or I can just let him shoot left handed and have to buy all new guns for him

Thanks

 

[Korhil78]

I am just letting my kid do what is natural for him. I took him to a gun store and put a Savage Little Rascal .22 in his hands (after it was checked) and told him to shoulder it and look through the sights. Without pause, he put it up to his left shoulder and closed his right eye. I was shocked. I even did the eye dominance test with him and he was left eye dominant. I bought the left handed Little Rascal and couldn't be happier.

I just chose what he was comfortable with. You already know that you can force teach him to shoot right handed but why? In the day and age of modern computers and such, instant satisfaction is something that kids are subjected to these days. Most kids just are not as patient with things as they used to be. Their attention span is a lot shorter, so you may push him away by making him try to learn to shoot righty. Not saying your kid is not patient but if he ever gets to the point that he is on the fence about shooting then it may push him away.

 

[cowboy]

Well I have been taking my son out lately and he is doing well. I have him shooting right handed but had to make a patch to keep his other eye closed. His twin sister shoots right handed but both eyes open. What I have noticed is that he naturally left handed when shooting.
I can either keep the eye patch and over time it will solve the problem. I had to do the same when I was his age.
I can teach. I'm both eyes open. Which is probably the best
Or I can just let him shoot left handed and have to buy all new guns for him

Thanks

Which eye is dominate? If he is left eye dominate and things are natural for him shooting left handed there would be no question if he was my son. Make it as fun and painless as possible.

 

[Dosh]

M, if your son is left eye dominant he will be better off shooting lefty. When I was his age there were no lefty rifles available so all left handers shot right hand rifles. Now there are left hand rifles everywhere so let nature prevail. Good luck

 

[FEENIX]

I am left eye dominant but right handed. I shoot right handed rifles and bow. The only I do naturally left handed is with sling shot (go figure).

Tried shooting left handed but was no help.

 

[mooretitan]

The only problem which really isn't a problem is that all of my guns are right handed so I would have to get him left handed guns instead of passing my down. He is right handed and when running around with the nerf rifles he holds them right handed but leans over so he is looking down with his left eye. I had him switch to holding them left handed and looking with his left eye and it was a lot more natural.

Between him and his siblings I will be pretty broke since all of them love to go

 

[Frostbite Slim]

I'm left-handed and have never owned a left-handed firearm. I'm weird though, I shoot long arms (and my bow) lefty, and my handguns right-handed. I never found a need to purchase a left-handed firearm. YMMV.

 

[Dosh]

M, Boyd's makes left hand stocks for right hand actions. I've heard some others are available also. Good luck

 

[WHITEBULL]

I shoot left handed. Left eye dominant. I tried right handed, but it would take forever to adjust to it. I would let him shoot whichever way he is comfortable, otherwise confidence could suffer, then his interest could drop. Unfortunately, it can be quite a chore finding a left handed rifle sometimes. That said, all my bolt actions are lefty's, and all my AR's are right handed. Tikka makes a lot of lefty's, so does Savage and CZ. Good luck.

 

[MOA Chaser]

I shoot left handed, throw right handed. Left handed guns drive me nuts.

 

[fllefty]

To me its a no brainier. Sounds like the kid is left eye dominant and instinctively shoulders a long gun left handed. I also understand your predicament I to I'm left handed and both my sons are right handed. Go figure.

 

[Wyofax]

I have a daughter who is dominately right handed but left eye dominant. I put a gun in her right hand at an early age and she just looked uncomfortable, uncoordinated and unnatural. When she shouldered a gun left handed she looked very comfortable and natural. So I encouraged her to continue shooting lefty. She shoots all of my guns left handed even though they are all righties. The cool thing is, she can flat out shoot long guns from the left side. She has harvested some great animals and tremendous distances. I do not believe that would be possible if I made her shoot right handed.

 

[jrsolocam]

My uncle noticed I was left eye dominant when I was 7 and taught me to shoot left handed. I shoot a bow left handed, play pool left handed, left hand was strong hand in HS basketball, bat left handed, etc etc but I throw and write right handed...

I understand your predicament, buy a lefty for him and see how it works...

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

why handicap him by pushing him righty???
Get him a lh pipe and teach him correctly...

I'm in the process of purging the right handed rifles from my arsenal, but I'll likely keep a couple of them for my right handed sons...
Prolly ought to try like the O.P. and patch up that right eye on them to teach them lefty, eh??