Okay guys, I've been mulling this around in my head for the past year or so...

My little 4 year old girl is going to be a leftie I'm afraid (no offense guys, but I've got around 15 right handed rifles). Time to start thinking about her first deer rifle. I've got a 700 BDL in 243, standard 13 1/2 LOP. This is the rifle I used to take my first deer when I was 12. I've been trying to decide whether to put the barreled action in a stock cut off to around 11 or 12" LOP and teaching her to shoot right handed

OR

Go out and buy a new 7mm-08 leftie, cutting off stock, downloading it to around 2400 fps with 120gr bullets and just starting her out shooting as a leftie (but its gonna break my heart not having her take her first deer with the rifle I used to kill my first), but as she grows up, I'll be able to replace the stock and then load her up to full power.

Fortunately my 2 year old son is going to be a rightie.

So you lefties, what 'cha think? I know there are a lot of lefties who grew up shooting right handed rifles- any of you pissed off at your dad for teaching you that way?

I know I'm pitiful- If my wife knew I was bothered by my daughter being left- handed just because she might not be able to use my rifles she would kill me.

Is she left eye dominant or right eye dominant? That is more important than which hand she picks up her spoon as a 4 year old. I am not trying to be clever with you, but I do wonder how certain their dominance can be at the age of 4 and 2.

I am left eye dominant, I shoot left handed and write left hande. I play all sports right handed. If I were in your shoes, I would wait and see about her eye dominance (at 6 or 7 and decide then). For what it is worth, I do hope that both of your children have the same enthusiasm for shooting and hunting that you do.

I agree with AZ Pete.

The most important factor is her eye dominance. She can learn to shoot either handed. However, as her intrest in shooting sports goes she will be less handicapped if she leanerned to shoot using her dominant eye. She may be a lefty that has a right dominant eye. If so then you should teach her to shoot right handed.

This is not as big an issue with a scoped rifle but it is a huge issue with shotguns and wing shooting. Here your eye is the rear sight and if you are shooting left handed with a right dominant eye than your gun is not truely pointing where your brain is telling it to.

I am right handed but left eye dominant so I shoot left handed but do everything else right handed. My left eye dominantancy (sp?)occured when I was a teenager and shooting right handed became a problem. I either was way off the mark or had the rifle kick back and hit me in the head since I was shooting right handed but using my left eye. The best solution was to teach myself to shoot left handed. It took awhile but now I shoot just fine.

I have seen where a person with the same problem still shot right handed using his left eye by having a deep grove cut out of the stock so he could position his left eye in a comfortable postion for aiming.

The eye dominance is the most important factor as others have said. I'm left handed and left eye dominant but nobody ever heard of eye dominance in my realm of hunters 45 years ago so I just learned to shoot right handed. I probably don't shoot as well as I could if I had learned to shoot left handed but I adapted. Let your kid figure it out by trial and error and you'll all be happy.

Mark

If she turns out to be a lefty the 7mm08 would be a sweet choice. I load 100 gr Sierras for my wife to shoot and it is just like shooing my old 243 that I don't have anymore except the 7mm08 does have a little more horsepower and as time passes move up to the 120TSX or 140TSX.

Mega, I wouldn't worry a whole lot. I am left handed and have a left dominant eye. However when I was young my father taught me to shoot right handed and I shot fine. At present I can shoot both right or left handed equally well and I have both left & right rifles.
Yes I have more dexterity (sp) with my left hand and may have alittle better trigger control shooting left handed, but when closing one eye and shooting through a scope not much difference.
On another thought don't rush a small child girl or boy to early with a larger centerfire. This will cause them to learn bad habits such as flinching. Start them off with the .22 rimfire and let them settle in by firing many rounds. They will enjoy it and it will be easier for you to teach breath and trigger control. Also they get tired real quick of punching paper, find some targets that will jump and move when shot, they will stay interested longer.

Great suggestions everybody...

I'm afraid both of my kids will be hooked on hunting. I took my little girl this past spring when she was 3 on a turkey hunt and she actually called up a longbeard! He gobbled right behind us at 15 yards, but he spooked when she got so excited she turned around too quickly and asked me where he was.

I definetly plan on starting them out slowly with a BB gun first, then on to the .22 before moving up to a rifle around age 6 or 7, depending on how she's doing. I know I may be jumping the gun so to speak looking for her first rifle, but heck she already gotten two .22's by her 2nd Christmas as gifts from friends and family. She's already been to the range with me working up loads for the 10 gauge and didn't run to the other side of the county when the gun went off (wearing ear protection, of course). This year I'll probably take her with me to the woods and see how she likes it, but will probably be a little boring compared to turkey hunting.

I am a lefty that's been shooting right handed bolts and autos his whole life. Teach her to make her first shot count and it will be a moot point whether she can use a right handed action fast enough. There is a third option, a lever action. They can be used by either righties or lefties proficiently.

My suggestion is to start her off with a lever action or pump or single shot that does mot matter so much which way she shoots. Maybe a double rifle in 300 H&H. LOL. The Browning .22lr lever is a good starter and she can learn to use iron sights with either eye. I shoot left or right handed because I don't have a dominent eye. My son is a lefty, shoots left handed or right handed rifles equally well left handed, and shoots a bow righty. My 2 year old grand son uses both hands equally at this point to do things like hammer and throw.
The point is that if she wants to shoot and hunt, she will no matter how you try to screw her up. Like all of us dads and grandads.

Good luck with your young Athena.

Judge Sharpe

Although I'm right handed, I've always happily (and preferably) shot right-handed bolt action rifles left-handed. My son is truly left-handed and can't conceive of shooting anything other than a right-handed bolt gun.

A couple of years ago he came upon two coyotes on a wheat field at a little over two hundred yards while deer hunting with his Sako .30-06 . For some reason he muffed the first shot at a standing coyote, then dropped BOTH coyotes in succession on the run with one shot each. I was a quarter-mile away and the three shots sounded like they came from a semi-auto. As you can see, a lefty who is comfortable with a right-handed bolt is at no disadvantage (and it is much nicer to shoot an "opposite" handed bolt gun from the bench where you're looking directly into the loading port instead of having it obscured on the other side of the gun.) Start your little girl on a "normal" bolt gun and she'll never know the difference.