first gun for left handed newbie.

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retiree99

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I looked at a used lever .22 today but it more $$ than I was willing to spend. Since I am left handed a lever seemed like a good way to go. I am now thinking of starting with an inexpensive right hand bolt action and could pass that on to my right handed kid when they get their license. I guess just getting started is the key as I have so much to learn , like cleaning, sighting, accuracy, safety....etc.
 
Forget LH firearms. Just buy RH firearms and learn to adapt. LH are harder to find, more expensive to buy and way harder to sell. The market for LH is just too small. We are a mere 15% of the population so it behooves us to adapt to the RH world we live in.
 
I shoot LH too. For a bolt action its hard to go wrong with a Savage Mark II. They're affordable and very accurate for the price. Considering how affordable they are, you can get yourself a LH one now, and buy your kid his own down the road.

If you want to try a semi auto, I suggest the Winchester Wildcat. It has a reversible safety, and ambidextrous magazine release, so it is very useable by LH shooters even though its technically a RH gun.


Oh, And check your eye dominance. If you're Right eye dominant then you should shoot right handed, even if you're naturally lefthanded. I'm a righty normally, but my left eye is my dominant one and switching to shooting LH was a gamechanger for me.
 
I shoot long guns left and honestly theres alot of advantages for right guns and lefties. Just get either.

Ledt handed bolt guns are a little preferable for me but no biggy. Savage makes a nice basic .22 bolt rifle with 10 round mag ive had basically since 11 was my first rifle. Mother misplaced it but i have a new one now. Love it
 
Suther said:
I shoot LH too. For a bolt action its hard to go wrong with a Savage Mark II. They're affordable and very accurate for the price. Considering how affordable they are, you can get yourself a LH one now, and buy your kid his own down the road.

If you want to try a semi auto, I suggest the Winchester Wildcat. It has a reversible safety, and ambidextrous magazine release, so it is very useable by LH shooters even though its technically a RH gun.


Oh, And check your eye dominance. If you're Right eye dominant then you should shoot right handed, even if you're naturally lefthanded. I'm a righty normally, but my left eye is my dominant one and switching to shooting LH was a gamechanger for me.
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Yea what he says. Check eye dominance first
 
LH guns are not hard to sell at all in fact they are in demand
my qualifications for such a comment working in the firearms industry since 1977
if you have a limited budget then buy what you can afford but budget firearms will have problems they are harder to resell because of poor quality
as far as 22's go shooting a right handed gun is not a big issues but shotguns and rifles are not a user friendly when shooting from the opposite shoulder
 
I've shot RH rifles left-handed, since I joined the military in '79 and discovered I was left eye dominant.
My only issue is the RH safety.
I reverse the safety's on the guns I own, or buy one with a tang safety.
I just bought a Mossberg 940 for that reason. Tang safety.

Edit: and I bought a Henry lever action because of its safety. There're lefty friendly firearms out there...
 
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They make allot of left handed rifles this day and age. Some are the same price and some are a tad but more expensive. However, they make rifles that fit all different price ranges.

Cheaper end you have some Savage rifles I believe the 64 semi auto and some of the cheaper bolts come in lefty as well as some of their newer stuff. Heck a buddy has a heavy barrel thumbhole that is left handed. (very nice looking rifle but he never brings it out enough to tell if it shoots well.)

Then you can step up into the CZ and Tikka rifles. Then onto the rem 700 footprint stuff. Heck if you have the budget they even make a LH 10/22 its the custom shop version so it ain't your dad's 10/22 but it functions great and is a blast to shoot!

As another mentioned make sure you shoot for eye dominance. I am right handed but shoot left because I am left eye dominant. I can shoot right handed if I need to without issue just closing my other eye but I like to shoot with both eyes open so lefty works better. Yes you can learn to just shoot right handed but honestly in this day and age there is enough left handed rifles available that there is no point in forcing yourself to shoot the non dominant eye side. Mind I do believe in training to shoot with both hands just incase something happens to your eyes or you hands!

That all said you can shoot a right handed rifle left handed just make sure you choose something that has a ambidextrous style stock. Then you can pass it along when you're done. Or use it as an excuse to buy another gun :)

B
 
I guess the first thing that you have to ask yourself is, “am I buying this gun to shoot, or to sell?” I was in the gun business for 28 years and that is a question that I would ask a left handed person who was looking at a gun for themselves. Many would compromise by purchasing a pump or lever action center fire rifle, but by doing so would limit their selection to a few 308, 30-06, or 30-30 based cartridges (not that that is necessarily a bad thing). My son is left handed and he has two left hand Remington 700’s, a left hand Anschutz, and a left handed Beretta and is very handy with all of them. In conclusion, if you decide that that left hand rifle doesn’t suit you, and while you may not be able to pass it on to your right hand son or hunting partner, someone somewhere will buy it from you.
 
Buy the lefty savage mark2 and save the rest of the budget for good ammo . If you feel the need to spend more money they also have left y mark 2s all dolled up with fluted heavy barrels and laminated stock
 
I'm a lefty and shoot right hand firearms all my life but in my old age, I'm picking up some lefty firearms. So far, I have a savage 110C and a left hand flintlock. That one, as soon as I heard about it, I jumped into my truck and drove 4 hours round trip to get it. It is the most fun to shoot.
 
Highwind said:
Go leftie go... Cheaper rifles are made by Savage. Then there is Tikka and CZ at a mid higher end. Top of the price list would be Anschutz rimfire.
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My lefty has a heavy barrel, I'd like to get it changed over to a normal "sporter" style because as it sits, it weighs just over 13 lbs, too much for this old boy to drag through the bush.
 
Odinson said:
My lefty has a heavy barrel, I'd like to get it changed over to a normal "sporter" style because as it sits, it weighs just over 13 lbs, too much for this old boy to drag through the bush.
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Sounds like a target rifle for sure and not ideal for trouncing around in the bush with. Depending on the brand you may be able to find a lighter profile barrel.
 
retiree99 said:
I looked at a used lever .22 today but it more $$ than I was willing to spend. Since I am left handed a lever seemed like a good way to go. I am now thinking of starting with an inexpensive right hand bolt action and could pass that on to my right handed kid when they get their license. I guess just getting started is the key as I have so much to learn , like cleaning, sighting, accuracy, safety....etc.
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I would check your eye dominance and that of your kid. I wish I was told to check it when I was given some of my dad's rifles. I'm left eye dominant but shoot right because that's how I started. I'm too old and stubborn to change my ways now. Not to mention the cost to change my inventory. Break actions are ambidextrous for the most part, so maybe look at some used ones. Maybe consider a shotgun as a first. They can help you develop your body mechanics and objective sighting and tracking. There are some very inexpensive models available. Of course the options increase with a bigger budget. Ultimately your a prisoner of your budget though. Cheers
 
There may be as many as 40% who are Left eye dominant. Some may not know. When one considers that each of us has two eyes. We have to be eye dominant with either the Left eye or the Right Eye.
 
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