Hello,
I am left handed and my hunting gun is a right hand GPR. I have always shot righthanded guns left handed with no problems.
It is not so much the issue of handness as it is eye dominance. It is very possible for a person to be left handed and right eye dominant, like my brother. He shoots righthanded. I, on the otherhand :haha: shoot lefthanded. I feel eye dominance is the key for wich side a person should favor. A simple test can confirm eye dominance. Have you son hold his arms straight out, palms facing away from his body like a crossing guard halting a car except with both hands. Have him overlap the fingers of one closed hand over the other. This should leave a small hole between the thumbs. Close the hands until the hole is about 1/2 inch. Have him focus with both eyes through the hole on an object across the room. Ask him to close his right eye. If the object disapears he is right eye dominant. If the object is still in view he is left eye dominant.
With the issue of eye dominance settled ya'll can start shouldering the weapon, unloaded of course. Have him shoulder the arm on the side of eye dominance. Right eye, right shoulder and vice- versa. Make sure he does not cross aim, right shoulder, left eye. This may cause some debate but I close my off eye when I aim. Position hands and elbows for best balance and comfort. If he is a small young'un he may have trouble holding the weapon correctly if the pull and or stock is too long. If so it may be better to start him off with a smaller gun. This should settle which side he favors.
I shoot left handed most of the time. It is the side I favor naturally. I chose to shoot right handed guns. Let him choose the gun he wants and adapt to it. In a way it does not matter what side the lock is on most guns as long as the shooter can shoot it. Think of a double barrel shot gun or double rifle the location of the locks is a non issue. An exception to this is a longrifle made with cast off, that is the butt is a little off center to allow better sight alignment and too direct recoil away from the face. Shooting a gun like this off handed would be uncomfortable. It would be a slapper. :shocked2:
In closing of this epic post. :redface: Sorry.
One talent that a lot of left handed shooters have is the ability to shoot equally well right or left handed. In a tree stand this allows you a 360 degree field of fire. When swapping sides swap eyes. This is why I close one eye. Try teaching this skill to your son. He may be already predisposed to this talent. My groups differ a little from right to left. Not by much but I have tighter groups when I shoot my standard GPR right handed. I wonder if it's because I place my face in a slightly different spot each time I shoot off handed.:hmm:
