Finally got my daughter shooting! Need help though.

[TedH]

We spent the weekend camping at the folks farm. I brought a couple .22's hoping to get my wife to shoot again, and help get my 6 year old daughter shooting. My daughter didn't want to try it, that is until she saw how much fun her Mama was having knocking those tin cans over. I think my wife had forgot how much fun she used to have shooting as well.

I had my Henry 22 for my daughter to shoot. It is of course too big for her, but we tried it with the buttstock under her armpit. That seemed to work ok, but she was having a real hard time getting her eyes lined up with the sights. Then I realized she was holding the rifle right handed and was trying to sight with her left eye. We tried a little exercise, and I found out that she can't close her left eye and keep the right one open. She can however keep the left one open with the right closed. So I helped her hold the rifle left handed. Once she got comfortable with that and tried a few dry fires, we loaded the rifle and let her have at it. She was able to hit some old paint cans from about 15 yards very regularly. I think that was the spark she needed and the fire is going now. She didn't want to stop even when we ran out of ammo. She said she definitely wants her own rifle now, and her mother has given her approval as well.

Not sure what to do about her eyes though. She is right handed in everything else she does, but can't seem to work her eyes properly to shoot right handed. Seems like she can shoot left handed though. Do I let her shoot left handed or try something else to get her eyes to work shooting right handed?

[piller]

Both of my kids are cross dominant. Right handed, left eyed. For my son, I put a sticky dot like you put on your target on his shooting glasses on the left side and he can do fine. My daughter has overcome the difference by sheer determination. The sticky dot covers enough of the vision out of his left eye that his brain uses only the right during the time his shooting glasses are on.

[jdad]

My son is right handed and left eye dominant also. CZ makes left handed rifles that will work just fine. Remington 550 or 552 semi autos have shell deflectors that make it safe for left eyes also.

You could, of course, just buy her a Henry minibolt and sell it off once she outgrows it.

[JB]

That's a tough one. I believe she's probably better off learning to shoot left handed if that's her dominant eye. I hate to push a kid into shooting left handed, but the cross dominant thing can be a big problem.

I help teach an air pistol class. I recently had a kid that just couldn't hit the side of a barn until I figured out that he was shooting right handed but was left eye dominant. Since the pistol had a grip that wouldn't work shooting it left handed, I had to put a patch over his left eye. He was then able to shoot as well as the other kids.

[dbateman]

TedH sounds like you had a grate weekend away with your famlly
the sticky dot idear that piller mentiond will work and will not be needed in time
when she gets use to shooting on the right side
how ever quit a few of my mates shoot left handed and dont have to much of a problem
one is even right handed with every thing else but shoots left handed if he can
(we do a lot of shooting from helicopters in the NTso you learn to shoot from left or right shoulder depending
on the side the pilot is on)

[AJMD429]

Both of my kids are cross dominant. Right handed, left eyed. For my son, I put a sticky dot like you put on your target on his shooting glasses on the left side and he can do fine. My daughter has overcome the difference by sheer determination. The sticky dot covers enough of the vision out of his left eye that his brain uses only the right during the time his shooting glasses are on.

That's what I recommend. The 'dots' work perfectly - just try to place it on the spot of the glasses she's looking through when she does line up her right eye - it is likely high and to the middle, and not just in the 'center' of the lens.

I'm right handed but left eye dominant, and it is much easier to find guns and range equipment and so on for right handed shooting, and just learn to use your right eye.

As far as rifle stocks go, the 'Cricket' and other 'kid' stocks are cute, but I've yet to see one sized for an actual child. The only 'factory' stock kids age 6-10 seem to be able to put on their shoulder rather than under their arm, (or they turn sideways so far so the stock is just laying along their shoulder), is the CAR-15 stocks. Those actually DO make good 'kid' guns with the .22 LR adapter, but I'm partial to leverguns like the Henry (or a 96/22 ).

I suppose if it is a gun with a commonly available replacement stock, you could just get a spare for later, and take a saw to the one you have now. For the few years she'll be using it that short, you may not even want to bother fitting with a buttplate. When her arms are a little longer, you can put the longer one back on.

[86er]

My soon to be 4 year old son can't close his left eye all the way either. He seems to be right handed in most things he does but we're not sure yet. For shooting, I put white on the front sight blade on the Henry and let him shoot with both eyes open. He seems to do fine with it, but he's too small to tell me exactly what he's doing so it is easily understood. Maybe you can try something that lets her keep both eyes open.

[crs]

Sounds like you all had a good time!
My daughter is right handed, but a left eye dominant shooter and here is what we did:
1. Shotgun - double barrel SxS and OU - shoots left handed
2. Pistol - any old way, seems to make no difference
3. Rifle - shoot left handed with left handed bolt actions, and left handed with slide action, lever action, or single shots.

Simple and fun solutions.

[AJMD429]

As far as a 'both eyes open' method, the red-dot sights are pretty intuitive, and both eyes open works fine. That Marbles Bullseye sight I just got that goes in the rear barrel dovetail is also perfect to use with both eyes open. A red-dot suitable for a .22 would cost maybe $30, and the Marbles is $20.

[bsaride]

I bought my niece a left handed bolt from Savage as she was left eye dominant and she decided from the get go she would shoot left handed.

[Hobie]

I'd get her a Chipmunk or Cricket so she can use the gun correctly. Then she can learn to shoot from BOTH shoulders.

[Andrew]

I am no expert but I have done some tid bits of reading on the subject because I am afflicted with the same issue. I never notice it while I'm shooting a rifle though so I guess I'm lucky that way. Pistols I just lean my head. I've never tried keeping both eyes open while shooting a scattergun so it's of little affect there as well. Tape on glasses has worked for my while sighting in the house although not proven in the field yet.

Oh, anyway, the rule of thumb I have seen come up the most is to not fight it: shoot with the correct eye. Especially if you can catch it early on like you have.

Not an expert, just regurgitating what I've read elsewhere.

[TedH]

We did have a great time. Not only did I get my daughter shooting, my wife's interest in shooting seems to be renewed after several years of not shooting anything. We also did some fishing in the lake we camped by, picked a bunch of wild blackberries, and Grandma sent us home with a five gallon bucket of pears from her trees. I told my wife there better be some kind of a hot cobbler on the stovetop when I get home tomorrow.

My daughter (in the camo) and her best bud and cousin.





She was very proud of her harvest.







Trying some dry firing first.






I have a funny feeling we'll be stopping by the gun store this week and coming home with a pink Crickett.

Need to find some better fitting glasses for her too and try the dot or a piece of tape on the left side the next time we go out too.

[Ysabel Kid]

Ted -

Good for you! Your daughter looks like a little sweetie. Mine tried out her pink-stocked bolt-action .22 this summer at her grandfather's house, and I couldn't pry her away from it. Partially the same problem - holding the stock under her arm, and difficulty closing her left eye. Actually, I don't think this necessarily means she is left eye dominant. Kids often have a hard time close one eye. Usually they can close the dominant one easier - probably something to do with it doing more work. Same as one can do everything easier with their strong hand. A dot on the shooting glasses accompishes two things at once - helping her use her right eye and keeping her used to wearing shooting glasses. You can also use a "pirate patch" over her left eye if that works better (still have her use the shooting glasses though!).

For my daughter she's going to need to start using her brother's .22 for a while until she is big enough to switch to her pink-stocked one. I cut down a spare stock on the Marlin and it really fits young shooters (5-8 years old) very well.

Good luck!

[wm]

Been there and done that with my oldest nephew. He has been a competitive shooter but now only bow hunts and shoots handguns in combat courses.

If she is indeed left eye dominant, as she appears to be, I would suggest she learn to shoot left handed. Sometimes fighting nature is just not worth the trouble.

There are plenty of good quality left handed bolt actions out there, lever actions seem to be pretty ameanable to either side, and as for semi autos.....hands down the choice for southpaw shooters is the J.M. Browning designed Remington & FN Browning rimfire that ejects out the bottom, ( I can't for the life of me recall what Browning or Remington model numbers were).

Another possibility is the Rossi youth single shot. I bought one of those years ago for my sons in 20 gauge and 22lr (but they offer other combinations) in the smaller rimfire frame including 410, 17hmr, 22mag. Both my sons have outgrown them now but I have hung onto the rig as it makes a nice, packable companion in the boat or camper.

H&R/NEF did offer a similar rifle/shotgun combination on their sportster frame but finding one is difficult and it cost 2/3 more than the Rossi.

Wm

[O.S.O.K.]

I also recommend a youth model -the cricket or a Marlin 915Y - both single shots.

As for left or right shooting - I recommend teaching her to shoot rifles left handed. My youngest son is right handed/left eye dominant too - taught him to shoot left handed and never looked back. He's very comfortable with it now and does fine.

He cand shoot handguns left or right but favors right and just cants his head over a bit.

[Wind]

Hey there TedH - From the way I read your post, it's not a dominant eye situation, but the ability to hold the left one closed with the right eye open. Let me preface this by saying that I can't shoot anything with both eyes open, therefore I can't teach effectively how to do it. I was getting some safety glasses made from old time frames with polycarbonate inserts, and my optometrist asked me what they were all about. That lead to taking her shooting. She had the same issues as your daughter. I lent her my pirate eye patch out of my kit and she kept both eyes open, but lined up the sights with her right eye. This worked and she did well. From then on it was a matter of muscle control and practicing/exercising the left eyelid. It took a month to lose the eye patch, a couple more to get proficient, and now she is into a full race 11-87 trap gun kicking butt. I think starting at six, your daughter will have mastered closing her left eye easily before age seven if she practices. You might order up another stock from Henry and cut it off to fit her. Save the cutoff piece and you can put it back on as she gets bigger. My dad did this for me with a J.C. Higgins little blond bolt rifle with a five round clip. Hope this helps. Best regards. Wind

[wm]

I also had my sons start out with the Marlin 915Y 'Lil Buckaroo' and highly recommend it.

I still have it and hope to someday break in grandkids on the same gun......start a little family tradition maybe.

Wm

[Tycer]

Teach them to shoot with the hand of their dominant eye.

In an emergency situation, the dominant eye will overrule the weak one, but muscle memory is permanent.

[AJMD429]

We did have a great time. Not only did I get my daughter shooting, my wife's interest in shooting seems to be renewed after several years of not shooting anything.

Women seem much more interested in shooting when a kid is there doing it with them.

[Leverdude]

We spent the weekend camping at the folks farm. I brought a couple .22's hoping to get my wife to shoot again, and help get my 6 year old daughter shooting. My daughter didn't want to try it, that is until she saw how much fun her Mama was having knocking those tin cans over. I think my wife had forgot how much fun she used to have shooting as well.

I had my Henry 22 for my daughter to shoot. It is of course too big for her, but we tried it with the buttstock under her armpit. That seemed to work ok, but she was having a real hard time getting her eyes lined up with the sights. Then I realized she was holding the rifle right handed and was trying to sight with her left eye. We tried a little exercise, and I found out that she can't close her left eye and keep the right one open. She can however keep the left one open with the right closed. So I helped her hold the rifle left handed. Once she got comfortable with that and tried a few dry fires, we loaded the rifle and let her have at it. She was able to hit some old paint cans from about 15 yards very regularly. I think that was the spark she needed and the fire is going now. She didn't want to stop even when we ran out of ammo. She said she definitely wants her own rifle now, and her mother has given her approval as well.

Not sure what to do about her eyes though. She is right handed in everything else she does, but can't seem to work her eyes properly to shoot right handed. Seems like she can shoot left handed though. Do I let her shoot left handed or try something else to get her eyes to work shooting right handed?

If she can learn to shoot lefty thats the route I'd take. A patch over her left eye will work, but what about if she has no glasses or has glasses but no patch ect.
My youngest is lefty & righty but left eyed. He can do most things either way but shoots lefty. I Got him a Crickit when he was 5 & he could shoulder it. Its much smaller than Marlins kids gun or Henry's kids lever gun. Its the only one I found that a kid could really shoot, the thing is tiny. He graduated to a Henry levergun but still loves his "Sniper rifle"

[AJMD429]

Even the Crickett will have a stock too long for a kid that size to get square on her shoulder; the buttstock would need to end just 3-4" behind the tang on the levergun there.

Whatever you get consider a spare stock for and just cut it to fit her. Her whole shooting stance will benefit from it. Be sure the gun's overall length complies with federal law though.

Most kids DO like leverguns better than bolt guns, too.... (can't imagine why... )

[Ysabel Kid]

As you can see, though she loves it, this is too long for the little peanut right now.



So, I did what AJ recommended above - got a second stock for the Marlin 15YN that belongs to Y2K, and cut it down (and also decorated it with brass tacks and blackpowder furniture - at his request).



This was Y2K a couple years ago, and as you can see, he has not problem snugging it up properly.



So, YK's little girl will be borrowing Y2K's gun for a bit. Don't worry - Y2K has plenty of others, and has been shooting the heck out of mine!

Sorry for the bad picture - I'm not KirkD! But as you can see, plenty short enough for a child to shoulder correctly. Light enough for them to handle too. And the Marlin functions like any adult single-shot bolt-action rifle. Training them right!



Good luck!!!

[TedH]

We sat down at the computer tonight and looked at a bunch of youth model 22's on Gunbroker. She decided that she likes the stainless Crickett with the pink laminated wood stock. I think she made a good choice. We might stop by the local guys this week and see what they can get us one for.

[AJMD429]

The gun is really CUTE (...and so's the kid...) and it is good she's bonded to it, but...

Crickett.jpg

...buy a hacksaw blade and a spare stock, if you want her to have a good stance and hold and shoot well; just keep overall length within NFA limits.

Look at the PERFECT hold Y2K's got on that extra-short gun; you'll never get that without the home gunsmithing!
(...other than a CAR-15 with a .22 LR adaptor ).



Either way, looks like you got a GREAT kid , who is on her way to loving the outdoors, shooting, and being the kind of kid to be proud of. Whatever works for her I'm sure you'll provide (...but of course Y2K and I are right... ).

Mostly - just keep the .22LR supplies well stocked, and maybe a flip-up metal target for her birthday.



...before long, you'll wind up with one of these...