Starting Caliber

Start by deciding how much money you want to spend. A BNIB Savage .223 can cost you as little as $600ish with iron sights. A .22 rimfire can be $300ish. $700ish for a Savage Package(Comes with a decent scope.) rifle.
Don't discount buying a used rifle either. Takes a lot of abuse to damage a modern rifle.
"...shoot Left Handed..." Doesn't really matter. Even with a semi-auto, shooting left with a right handed rifle isn't a problem. Been doing it for eons myself. (SMG's, LMG's plus a swarm of assorted battle rifles didn't matter either.) Empties get thrown a long way and rarely anywhere near the shooter. Never mind his face. And if an empty gets down your shirt, it doesn't make the slightest difference which side it came out. You're going to do the dance.
"...advantages of one over the other..." Other than cost, a .223, where legal, will let you hunt deer and varmints with a change of bullet, should you ever decide you want to hunt. A .22 is small game only.
 
START WITH A 22 RIMFIRE.

Since you are right-handed, unless you have something wrong with your right eye, you should learn to shoot right handed. Getting proper range instruction early on will be a great benefit to establish correct technique and eliminate improper methods before they become bad habits.

Shooting left-handed is less of a handicap now than it once was, now that there is better availability of left-hand-specific equipment. And it's true that lefties have adapted, doing everything wrong in a right-handed world, yet doing it well in spite of it all. If you really have a compelling reason to shoot left-handed, then get a left-handed, or ambidextrous rifle and shoot the rifle correctly.

What's an ambidextrous rifle? Umm, the original, top ejecting, Winchester lever actions are completely ambidextrous. Winchester models 1894, 1892, etc, come to mind. Bolt-action rifles are not so, but there are left-handed model available and choices are less limited than they used to be.
 
Scoutninja stated:
Right-handed person that shoots left-handed
Click to expand...
I assume you are left-eye dominant. My late father was right-handed and left-eye dominant. So am I. My dad shot long guns left-handed and, with his help, I learned to shoot long guns left-handed. I honestly believe ,most, if not all, shooters shoot more accurately by accommodating their dominant eye. In other words, I recommend shooting long guns left-handed if the shooter's left eye is dominant. This allows the shooter to use both eyes (which is important) without struggling to overcome the dominance of the left eye. I'm confident it is fairly easy to overcome muscle dominance but virtually impossible to change natural eye dominance.
 
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I would go bolt action UNLESS you are going to an Appleseed. It is really set-up for a semi-automatic.

An Appleseed shoot is probably the best training for your money available in firearms.

Some of the lecturers are not that great, but you need to take a break from shooting anyways. Hard to shoot productively for 8 hours straight.

I may go to another this Summer.
 
Oops, I forgot to add that my left-handed sons shoot a right-hand bolt action that is pillar and glass bedded in a left-hand stock, so there's no ambiguity involved. (They write left-handed, shoot a bow left-handed and throw and bat right-handed. Crikey what a mess! :eek:)
 
OP,

If you want a more specific answer, give us more info. If it's just for target shooting at close range, 22 LR is the way to go.

However, if you want to push the range, or do any sort of hunting whatsoever, there are better options out there. More info needed.
 
For learning, I'd get a bolt action .22 or Ruger 10/22.

Things to get:
Safety Glasses
Ear plugs/muffs
Cleaning kit
Case
Range bag/backpack
Spare magazine
Ammo
A knowledgeable instructor.
 
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