Author Topic: Left handed shooters (Read 7478 times)

30-06man · « **on:** December 02, 2007, 09:23:41 AM »

How many of you are like me and learned to shoot right handed because you cannot find left handed firearms hardly?

superdown · « **Reply #1 on:** December 02, 2007, 06:24:12 PM »

I can shoot just fine right sided because I'm right handed left eye dominate and was taught to shoot right handed before my dad knew anything about the dominate eye side he figured since i was right handed that's the side i should shoot from . I do have an experience were my buddy and i were at the rifle range and we are shooting my Ruger 22-250 with a 6-18x40 scope on it at 100yds and he's right handed / eye dominate and he has a hard time keeping a under a 1.5 inch group with this rifle and the rifle shoots well under an inch when i shoot we were using 4inch shoot n' see stickers he fire's a 3 shot group and doesn't touch the center ring i fire my first right handed shot for the afternoon after he complains about the rifle's accuracy and i drill the very center . needless to say he doesn't question the rifle anymore . Justin

30-06man · « **Reply #2 on:** December 03, 2007, 04:43:45 PM »

My brothers cross eyed dominate. He can shoot any of my guns worth a darn

Bubber · « **Reply #3 on:** December 04, 2007, 10:58:52 AM »

I am left handed and left eye dominant. My dad taught me on right handed rifles but I used them left handed. I would reach up and over to work the bolt. To this day I can work the bolt on my '03 Springfield almost as fast as the bolt on my lefty Rem 700.

I don't know how my dad mustered the patience to teach me to shoot left handed but he did. I remember him getting pretty irritated with a little 3 year old me holding a daisy BB gun.

30-06man · « **Reply #4 on:** December 04, 2007, 11:48:04 AM »

I first shot left handed with single shots and then I got into bolt actions and it was working out. So when I was about 10 I went and bought a bolt .22 right handed and learned how to run it. I can still shoot left handed and right handed. I have 10 left hand guns and about 50 right. Its good to know that you can shoot both ways.

huntswithdogs · « **Reply #5 on:** December 06, 2007, 11:43:19 AM »

I can shoot either hand but am lefthanded and eyed. I've not shot but 3 lefty guns in my whole life. The first was a 1100 that I coldn't get to shoot. Nobody told me the safety wasn't like all the other guns I'd shot! The next was an 11-87 that a guy was trying to sell me. Something about that shotgun just didn't feel right. I handed it back to him before finishng a full round of skeet. The last was a Savage in 7mm. With the exception of the trigger this rifle was SWEET! Ya'll should seen ne reaching to open the bolt though. I thought my buddy was gonna fall from his chair from laughing. He said I got the strangest look on my face when I reached up with my right hand to work the bolt and it wasn't there!

I grew up shooting righty guns and never thought anything about it until the last few years. I may end up with one yet!

HWD

30-06man · « **Reply #6 on:** December 06, 2007, 12:03:40 PM »

When I first started shooting T/c's back in the contender days I was reaching for the bolt but no bolt it took me a while to learn.

Sitting Duck · « **Reply #7 on:** March 02, 2008, 06:46:51 AM »

I started out on an old bolt shotgun (Savage?) back in the sixties. I shot left handed and worked the bolt with my right hand. Probably not the safest procedure but I got pretty fast at doing it. There weren't a lot of lefty guns available back then. Well... Not any that I could afford.

I still shoot right handed guns left handed. Shooting and working the bolt on a left handed gun would feel strange, I would imagine

The gun doesn't care and the bullets fly straight. It just looks kinda strange.

30-06man · « **Reply #8 on:** March 02, 2008, 03:48:58 PM »

I can imagine.

JerryKo · « **Reply #9 on:** March 24, 2008, 04:27:38 PM »

Left handed and left eyed. Dad let me be me. Shot the BB gun mostly then a savage single shot 22 until 12 when I used 760's in 35 rem and 270. He never bothered with bolt guns. Pumps, singles, and levers where all I knew. In bootcamp I mastered the M16 and it wasn't till this year I bought a Stag in lefty. My first shot was the coolest because I didn't see that little flash of brass going past my face. I bought my first lefty bolt just 3yrs ago. I shot it alot that first summer, then it sat in the safe till I sold it this month. I am amble to shoot right handed, as I have had to teach myself, since my Fathers passing six years ago, and I couldn't stand to see his flintlock collection collecting dust. I can shoot offhand right handed with flintlock better than leverguns at 25 to 50 yds, but I get fatigued faster when I shoot right handed. I think I concentrate more to shoot right handed and therefore do. I also shoot my bow righty and golf righty. You use what you can when your a lefty. I still think there is a greater demand than is recorded in sales for left handed firearms tho. We simply overcome or settle for, and that slu's the sales figures.

Happy Shooting no matter which way you hold.

Jerry

Two sons, One (7) right handed, the other (4) left handed and so far, right eyed. I have time to work on that.

SingleShotShorty · « **Reply #10 on:** March 25, 2008, 02:15:35 PM »

Righthanded but left eye dominant, so I shoot most everything lefthanded.

Sitting Duck · « **Reply #11 on:** March 26, 2008, 07:50:00 PM »

Remember this, from Saving Private Ryan? If the pic doesn't show, I'll work on getting it right.

Sitting Duck · « **Reply #12 on:** March 26, 2008, 07:53:58 PM »

Pic is courtesy of PrimalSeal at hipointfirearmsforums.com

dstegjas · « **Reply #13 on:** March 27, 2008, 10:48:27 AM »

Because I was left handed I just stayed with the semi autos, single shots and lever guns. Of course pistols were no problem. I just couldn't get use to using a right handed bolt gun left handed. I am 51 now and have picked up a couple left handed guns over the years.

T/C Renegade Muzzle loader
Remington 700 VS (308)

I am sure I have missed out on a few guns because I was left handed. That being said, I still shot all I could as often as I could.

Jim

Dand · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2008, 12:09:42 PM »

I'm left handed and probably left eyed - at least when I use a camera I use my left eye. But my dad insisted on me shooting right handed because when I was a kid left side guns were very rare. Now I don't think I could switch back and I'm so long trained to use my right eye that I go cross-eyed whenever I try to figure out what eye is dominant. I do quite a bit of other stuff righty too - kinda depends on how I was taught. I think I am a fairly adaptable lefty but I wonder if I wouldn't be a much better shot if I switched.

My 6 yr old son is right handed but left eyed. Every time I set him up with a BB gun he wouldn't hit anything and held his gun weird. I finally guessed he was left eyed and now he does pretty well. I have a right hand Chipmunk for him now but wish I could find him a true left hand youth 22 when he gets a little bigger.

superdown · « **Reply #15 on:** March 30, 2008, 05:40:29 PM »

savage and CZ USA both make some. superdown

http://www.cz-usa.com/product_detail.php?id=1
http://savagearms.com/markiigly.htm
http://savagearms.com/markiigl.htm

Doktor · « **Reply #16 on:** May 19, 2008, 05:45:16 PM »

My first "primitive" muzzle loader was a right-handed flinter from Cabela's. I didn't know that anyone made left-handed flintlocks, and I caught so much flack from some of the other folks at the range about my inline, that I gave up trying to practice with it. Being left-handed and virtually blind in my right eye, I learned quickly how flinters got the name "flinch-lock."
I now have a couple of left-handed flinters, but I still anticipate that flash, by shutting my eye, I even do it with most of my inlines, but am getting better.

Doc

reb henderson · « **Reply #17 on:** June 16, 2008, 06:56:43 PM »

I know i am coming in late on this thread but found it very interesting. I was born blind in my right eye but was fortunately left handed. I grew up shooting all types of firearms. Of course left handed guns were very rare so i had to learn to shoot right handed bolt actions left handed. It wasn't until a few years ago that i discovered guns for Lefty's. i can and do still shoot right handed guns and can shoot them just about as fast as left handed ones. However, the lefties have spoiled me and I have gotten rid of many of my non-left handed stuff. My dad always taught me that in hunting it doesn't matter how fast you shoot it, it matters how well you place the bullet. To most of the people on this forum that is very simplistic and almost childlike but it is a good thought to always keep in the back of our mind.
Take care
Reb

jlchucker · « **Reply #18 on:** June 17, 2008, 03:30:30 AM »

I'm left-handed, left-eye dominant. I've shot everything lefthanded since I began shooting way back before -"pre-64". Except when I had to qualify on the M60 machine gun in the Army. That was strictly a right-hand proposition. On that I maxed the course, thanks to great instruction by Army sergeants. More recently, I was happy to find that the Model 70 Winchester Sporter was being made in a lefty model, and bought one. I never warmed up to that rifle, since it was too heavy for my liking. I gave it to my niece's husband, another leftie, and he loves it. My current bolt rifles are now two compact models, right-handed versions. On targets it doesn't matter. On game, if you make the first shot count, a fast followup shouldn't be an issue either. On the whole though, I still prefer iron-sighted leverguns, and probably always will.

alsaqr · « **Reply #19 on:** July 06, 2008, 10:20:47 AM »

I'm left handed and shot right hand bolt actions for years. Then in about 1970 I came across a Mathieu rifle and have had it ever since. Now all of my bolt action commercial rifles are left hand and I will never hunt with a right hand one. My last purchase is a left hand CZ 527 in .223.

kodiakemt · « **Reply #20 on:** July 07, 2008, 08:57:54 AM »

Shoot left handed on a right handed bolt.

cleveland48 · « **Reply #21 on:** August 07, 2008, 04:50:29 PM »

My dad bought me a A-bolt medallion the older style (with the different bolt) in 270. And I have used that since I was in the 5th grade, and have killed several deer with it. Here in Northeast Ms you pretty much have to order a left handed rifle. So I started shooting right handed guns also, and started shooting my pistols right handed. Figured this couldn't hurt anyways. So my newest right handed gun is a browning a-bolt II in 260 Rem. And I love it I use it for all my still hunting. But when the dogs get turned out and we pull up to a wide open cutover around here, the old left handed 270 comes out. It doesnt help around here at my hunting clubs when someone finds out your left handed they will say oh that's what's wrong with you.

, or well your handicaped

Its been a rough time for me being left handed lol how bout ya'll?

db22 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 07, 2008, 04:44:40 AM »

Once in a while even a blind dog finds a bone . . .

Yesterday, I walked into the local gun shop, and found the Holy Grail -- a Ruger M77 Mk II left hand .30-'06 on the used rack, in fairly good shape, and at an acceptable price. The owner let me pull a Bore Snake through the barrel, and the rifling looked sharp, no pits or rust. Put a deposit on it right then and there. The stock isn't as nice as the new Hawkeye, but reshaping and refinishing stocks is one of my favorite things to do.

Been a southpaw shooter since the beginning, and had a LH dad and tolerant teachers. Shooting long guns and writing are the only things I do left-handed, having adapted to right-handed tools and guitars long ago. I had a Remmy M700 LH, but never could warm up to it, even though it was scary accurate. The Ruger has what appears to be a true Mauser action, but held up to a mirror. Been shooting NEF single-shots for a while now, but I'm back to bolt-actions and will keep this one for the rest of my years, if it turns out to shoot half-way decent. I always did love the looks of the M77 -- straight comb, matte finish on the wood, matte stainless bolt, old-fashioned extractor. Bill Ruger supposedly hired Lenard Brownell to design the stock. We owe a lot to Bill Ruger for retuning American gun styling to classic, conservative lines.

Well, I've gone on enough. Just had to crow a bit on my good luck. Sometimes I regret being a left-hander, but it does mark us as distinctive, does it not?

kody · « **Reply #23 on:** September 07, 2008, 08:27:00 AM »

Would it help LH'ers to have a "LH classifieds " column? It would be nice to not have to read EVERYTHING in order to find your specialty, just as is done to separate rifles ,shotguns,rimfires and MLs. The rimfires column is a good example of a relatively narrow interest group that,by definition, is good to be separate from handguns,rifles [in general] shotguns and MLs,and so would the LH'ers. What thoughts? Ken

dstegjas · « **Reply #24 on:** September 07, 2008, 02:52:45 PM »

I think the LH'ers having there own clasified section wouldn't be a bad idea. I agree it would be nice not having to weed through all the ads looking for that LH rifle I want. I am sure it wouldn't be all that active though. Most of us LH'ers hold on to them when we get them.

Jim

db22 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 10, 2008, 12:25:13 PM »

Anyone ever put forward the thought of a Left-Hand Shooter's Forum? We make up about one-fifth of the general population, and that much of the shooting population as well, I guess. It would get everyone together in the same place, with the same issues and wants. RimfireCentral had a LHer's page at one time. But a whole URL/forum that all southpaw shooters could use to congregate might be pretty slick. Hmmm . . . SouthpawShooters.com -- discussion, swap meet, gunsmithing, sale page, a place for Dave Gentry and Noveske to gin up business. Why, Dave Petzal might even stop by now and then. We could commemorate the great leftys of years past: uhhh, hmmm, I think Charles Askins was a lefthander, and maybe Warren Page? Hafta ask Petzal. And we'd have a reading room of material from old gun mags on lefthandedness, a research forum on out-of-production LH guns (what was the first production-line LH bolt action? How many Springfield conversions did Sedgely make?)

Yep, it would be a lot of fun. Now, I don't know squat about internet forums, but I can read, write and spell pretty well (can you tell I date from the analog era?). I'd be happy to contribute content and help with research. Any thoughts, gents?

Steve P · « **Reply #26 on:** December 19, 2008, 09:57:21 AM »

I am left handed, but right eye dominant. My dad tried to teach me to shoot left handed. My scout leaded tried to teach me to shoot left handed. When neither of them were looking, I moved the rifle to my right shoulder and proceeded to knock down all the targets. I guess sneaking out with the neighbor kid and his BB gun helped out a little.

I shoot silhouette competition. Some of my handguns are shot with left hand. Some are shot with right hand. All long gun shooting is done on right side. I couldn't shoot a rifle or shotgun from the left side, unless it was from the hip. Handguns can be shot with either hand.

My brother is right handed and left eye dominant. He sure looks funny when shooting a scoped rifle on the right side, but that is how he learned to shoot. He kinda cocks his head to the side and lets go. I have not seen him shoot any snap shots on flushing game so I cannot comment on that, but I can guess he wouldn't be first to put meat in the pot.

Steve

BBF · « **Reply #27 on:** December 19, 2008, 12:45:36 PM »

Am a Southpaw myself and only shot a borrowed lefty rifle for one day. Totally weird I kept trying to find the bolt on the right side with my left hand.

Brings back a situation when in basic and Yours Truly switched hands in the hand granade pit. The instructor turned several shades lighter( a black dude) because the pin was pulled already.

NO GUYS !! I still had the lever down with both thumbs. !! I still think those potato mashers were a good idea.

helotaxi · « **Reply #28 on:** March 04, 2009, 07:10:15 AM »

Also a lefty...

Grew up learning to shoot with a 10/22 and a M1 carbine. Semi auto makes thing pretty simple except for catching hot brass in the crook of your arm. First shotgun was an H&R .410 single shot. When I was 10 my dad finally got me a real shotgun for Christmas. The Browning BPS was a brand new model and a truly ambidextrous design; tang safety, bottom feed, bottom eject. Still have that shotgun 23 years later and still love it.

About 14 years ago, I asked my dad for a bolt rifle in .243. He tracked down the one left-handed Savage 111 chambered in .243 in the country and that's what I got for Christmas that year. Also, still, and probably always will, have that rifle. Before that rifle I'd actually never shot a bolt action rifle. I did try using a bolt action Mossberg 12ga that my dad had and couldn't get used to reaching over the receiver to work the bolt with my left hand and laid my left thumb open with the bolt trying to work it with my right hand.

Recently been trying to find a heavy barreled varmint rifle in .223 or .204 and left handed. Savage just started offering them but they are hard to find. Instead I had a bit of a brainstorm. I took into account how I planned to actually used the gun. Since the plan is to only use it off a rest or some sort of bipod, I figured that a right handed action on a left handed thumbhole or tactical stock with a prominent cut in front of the comb for my thumb would work perfectly. The idea would be to keep the rifle on the shoulder and the left hand in firing position and work the bolt with the right hand. The rest or bipod would be there to support the rifle so I'm not trying to leverage it with my left hand. This opens up my options a lot for what I can do with the rifle and what I can start with.

As far as handguns go, I can shoot pretty well with either hand although being left eye dominant makes it a bit awkward to keep both eyes open when shooting right handed. The problem with handguns and being left-handed is finding holsters, especially those meant or concealed carry. You're good if you have a 1911 (I do but I have other guns better suited to carry) or a Glock (Barf!) but if you have just about anything else (M&P, SR9, SP-101, Kahr P45) you're screwed. I have 2 holsters on backorder right now, estimated delivery the end of March. If shooters weren't statistically conservative and by definition averse to screaming for protection from discrimination there'd probably be a frivolous class action discrimination lawsuit in the courts somewhere about the lack of left handed shooting accessories.

toysoldier · « **Reply #29 on:** March 20, 2009, 09:44:36 AM »

There's a significant safety risk in shooting a RH bolt gun left-handed. They're all designed to vent gas and particles from a case rupture to the right. This would put it in the face of any left-hander. I know that such occurences are extremely rare, but I don't intend to put my face at risk. It's only LH bolt guns for me, which is why I have so few.