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Right handed, Left handed, Wrong handed?

April 13, 2009 by ryochiji

I’ve heard it said that if you want to be a good shooter, you have to shoot using your dominant eye. For years, I’ve ignored this piece of advice, and have been shooting right handed even though I am left-eye dominant (and also left-handed). I am now trying to decide if I should switch to shooting with the right side, by which I mean the left side.

I’ve been shooting right handedly for a number of reasons, but comfort and convenience are the two main ones. I simply feel more comfortable shooting right handedly, and I think this habit was developed when I first started shooting rifles in our basement, using an air rifle my dad had built me. Being left handed, I’m sure my dad gave me the option of shooting lefty, and I probably tried it, but it never stuck. Shooting right handedly is also convenient because most rifles are designed for righties, and I don’t have to get anything special. Sure, the AR (which I shoot most of these days) is ambidextrous, but the mag release is hard to get to, especially when all slung up, under time pressure, and with a CA-legal bullet button (where you have to guide a pointy tool into a small hole). Shooting right-handed bolt rifles lefty is outright awkward.

My club Service Rifle match scores, in percentage of total possible

As far as I can tell, my shooting isn’t limited by my eyesight yet. My left eye is considerably better than my right, but with glasses, the difference is diminished. There’s also the thing about being able to keep both eyes open if you shoot out of your dominant eye, but in competitions, you can put a blind over the other eye and with a little practice, you can train to “see” out your non-dominant eye too. And practically speaking, my scores haven’t plateaued yet, I don’t think. In my club matches, I’ve been shooting around 89-91%, which, has plenty of room for improvement, but is also markedly higher than the 42% I shot in my first match 2 years ago. In my last club match, I shot a 188 in slow prone, with 13 of the 20 shots in the 10 ring. I feel like if my eyes let me put 13 of 20 shots in the 10 ring, it’s good enough to get the remaining 7 shots in the 10 ring too. On the 600 yard line at the State championships, I shot a 172-6x, and I feel like my inability to read wind correctly was a bigger issue than my eye sight. On top of all that, I’ve been shooting in a flimsy cotton shirt, and I’m quite certain that using a good shooting jacket will improve my scores considerably, perhaps enough to get me into the Master range (94%+).

It all might come down to how hard I’m willing to work, and how far I want to go. Maybe I can make Master shooting right handedly, with a good jacket and ample practice. Can I make High Master? Can I become a nationally ranked shooter? Maybe, but I don’t know. To some degree, this is a race against time. I’m not old, but I’m 29; past my physical peak. Every year that I wait to find out whether I should switch, is a year in which my learning ability atrophies, a year in which my eye sight worsens, a year less I spend shooting using the correct hand. On the other hand, I’m very weary of starting from scratch when I’ve come so far. I’m not sure I have the patience, the perseverance, and the time to get as good shooting left handedly as I do right handedly. Right now, I’m thinking of compromising and continuing to shoot Service Rifle right handedly, but spend some time shooting lefty using my .22 Kimber 82 match rifle. Hopefully, that way, if I hit a wall shooting right handedly in a few years, I would’ve laid enough ground work that I won’t have to start completely from scratch shooting lefty.

Posted in Guns | 2 Comments

2 Responses

on June 22, 2009 at 4:56 am | Reply RC

Well, being left handed is a definite disadvantage when it comes to being an Air Gunner.

I decided to finally buy an Air Rifle, mainly because my father worked for one of the finest gunsmiths in the world (Churchills of London, as was) 40 odd years ago.

Anyway, with the UK laws on becomming tighter than Dot Cotton’s Mouth (see Eastenders) the market has been somewhat crippled.. Add to that the fact that the gun companies don’t advertise outside of the magazines and its no wonder only a “handful” of left handers get into the sport.

I was actually bloody lucky to be able to buy 1 left handed Falcon FN19 – god knows how old it is, I may find out later, as Falcon no longer make left handed guns.

The future relies on gun companies making “rear bolt” action guns with either a left hand stock option or an ambidexterous stock. Even then though, unless they make a reversable bolt (like on the Prestige LX-1) and easy to get to magazine etc it will still be overly hard for us lefties.

The companies seem to think that just taking a right handed gun and putting a left hand stock (which costs extra) = a Left handed gun! Well, Mr Air Rifle maker, it doesn’t!

Which is a shame, I’d love to buy something expensive if/when I become good at shooting. As nice as the Falcon I bought is, it is an older gun and there are much, much better ones coming out now!

Maybe if more left handed people would get into this fascinating and fun hobby the gun makers would cater for us better

Heres to dreaming……
on September 26, 2009 at 9:00 am | Reply Chris

It seems very unlikely that gun manufacturers would start making more left handed rifles, even if every left handed person in the world desired to shoot. Everything is made for right handed people, not just guns, and since there are FAR more righties than lefties, the demand from lefties will never be enough. Your only hope is for every right handed person to suddenly quit shooting.

I have the opposite problem. I am a righty who feels far more comfortable shooting lefty (which also means with my weaker eye). That said, I am in the process of converting to righty for two reasons: I wanted to shoot with both eyes open, and I simply can’t with my left eye, and I wanted access to more guns without having to go on epic searches to find one for a lefty (and pay a lot more for them). I got tired of the gas from the AR 15 (and other guns) going up my nose (it burns badly on occasion).

Now the one advantage I have is that I shoot just as competently right handed, it just feels more natural shooting left handed. When I pick up a new rifle I immediately shoulder in on my left shoulder as a natural reflex, then “remember” that I have to switch it over.

My trick (which may work as well for a person switching to lefty because of the scarcity of left handed guns) was to buy a thumbhole stock Savage 17 HMR – http://savagearms.com/93r17BTVS.htm – which is available in a left handed model – http://savagearms.com/93r17BTVS_LH.htm). There is nothing even remotely ambidextrous with a thumbhole stock and forces you to shoot righty (in your case lefty). It has worked well, but as I said I am as competent with either hand.

Either way, I would recommend that 17 HMR. Most fun gun I have ever shot. Small caliber (you’re shooting a glorified pellet), but straight as a laser – unlike a .22 LR it actually feels like a rifle with a serious bang with no kick). You should be able to get 5 shots in a dime at 100 yards, and if you have varmint (racoons, ground hogs, squirrels – all of which are problem animals where I live) they are toast (anything smaller than a fox is a goner at 100 yards).