Shot Righty Today

[SmallBoreSnipers]

Hey guys. I'm ambidextrous and am known to my friends and family to be able to do anything with my left hand that I can with my right, including writing. However, I have never once shot righty before. I have held my rifle righty and tried to sight, but never actually fired that way. Today was the first time. My average 5-round group size at 50 is .40". I wanted to get a shot of the target because that's how I was shooting today. But the battery is toast and we have a new one on the way. No difference then lefty. It was pretty cool.

The reason I shot that was today was because when I got to the range there were only a few benches left, and there were people on the benches on either side. It's tough to cram a lefty and righty sitting together between the benches the way they are set up there. So I thought I'd give it a go and was pleasantly surprised. It took a while to get used to sighting in on the scope with my right eye, but once I had that down it was pretty easy. A little while later the guy to the right of me left and I was able to swing the chair back to shoot lefty since that's more comfortable to me. But it's good to know that I can shoot righty in situations like that. It was pretty fun.

Do a lot of you guys find it to not really be a big difference either way? Just curious.

 

[kansas45]

Re: Shot Righty Today

Thats pretty cool SBS!

I can shoot lefty & it works OK for me, but heck, I have enough trouble shooting right sided to add something like that to the mix!

 

[B y r o n]

Re: Shot Righty Today

I haven't done it in a long time but for me to shoot left handed on a rifle I have to put a patch over my right eye. Without the patch my right eye would keep trying to take over and caused problems looking through the scope. Once the patch was in place and position was adjusted for left hand shooting the bullets went where intended.

Shooting weak side is something everyone should try.

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: Shot Righty Today

i do the support side matches when i have the time to, and it's a real eye opener.

seems that fundamental things i've forgotten or become complacent with comes back immediately when i go support side. i'm just a little short on performance and scoring as compared to my usual leftie shooting, but i'm slowly catching up.

god forbid if i'm not able to use my normal shooting form due to injury, sickness, whatever, i'll be up on switching sides by doing the drills now.

plus it's nice for hunting season, that if game appears from a spot that i can't adjust to, i have good confidence to switch sides and take the shot.

i always shot target pistol with right eye open, and with the right hand, combat shooting with both eyes open. so the eye thing wasn't so alien in my case.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Shot Righty Today

My Granddaughter is coming around to rifle shooting, and is finally getting serious using the .22LR bolt gun her Dad gave me for her and her Brother to use.

She's a Southpaw.

I started her out by giving her a very brief chat about safety, handing her the rest, rear bag, and ammo, then backing away and simply watching how she coped.

She tried both left and right handed techniques, and finally told me she thinks righty is just better for her.

I noticed she had slowed down and was looking kinda less motivated, so I put her on the .30-'06 hunter with 125gr Managed Recoil loads, she started pecking the 200yd gong with impunity.

We gave her a 12ga with copper solids, and she hit the target, thanked me, and declined further shooting with the 12ga, not just yet.

Then she ran me out of Managed Recoil ammo.

14, 5' even, 100lb, and eager.

She'll do.

Greg

 

[SmallBoreSnipers]

Re: Shot Righty Today

^ Haha. That's cool. There are often really young girls that go shooting with their fathers at the club I go to all the time. Just yesterday I was next to a girl that looked about 10 or so that was shooting a Remy 700 in .308. It's funny but pretty bad ass at the same time.

Yeah shooting righty my biggest issue was looking through the scope. At first I'd have to cover my left eye like Bryon was saying. I always shoot with both eyes open, so that was the key to shooting righty for me. As soon as I could keep both eyes open and sight in on the target quicker, that was all I needed.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Shot Righty Today

A week later, I had her little Brother Patrick on the line. Sav MKIIF at 50yd, 10/22 at 100yd, and M700 .222 Rem at 200yd. Shoots to the same POI as I do, despite real stock length issues. Two shots from the Win 94AE .44Mag. 4' 8", 68lb, 11Y/O, he wants more.

Greg

 

[clodhopper]

Re: Shot Righty Today

Shooting from a rest either eye can do, but I'm still right eye dominate so some squinting is done.
Position shooting is a lot more difficult, just this weekend I was trying to go prone left handed with the sling on my left arm.
Tried to slither into the classic knee drawn up sling supported position three times and it wasn't working. Then the idea struck that maybe I should put the loop on the other arm! duh.
Foot position is giving me fits in standing, and it really should not be so hard.
Sitting is starting to not be so hard after recrossing ankles.
Kneeling sucks with either eye.