Thread: a question for all the south paws out there

Agree with the others, if you're left-eyed as well as left-handed, then shooting left-handed is practically a must.

I don't agree that pistols with thumb safeties can be operated left-handed without suffering a deficit. I chose Glocks over 1911's because of the lack of a thumb safety (among other reasons), although I didn't choose any ambi-release models.

I also think that it's more important for a lefty to learn to shoot right-handed than for righties to shoot southpaw. I tried it right-handed yesterday in a class, and it was UG-LEE! But I passed, so what the heck.

I am a lefty but shoot right handed. I'm actually somewhat ambidextrous but only because I taught myself. I write and swing a bat lefty but I shoot and play guitar right handed. My dad taught me to shoot right handed because he didn't want to pay for, and try to find, left handed guns. I didn't really have a problem learning.

It really comes down to what your dominant eye is. At least for most shooters. Some can train themselves to use their non-dominant eye and eventually it becomes stronger and becomes the dominant one. When I was a weapons instructor in the military I ran the shooters through an exercise to determine their dominance. I also would put a post it note over their shooting glasses of they were cross-dominant.

In a perfect world, the best thing would be to learn to shoot either way because if you are in an emergency it's always possible that you may lose the use of your dominant arm. I am a pretty good shot right handed with both rifle and pistol. I'm not as good with my left hand and I'm a lefty. Drives me nuts. I practiced and practiced though and got to where I could consistently hit inside the 5 ring on a silhouette target at 25 yards.

So in summation, do whatever is the most comfortable to ensure accuracy. That's what I used to tell all my students. You have to be comfortable first. Everything else will fall in line after.

Any lefty worth his salt is used to compensating for a righty world . Shoot with the side you are most comfortable with , have the best trigger control with and eye dominance with .Lefty bolt rifles are nice , but rare. Lever rifles ( winchester mod 88 , savage , etc )
are a good choice , and , as always , Glock is the best choice for a semi pistol .

I am proficient left and right, carry left mainly because I prefer right side use of baton and edge tools. My daily setup is Kimber full size 1911 IWB, Smith and Wesson lightweight right pocket using a Safariland pocket holster.

For those who have entertained the idea of moving from right to left and are right eye dominate can simply tilt the firearm to the right until the right eye can see the sights rather than moving the entire firearm.

Originally Posted by DERGLOCKINMEISTER

Any lefty worth his salt is used to compensating for a righty world . Shoot with the side you are most comfortable with , have the best trigger control with and eye dominance with .Lefty bolt rifles are nice , but rare. Lever rifles ( winchester mod 88 , savage , etc )
are a good choice , and , as always , Glock is the best choice for a semi pistol .

I was with you all the way up until that last little bit...

(Though I must confess to owning a Glock 21... )

Speaking for bolt actions, there's no reason for a left handed shooter to compromise in these modern times. A left handed bolt gun is readily available in ANY fairly common caliber.
from rimfire, up to the magnums. I have traded out every one of my right handed actions.

Originally Posted by 2gr8dgs

A left handed bolt gun is readily available in ANY fairly common caliber.

Very true, but of all my rifles my Savage .17 HMR is the only lefty that I own. All the rest are wrong-handed... but since most of the kids (and the wife) are "righties" I figure that it is far easier for me to adapt to shooting wrong-handed than it is for all of them to shoot lefty.

That and should I ever need to sell/trade any of my rifles ( ) the market is wider for right hand models.

Originally Posted by ZeroRing

...should I ever need to sell/trade any of my rifles...

I'm sorry, but that phrase just doesn't compute. What language is that

Originally Posted by eriknemily

I'm sorry, but that phrase just doesn't compute. What language is that

I was sure to put the word "need" in there!

my LH savage 17 hmr is one of my favorites.

Just learn to run your gun the way most guns are designed. No need to switch mag releases and etc, your just creating training scars. Run the gun the way 85% of peoples will be set up.

Btw I am a lefty

Originally Posted by DERGLOCKINMEISTER

Lefty bolt rifles are nice , but rare.

Lefty's aren't that rare, Able's has almost four full pages of leftys listed on their site.

Left Hand Rifles for Sale - Online Gun Store - Firearms - Able Ammo

Lefty's get rare when you need a magnum-length action. The CZ 550 is about the only option for factory lefty rigby-length actions

I'm a right hander, but I had to learn to shoot left handed when I broke my right hand. Some guns are easier to manipulate left handed than others. 1911's are pretty straight forward left handed if you have an ambi safety, and using your trigger finger to drop the mag and slide is not cumbersome. With sigs you can swap the mag release to the right handed side for lefties. Slide release (technically a slide lock lever on a sig) is not so easy to manipulate left handed, but according to the manual you are supposed to release the slide by pulling back and releasing it.

I've been shooting military and civilian rifles for 48 years. I was briefly attached to the MI (tech) battalion at APG as a demostrator so I have fired most of the common mil-small arms left handed. My worst experience, excluding a Star SMG was with the early M-16s and M-16A1s. In a prone position they would throw hot brass straight down the neck of your shirt! I'm talking blisters! Needless to say I quickly learned to button my blouse. Of course the newer ARs solved this problem with the integeral deflector.
I shoot handguns right handed and rifles left handed, with the exception of HK type long arms which have the charging handle on the LEFT SIDE I do not have a problem with RH rifles.

I am right handed and left eye dominant. So I shoot long guns left handed and handguns right handed best, but I can get by both sides.

Many people shoot RH rifles with the left hand, left eye.
Which eye is your brother dominant in? When he shoulders a long arm, what feels more comfortable, left or right side. If his body brings up on the left side most naturally, and he is Left eye dominant.... He might consider LH SHooting.
If he is Right eye dominant have him get some instruction as a RH shooter. Eye dominance is a more important factor with precision long range shooting in my opinion.
Some people shoot dominant eye long arms & opposite side, hand guns.
I hope your brother can find a comfortable, safe, repeatable position & really enjoy the sport!
Regards'
A1

Originally Posted by accurateone

Many people shoot RH rifles with the left hand, left eye.
Which eye is your brother dominant in? When he shoulders a long arm, what feels more comfortable, left or right side. If his body brings up on the left side most naturally, and he is Left eye dominant.... He might consider LH SHooting.
If he is Right eye dominant have him get some instruction as a RH shooter. Eye dominance is a more important factor with precision long range shooting in my opinion.
Some people shoot dominant eye long arms & opposite side, hand guns.
I hope your brother can find a comfortable, safe, repeatable position & really enjoy the sport!
Regards'
A1

Like you said, safety is the issue. Shooting an AR left-handed without a brass-catcher can be a painful awakening! But lots of other rifles are fine for lefties, and won't fill your shirt with hot brass.

Originally Posted by chemist

Like you said, safety is the issue. Shooting an AR left-handed without a brass-catcher can be a painful awakening! But lots of other rifles are fine for lefties, and won't fill your shirt with hot brass.

I can see maybe with the non-shell deflector uppers.. ( early M16 ), but I've owned ARs for a long time and it's never been an issue for me.

AKs are the most lefty friendly out of the box, ARs, for me, need an extended bolt stop and "tac" latch...bolt guns I just deal with. ( K-31s eject straight up though, that was a painful lesson learned.... )



Goof-handin' my Enfield


K-31



This pic started a whole " is it photoshopped??!! " thread on arfkom way back when



Commie style....

For me, I can shoot right handed, but with some guns just find it completely unnatural. Pistol grip guns are easier to manage than "traditional" rifles.
I've never felt the need for left handed anything, save for ambi safeties on pistols....they're not needed on a rifle.

The best thing about buying a gun from Unka-Boo is there is never any wear on the "correct" side!

I myself find that i am a special case i do different things with different hands, for example i eat, throw, write, right handed but.... (not to be gross lol) i wipe left handed, text left handed, when i played base ball i could hit left handed or right handed and generally my left side of my body is stronger.

I was brought up to shoot right handed but would always cross my eye acrosses my face to line up the sight because i was left eye dominant, it wasnt till recently (the past couple of years, im 18) that i started shooting south paw and it has increased my accuracy greatly and like mentioned i dont mind shooting right handed handguns due to the fact that i like to use my trigger finger too release mag,slide,ect. and using rifles i dont mind being able to keep my hand on the grip while reloading bolts.

My advice being let him shoot whichever way is most comfortable for him(most likely hes gonna wanna shoot left) and he'll make his own ways of meeting ends.