# Leaning to shoot left handed



## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Medical issues have caused me to lose enough vision in my right eye that I can no longer see my sights well enough to shoot. So any hints on how to teach myself to shoot lefthanded? Other than just practice, practice, practice.


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## Jolly (Jan 8, 2004)

I've always heard muscle memory takes at least 10,000 repetitions.

Looking at it optimistically, that's only 20 bricks of .22


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

Have you tried holding right handed. and sighting with the left eye?
One friend has to do this as he has damage in his right eye.


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

I shoot left handed and have to sight with my right eye..Takes some getting use to, practice, practice...


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

What exactly are you shooting?


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

a decent pellet gun , and a carton of pellets 

understand stance , posture, sight alignment and sight picture and do only good productive practice and try and do it for 20 minutes once to twice a day 

I set up a air rifle range in my basement , just 30 feet but in a tin 500 pellets I was shooting left handed fairly well , not as natural as my right handed but well.

I do have to close my right eye because I am heavily right eye dominant 

my dad has been a squinter his hole life right handed left eye dominant , it is not ideal , I try and get all the 4-H kids to try and shoot to their eye they don't have the muscle memory yet to have to break so they might as well start to their eye and not be squinting their hole life.

once having taught my self to shoot right or left switching back and forth is fairly quick , left will probably never be as quick but it is decent 

I also shoot pistol strong and weak hand we force this in league some times all shots taken from the left of the barricade must be shot left handed all shot right must be right handed we keep the number of targets equal so that no one has an advantage or just the people who can shoot both well.


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

Actually starting for scratch ....you will pay attention to the detail of shooting...that are not natural.

Or in other words...allow you to learn it correctly.


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## Texaspredatorhu (Sep 15, 2015)

I remember in the Marines a large number of us placed bets as to who could shoot the rifle range from the weak side. Needless to say I did not win and there’s a good possibility at that time I may have come in dead last!


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

hunter63 said:


> Have you tried holding right handed. and sighting with the left eye?
> One friend has to do this as he has damage in his right eye.


I do that with my handguns but my neck is either too short or too inflexible to do it with my long guns.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Bearfootfarm said:


> What exactly are you shooting?


Got several long guns I'd like to get back into using. Plus the boy just bought a couple for ARs I'd like to help him break in


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

I figured practice was the only way but you never know until you ask.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

watcher said:


> Got several long guns I'd like to get back into using.


Have you tried switching to optical sights or can you not see those either?


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Bearfootfarm said:


> Have you tried switching to optical sights or can you not see those either?


I had a blood vessel rupture in my right eye which has caused me to have blurred vision in the center. Can't see the recital in a scope well enough to use it. The boy is buying a red dot site for one of his new rifles and I'm thinking that might work. If so I might buy one or two. I've also thought about adding lasers to them but 1) that's a lot of money and 2) Mr Murphy is always out there.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

You may be able to cant an AR far enough that you can use your left eye but still hold right handed, but it won't be as accurate at longer ranges. 

Shooting them left handed may be difficult due to escaping gasses from the action.


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## catalekid (Jan 23, 2011)

I lost all vision in both eyes three years ago. Surgery was able to restore a fair amount of vision in my left eye but the right one is still blind.

I still shoot handguns right handed and use my left eye. And I can shoot my shotgun just fine right handed with my left eye. Rifles are another matter. I had to switch to left handed. Use to hate it, still do not like it but it is slowly getting easier. I have found it easier to shoot mostly semi autos and lever actions although I did buy a left hand Scout Rifle.

I started with a lot of dry firing since initial sight alignment was the biggest problem. I would do a lot of bringing the rifle to my shoulder and getting the sights on target as quickly as possible before dry firing. It helped me quite a bit.

Hang in there and don't give up. You will get there


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

I prefer Prism / etched glass reticles to red dots 

in a red dot the light is bounced off a coated lense 

in a prism or illuminated etched glass you see the reticle even when the battery is off as black then it sends light into the glass from the edges so it is not dependent on battery and it illuminates crisp 

I have a astigmatism so a red dot looks like a little star burst and not a dot hard to be precise 

the only place I use an actual red dot is an open style red dot , a Vortex Viper micro dot on a 22 pistol and I still don't really like it for short range bulls eye shooting like 50 feet but it does very well at longer distances , for 22 pistol silhouettes out to 100 meters.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Ok if shooting Game yes aiming is a must but in CCW class shooting in Self Defense true Aiming was not needed. Because most shoot around 10 feet, bring Pistol up either hand, point for mass and unload.

I have Scopes on Long Guns, with practice with them I can shoot with either hand.

big rockpile


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

big rockpile said:


> bring Pistol up either hand, point for mass and unload.


He's not talking about shooting a pistol.
Eye dominance isn't a problem with handguns.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

I tried canting the rifle. That might work but I think I'll just bite the bullet and start practicing left handed.


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## Texaspredatorhu (Sep 15, 2015)

watcher said:


> I tried canting the rifle. That might work but I think I'll just bite the bullet and start practicing left handed.


Just out of curiousity what caliber is it?


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Texaspredatorhu said:


> Just out of curiousity what caliber is it?


His is 5.56X45 AR clone, mine's 7.62X51. When firing canted the recoil from the 5.56 is no problem, the 7.62 really needs to be in the proper place on the shoulder.


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## Texaspredatorhu (Sep 15, 2015)

watcher said:


> His is 5.56X45 AR clone, mine's 7.62X51. When firing canted the recoil from the 5.56 is no problem, the 7.62 really needs to be in the proper place on the shoulder.


Most days I am anti muzzle brakes, but there are several options that will tame the recoil reall well. If your barrel is not threaded there are clamp ons available. Witt Machine is probably the best clamp on available right not, not to mention their customer service. I put my 8year old daughter on a 6.5-284 and it didn’t bother her at all, not saying it is a mean round but she’s 55 pounds! Thread on the options are endless. Ops inc builds a great brake too.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Texaspredatorhu said:


> Most days I am anti muzzle brakes, but there are several options that will tame the recoil reall well. If your barrel is not threaded there are clamp ons available. Witt Machine is probably the best clamp on available right not, not to mention their customer service. I put my 8year old daughter on a 6.5-284 and it didn’t bother her at all, not saying it is a mean round but she’s 55 pounds! Thread on the options are endless. Ops inc builds a great brake too.


The problem is when you cant the weapon to fire it from right shoulder using the right eye it takes the butt out of the pocket. The a lot of the recoil is transferred to my arthritic shoulder joint. Not bad for a round or two but more than that and I can start to really feel it, especially a few hours after shooting.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

the up side to an AR is if you loosen the castle nut you can turn the buffer tube to better put the stock in your shoulder when canting the rifle find the right spot then tighten back up , unless your using an A2 stock then you maybe able to run a Morgan pad and turn that 

a lot of female shot gunners because of their bone structure like an angled recoil pad so they cut the stock down and run a morgan pad or similar


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