TargetTalk

First of all I'd like yall know that I know next to nothing about long arms. The one time I did I got a black eye :(

My master eye is left, but as an AP and FP shooter I shoot right handed and spot using my right eye. I have better control with my hand, but in return I really need some prescription glasses. SO far I am using 1.5+ on my Knobloch and frankly I would like to have at least 1.75+ to be comfortable which is not possible.

Since my experience in long arm is zero, is it possible to learn rifle left handed, as if I start anew? I am looking at something simple like 10M. One of the main reason is that someone offer me a left handed rifle, very nice, in a price that I can afford. It is a very rare model which I always wanted.

I have tried to simulate by shooting left handed on my AP by using my right hand to hold the cylinder, in fact when kneeling, I got better result. It is very strange...perhaps this is the effect of having a left master eye?

I cannot shoot left handed on a heavy AP like FWB65, but Morini and Toz is OK. A little bit of mental adjustment, not perfect, but no big deal. IF I really want to shoot left handed I can re-calibrate.

My main competition is still AP and FP, I have no intention to do anything else. So any long arm activity is merely for entertainment. I have a 10M home range set up so why not maximize its usage by having some fun doing something else? Training is fun, but also boring; taking a break to shoot something else different during break is a good change of pace. My average training session is around 2 1/2 hours.

Advice please.

If the vision in your right eye is good, just shoot right handed and wear a blinder over your left eye. It works very well for the current Olympic prone champion.

The item is left handed, and it can cost a lot to switch it to right handed, hence the question and ask for advice.

I knew a very good rifle shot over here in the UK (98+ 25 yard ave) who had shot right handed for about 40 years. He lost the sight in his right eye, and as a consequence tried all of the systems for shooting with the opposite eye/shoulder, none of them really worked well. He then tried changing to shooting left handed and was able to get back to the same standard as he had been shooting previously. After about 15 years of shooting L/H he was able to get his right eye fixed, thanks to improvements in eye surgery. he then went back to shooting R/H but it was quite interesting to watch him borrow a L/H rifle and shoot as good as score with it as with his R/H rifle.

It is nowhere as near hard to learn to do things with the "wrong" hand as you might think, especially if it is a relatively new skill, or one you have not used for a long time. I used to have a job teaching shooting sports at a local holiday camp, Clays, air rifles, but also archery. I had to learn the archery as I had only done a little as a teenager. The guy that I was learning from suggested that it would be helpful when coaching if I could teach myself to manage to shoot the bow both left and right handed (I am very right handed and have always shot from the right shoulder/hand). It go so that with a bow I could hit what I was aiming at L/H with no problems, but when shooting R/H as well as hitting the center of the target I could also deliberately just miss, something I could not do L/H.

Alan

Building a proper position for rifle shooting is all about muscle memory. If you are starting from scratch (no prior experience with rifles) it will not make any difference if you build the position "left handed " or "right handed". Either way will feel strange because it is new.

Go with your dominant eye, build the position left handed.

If I ever get into Shotgun does that mean I have to stick with the same shooting hand since they are both long arms? Also I presume same things applies to running targets?

It is especially important to shoot with the dominant eye in shotgun, as your eye is the "rear sight". Tough to hit things consistently with your rear sight offset 2".

Also, shooting rifle left handed, and shotgun right handed just entails complete new muscle memory training when going to shotgun, whereas staying on the same side allows much of the prior "muscle memory" to be used (just retraining the few specific differences".

I presume when you suggest me to stick with using dominant eye to shoot shotgun, it encompasses ALL shotgun target shooting discipline and also hunting?

Unless it is a "weak hand" competition, yes. Why would you want to completely rebuild a position for right handed shooting if you already have one for left handed?

I have occasionally had shooters in a "slump" shoot weak handed, then switch back. They usually find that they had gotten lax about the basics, and had to think about them when shooting weak handed. When they switched back to normal side, they noticed the mental lapse.

I tend to agree with both Tim and BigAl. As someone who has always shot right handed and has only just in the last twelve months "discovered" that I'm left eye dominant I just use a blinder and go for it. It's funny to see the strange looks I get at work (Army) when I now do any deliberate shoots with a blinder even if our service rifles have a scope. I made the discovery after I had purchased my rifle and as such am prepared work on my weaker eye.
That plus the fact that I couldn't be buggered lol.
I've also introduced a new member of the club I'm in to prone and we found that since he's a left eye dominant newb he could cross over to shooting left handed no worries. This is inspite of his previously being a right handed shooter at a club that didn't help (SSAA St Marys).
This youngish bloke has taken to being a lefty and is having the same issues as any other new to prone shooter with set up etc, just in a mirror image lol. He has been getting great advice from the senior shooter (former Olympian) and this has made his transition easier.

I agree with you Katoom.
I am ambidextrous and left eye dominant.
Started shooting R/H because there were no L/H rifles available and quickly plateaud on mediocre scores.
Changed to good L/H gear and very quickly moved up the ranks to where I am now.
Btw: yes it is based on muscle memory. My change over was almost immediate. 2 weeks of daily practice to beat my previous average.
I would advise to sell the rifle and buy proper R/H gear if you want to get serious.
Otherwise just shoot for fun and for a momentary break from your discipline.

conradin wrote:The item is left handed, and it can cost a lot to switch it to right handed, hence the question and ask for advice.

Bad choice then. You can shoot it as is but it won't help your shooting. You really need to shoot the same handedness and eye with pistol and rifle. I'd sell the gun and buy a RH one.

Rob.

I must disagree with Rob. In fact I can see advantages of shooting pistol with one hand, and rifle with the opposite.

in rifle shooting the "automagical" leftoff is best started with full attention on the sights, letting the trigger take care of itself. Probably because the target is so small.

With pistol shooting, the best start seems to be with full attention on trigger control, letting the sub-conscious handle the sighting (again with a much larger area for the ten).

I've worked with a few rifle shooters who have changed to pistol, and the change in mental set helped in all cases.

It seems to me that having one side trained to aggressively work the trigger, while the other side allows the trigger to "just happen" would resolve problems between the two options.