Terrible being a southpaw

[levers4life]

I'm a lefty and have a BAR Type 1 (late 60s, early 70s model) in 30-06, but you may be looking at a newer model. I've shot it LH some, and I'd compare it to shooting a RH autoloader shotgun. It's not bad, but I just make sure I wear shooting glasses. Those are really nice guns IMO.

Yes, very nice rifles. I have a couple of the Remmy Semis and Win 100 but somehow I think the Browning may outdo them. Although the model 100 in 308 is no slouch. I've never had brass hit my face out of those rifles...

 

[levers4life]

I had one and it was no problem. They make them in lefty but I prefer the right hand. I wish I had one I could get to shoot close to 1/2 moa. Sounds like a tall order but I have two friends that have ones that will, and with factory ammo. I think an accurate-fast handling semi auto .300 WinMag would make an excellent all around good hunting rifle, especially elk.

That's always the hope with a semi-auto. But I have tried to sort out my hunting guns from my "target" rifles. I went through an AR phase. I'm pretty over it now tho
Elk would be the primary reason to slip it past the CFO..... she's tough
Happy shooting gents. I must say, it has been a pleasure getting advice and info from you guys.

 

[SoCal326]

Sight your gun in with your dominant eye....then shoot it from the opposite eye... you will understand very quickly how it matters.

I haven't noticed a difference with my scoped rifle. Sight it in, then move to either side of the rifle and it still shoots. In fact, some PRS competitions incorporate moving from one side to the other and people still pull off long distance hits.

What issue do you find when you move to the other side of the rifle?

 

[SoCal326]

Locating your target in your sight quicker is the 1st. Follow-up shots without removing your eye out sight from your target is the 2nd. The second will be most awkward without much practice. Many give up and never know what they have been missing.

TLDR:
So I guess the answer is eye dominance matters because it doesn't feel natural--until you retrain your eyes. It all comes down to how much time/desire you have for the transition. Now it feels so natural that I forgot how much effort I actually put into the change.

My names SoCal and I'm trans. You may think its strange but try it, you might like it.

It never mattered until I started PRS and rapid follow up shots in various positions became important. That's when I learned the importance of keeping my face on the rifle and the support hand maintaining the rifles position so I could see my impacts while cycling the action. If it weren't for that I'd probably still be shooting my right handed rifles like a lefty and agree with most of you.

What really helped me was dry firing on distant targets from my living room and cycling the bolt while still looking at the target. I'd dry fire in prone, then dry fire resting on the back of my couch. I'd dry fire and change positions so I was forced to quickly find my target. They eye dominance thing was an issue if I wasn't correctly lined up on the rifle but with proper alignment my non dominant eye takes over, even with both eyes open. Ya, I had to force it at first and it took some time but now it works great. It took a few hours laying in prone and playing with my eyes to understand what they were doing. Eventually I could keep both eyes open and mentally shift my focus between either eye.

During my transition is when I learned the importance of lining up directly behind the rifle instead of angling my body off to the side. Lining straight behind the rifle made it very easy to find my target. As I bring my cheek to the rifle I line my target up with the top of my turrets and once I get to the scope my target is usually in view. That alone made sure I was in correct position because if I couldn't find my target it meant I wasn't positioned directly behind the rifle. It also aligned my non dom eye and allowed it to take control and ensured that my rifle didn't move of target due to recoil.

Without the home practice I would have given up because range time is too valuable. I would have wasted a bunch of expensive ammo and gotten frustrated. So you have to train your eyes, but its possible.

For a minute I though I was special because my eyes were ambi but that's not true. It took time and practice--I just forget how much effort it took but its worth it. Its more comfortable, faster and I can share my rifles with my friends.

 

[skipglo]

I haven't noticed a difference with my scoped rifle. Sight it in, then move to either side of the rifle and it still shoots. In fact, some PRS competitions incorporate moving from one side to the other and people still pull off long distance hits.

What issue do you find when you move to the other side of the rifle?

It may only be me....1.5-2" left to right. Vertical remains constant and again maybe it's the glasses I wear....BUT....being the only true left handed in my immediate family, meaning with my Children ( my mother and father are both lefties) and all my shooting partners every single one that shoot my guns are always 1-2" right of the bull!

 

[skipglo]

TLDR:
So I guess the answer is eye dominance matters because it doesn't feel natural--until you retrain your eyes. It all comes down to how much time/desire you have for the transition. Now it feels so natural that I forgot how much effort I actually put into the change.

My names SoCal and I'm trans. You may think its strange but try it, you might like it.

It never mattered until I started PRS and rapid follow up shots in various positions became important. That's when I learned the importance of keeping my face on the rifle and sport hand maintaining the rifles position so I could see my impacts while cycling the action. If it weren't for that I'd probably still be shooting my right handed rifles like a lefty and agree with most of you.

What really helped me was dry firing on distant targets from my living room and cycling the bolt while still looking at the target. I'd dry fire in prone, then dry fire resting on the back of my couch. I'd dry fire and change positions so I was forced to quickly find my target. They eye dominance thing was an issue if I wasn't correctly lined up on the rifle but with proper alignment my non dominant eye takes over, even with both eyes open. Ya, I had to force it at first and it took some time but now it works great. It took a few hours laying in prone and playing with my eyes to understand what they were doing. Eventually I could keep both eyes open and mentally shift my focus between either eye.

During my transition is when I learned the importance of lining up directly behind the rifle instead of angling my body off to the side. Lining straight behind the rifle made it very easy to find my target. As I bring my cheek to the rifle I line my target up with the top of my turrets and once I get to the scope my target is usually in view. That alone made sure I was in correct position because if I couldn't find my target it meant I wasn't positioned directly behind the rifle. It also aligned my non dom eye and allowed it to take control and ensured that my rifle didn't move of target due to recoil.

Without the home practice I would have given up because range time is too valuable. I would have wasted a bunch of expensive ammo and gotten frustrated. So you have to train your eyes, but its possible.

For a minute I though I was special because my eyes were ambi but that's not true. It took time and practice--I just forget how much effort it took but its worth it. Its more comfortable, faster and I can share my rifles with my friends.

When you say you are "trans" and try it you might like ....you don't mean VESTITE do you. I'm not interested in having to go that FAR to shoot with my other side! Lol

 

[antelopedundee]

When you say you are "trans" and try it you might like ....you don't mean VESTITE do you. I'm not interested in having to go that FAR to shoot with my other side! Lol

I'm sort of left eyed dominant by default since I have that wandering eye thingy. Still I bat, play golf and throw LH and do everything else RH.

 

[mountainman83]

I'm right handed and left eye dominate, had to learn to shoot left handed because I could never kill a rabbit with a 12 ga wingmaster when I was a teenager.

I too, always used right handed bolt action rifles left handed up into my 30's.
Got my first LH bolt action in early 30's (wife got me a LH rem 700 vss 300RUM). That factory rifle is a tack driver btw.

I too didn't think going from right handed rifles to a left handed rifle would be that big of a deal. As I have gotten older and continue to learn and tweak my gear list and shooting techniques over the years, I've found that it does make a difference, I do prefer the LH actions.
Setting up for shots correctly is critical for being able to spot your hits and to be able to make quick follow up shots if needed, especially when hunting by yourself.

I can make those follow up shots, if and when needed, much easier with a left handed action.

With everything else in life, the more you practice or work in your profession the better you get at it. One of my goals in life is to learn something everyday, and I'm teaching my children that as well. Be willing to listen to other peoples opinions/techniques/gear suggestions etc. Take what you like, apply it/or tweak our own gear list if it helps to make us better at what we do.

This is a tremendous site, where we all get exposed to a wealth of knowledge about this great sport.

Have fun out there, Hunting Season is just around the corner!

 

[Hirschi1]

I'm right handed and left eye dominate, had to learn to shoot left handed because I could never kill a rabbit with a 12 ga wingmaster when I was a teenager.

I too, always used right handed bolt action rifles left handed up into my 30's.
Got my first LH bolt action in early 30's (wife got me a LH rem 700 vss 300RUM). That factory rifle is a tack driver btw.

I too didn't think going from right handed rifles to a left handed rifle would be that big of a deal. As I have gotten older and continue to learn and tweak my gear list and shooting techniques over the years, I've found that it does make a difference, I do prefer the LH actions.
Setting up for shots correctly is critical for being able to spot your hits and to be able to make quick follow up shots if needed, especially when hunting by yourself.

I can make those follow up shots, if and when needed, much easier with a left handed action.

With everything else in life, the more you practice or work in your profession the better you get at it. One of my goals in life is to learn something everyday, and I'm teaching my children that as well. Be willing to listen to other peoples opinions/techniques/gear suggestions etc. Take what you like, apply it/or tweak our own gear list if it helps to make us better at what we do.

This is a tremendous site, where we all get exposed to a wealth of knowledge about this great sport.

Have fun out there, Hunting Season is just around the corner!

Great advice!

 

[rkcolt45]

I'm also a southpaw and my first left-handed rifle was a weatherby markV in 7WM back in 1986. The gun shop had two other left-handed rifles in a Remington 700 BDL 7RM and a 30-06 savage. The Weatherby was a great shooter but I had to rebarrel it about 14 years later. I still have it but rechambered it to a 7STW and a krieger barrel.
My next left-handed rifle was a savage 110 in 264mag....factory made. It didn't group that well so I also had it rebarreled with a Krieger.
Before purchasing a left-handed bolt-action, I used a lever-action and a shotgun for deer hunting.