New Lefty

[Coop45]

I recently had a vision loss in my right eye and am trying to adapt to shooting a rifle left handed. This is about a natural to me as .......well, it's just weird. Has anyone else been down this road and how did it work for you?

 

[patmccoy]

Put a broomstick in a corner you walk past often, and every time you pass pick it up and mount it like you would a rifle (left handed). In about a month you will have built muscle memory, and it will seem natural.

 

[Bayou Redd]

I Did That... Kinda!

Just opposite. I shot left handed for 40+ years; then switched to a righty...

Even now when I check out a new rifle without thinking, I grab it as a lefty. Believe it or not after a hunting season, I became every bit as good as a righty. I can shoot a rifle with either & I'm not as good as a lefty with a pistol but can still do it. I tend to think that everyone should train a little in both, because as age grabs us by the seat of the pants, there is no telling which eye will fade first.

I hunt mostly squirrels, so the small targets have helped me get use to it quickly...

You can do it, Good Luck...

 

[Reloadron]

I am right handed but left eye dominant and starting at age 8 began shooting left handed. That was how I learned. I qualified in the Marine Corps left handed and have shot left handed all my life.

This is about a natural to me as .......well, it's just weird.

If I pick up a rifle and attempt to place it in my right shoulder it feels all wrong. When I place a rifle in my shoulder it is autonomic, it is as natural as can be and in time the same will happen to you. Today it feels weird, tomorrow a little strange and a few months from now it will feel perfectly normal. We simply adapt, that is how it works, the body adapts. Sorry about the vision loss but you will adapt.

I do shoot handgun right handed using my left eye.

Ron

 

[Coop45]

Thanks everyone! My .22 and I are get closer.

 

[Skribs]

I'm cross-eye dominant. I never shot much growing up, but I did use a BB gun and I played a lot of video games. Didn't take me much time to get used to shooting a rifle left-handed.

The biggest problem for me is the lack of ambidextrous equipment, and my annoyance at the manufacturers for not designing things to better include the minority group.

 

[Johnm1]

I am/was cross dominant . Right handed left eye dominant. As a middle age adult I switched to left hand rifle. I continued to shoot a pistol right handed but used my dominant left eye by crossing over. I never did get used to a left handed bolt though and finally switched back to a right handed bolt gun shooting left handed. The mechanics aren't as bad as one would think. One advantage to changing hands is that the off hand and trigger finger didn't have the bad habits of my youth. That served me well in compition though rapids with a bolt gun did suffer. But not as much as one would think.

A stroke two summers ago took over half the vision in my left (dominant) eye. So I'm back to right handed. The left eye is still dominant, just very dim. It is working for me, and it will for you. Take the opportunity to relearn things perfectly this time. Use the wisdom of your age and you may come out of this a better shooter.

The weirdness goes away.