Switching from right to left-handed shooting

[boneandbass]

Due to eye trouble, I find it difficult shooting right-handed, and using what was my dominant eye. I enjoy trap shooting, and would like to know if anybody has successfully switched from right to left-hand shooting and suggestions in doing so.

My gun does have an adjustable comb, so that shouldn't be a hardware issue, but the few times I tried shooting left-handed it was horrible. I felt awkward and as if I never shot a gun before.

Any and all suggestions, especially from trap shooters is most welcomed.

 

[jmr40]

When my younger brother was in his early 20's he made the switch for the same reasons. He struggled a bit at first, but with some practice, he did master shooting from the other side. Once mastered he shoots better than before. That has been 30 years ago BTW.

 

[newfalguy101]

Practice, practice, oh and then more practice

Due to a defective right elbow, I had to learn to shoot longguns lefty. I honestly don't recall it being all that difficult, course that was 30some years ago as a youngish lad.

 

[200Apples]

.
At a skeet clinic it was brought to my attention that I'm cross-dominant; left-eye, right-handed shooter. So if I want to continue to practice skeet shooting, it's either continue as is (nope), or put a patch over my left eye (nope), or learn to shoot shotgun left-handed. At the time I couldn't wrap my head around that, so I laid off. Since then I've continued to shoot rifle and pistol at stationary targets.

Occasionally at home with an unloaded gun I'll mount lefty. It's getting a little easier. I will continue to practice here at home when it occurs to me and some time in the future I'll be ready to try it with live ammo at the skeet range.

 

[SwaneeSR]

+1 to 200 Apples.

I am in the same boat. Without making the change, I will always be limited.

 

[Sunray]

"...left-handed it was horrible..." That's because your muscles are trained to shoot backwards. You need to re-train 'em. That takes practice, practice, oh and then more practice like newfalguy101 says.
"...I enjoy trap shooting..." This'd be the only part that matters.
"...it's either continue as is..." Yep, but shoot with both your eyes open. Anybody that tells you that you must shoot one way due to eye dominance is confused.

 

[MCgunner]

I figured this out about age 8 with my .22 caliber Benjamin and have been shooting lefty ever since. Now, it feels odd to try to shoot the gun right handed. It's also why I've set my compound bow aside and taken up crossbows for bow season in Texas.

The biggest problem I find with lefty shooting is crossbolt safeties. THANKFULLY, I found a left hand safety for my Winchester 1400 at Numrich Arms some years back. I really prefer Mossberg's tang safety. My 20 gauge Spartan SxS has a tang safety just like my old Sarasqueta, BUT, SxSs including my Spartan, tend to be cast to the left for right hand shooters. Fortunately, it's a cheap SxS and the stock fit had enough slop in it I was able to shim the cast out of it and now it's cast neutral.

So, if you're a lefty, you REALLY need to try that double before you buy it. Repeaters are usually easily shimmed and are usually built cast neutral at any rate. There is a new O/U on the market, Benelli I think, that does not have an inletted tang, but whose stock is attached much as is a repeater. I've been interested in trying one of those, but it's sorta priced out of range for me, so it's not a holy quest or anything.

With pumps I'm a Mossberg or Browning kinda guy because of the safety. I'd like to have a Mossberg 930 or 935 for waterfowl, but since I got the tang safety reversed on the Winchester, I haven't worried a lot about getting a new gun just because of the safety. Were I to actually BUY a new autoloader, though, that tang safety would sway the deal big time.

All in all, though, it's worth switching to the left so that you can actually SEE the target. Of course, that does mean there's one less excuse when you miss.

 

[jmorris]

Years ago I built a few clay throwers the first weekend after I built them we shot something like 20 boxes of clays over the weekend.

My shoulder was less than ideal day 2 so I and a few others switched to weak side shooting. A little dab of Vaseline on the lense of my glasses on the dominant eye side fixed the tendency for it to take over.

 

[MCgunner]

When you are, at best, correctable to 20/70 in your right eye, no amount of Vaseline or patches over the eye is going to help anything. It's not a matter of dominance so much as blindness in the weak eye.

 

[oneounceload]

It will take some time and practice, but you can practice your mount in your home (unloaded gun of course) and practice folling something like the line where the wall meets the ceiling.