can you shoot with either hand ?

J

joneb

New member
well the unthinkable happend, I strained a tendon in my my right hand. It's the tendon that's connected to my trigger finger :eek: So now it's in a splint getting some rest, well then I asked my self how well can I shoot left handed ? Answer not very well.
I headed off to a near by cinder pit to assess the problem. I just took my conceal carrie guns with a vairity of ammo. As I suspected the hot stuff was to inaccurate shooting lefty, with the milder target/plinking loads, I did much better. But still I was woefully inadequate. Are you prepared to shoot well with your weaker hand ??
 
I shoot ambidextrious. I prefer to shoot handguns left-handed, but I usually shoot rifles right handed. I can flip-flop at will, though... and my accuracy only takes a minor drop, but I can't draw nearly as fast with my right hand.
 
shooting with both hands

I can shoot with both hands. Your eyes don't know which hand is holding the weapon. try it sometime.
 
Chis I envy that, I am so right hand that when unlocking a door with my left hand I turn the key the wrong way :confused:
 
Chis I envy that, I am so right hand that when unlocking a door with my left hand I turn the key the wrong way
Click to expand...

haha, my 'skill' comes from years of being indecisive. You know... when you hit that age where you have to decide if you want to be left handed like your mom, or right handed like your dad. It definitly does a number on the people I play paintball against.
 
I can shoot equaly as well either right or left handed with a handgun or rifle but with a shotgun its right handed or not at all. And yes I do have a dominate eye ( my right) It takes a little longer to aim a rifle left handed useing my week eye but the acuracy is the same , no diff with a handgun because I use my dominate right eye to aim with .
 
both

I shoot left handed, mainly because I am left eye dominate and the pistol just feels better in that hand.

I always boxed right hand lead, so that also comes into play I suppose.

I can shoot decently with my right hand if it is supported. If it is just my right hand, my accuracy at longer distances goes down, plus I don't like canting my head, so I usually just cant the gun slightly when I am shooting weakhand only. That helps.
 
357mag, I noticed with the hotter loads my hand recoiled in a diagonal direction. I was not supporting with my right hand. Does the cant help compensate for this.
 
I Just pick it up and shoot drives range masters wild, Last qualification started left handed switched some where and ended up right handed went to holster weapon and no holster. I don't do this to be a smart a&* but just do it. Sometimes when I just go to the range I have a shoot off between Lt and Rt, funny thing its always a tie. My own opinion is as long as you have the basics and can apply them you can shoot either or.
 
I shoot equally poorly with either hand. Or almost ... I'm a little slower with my left, but about as accurate.

I also do not have a dominant eye. Or rather, some days it's my right eye and other days it is my left. Have to close one eye to shoot.

Playing kickball in 6th grade, I never could figure out how the other kids all knew which foot they were going to use to kick the ball with. I never knew which one I was going to use until I used it.

pax
 
I am left handed and right eye dominant. Because of the controls on a 1911, I learned to shoot with my right hand. Funny-when I was playin around in IDPA, the "weak hand" part of the course was easy. One thing I have noticed about shooting with my weak hand is that my trigger finger is noticeably more sensitive.
 
I can shoot with both hands, just not very good with weak hand. Am desently accurate, just not accurate during rapid fire. I take the 2 handed aproach most of the times.
 
Please excuse all the insults, I'm just jealous. I'm not happy with my situation, it caught me off guard. This has been a good lesson for me, it made realize the importance of being able to shoot with either hand.
 
jibjab ~

Last year, I took a handgun class entirely mirror image, left hand holster & the whole works. Someone asked me why and I had three good reasons:

1) because doing so tremendously improved my right-hand shooting skills as well. It made me very conscious of a lot of things that had become habit.

2) because as an instructor, I need to know how to instruct lefties as well as righties.

and

3) because you never know when you might fall and break your right wrist.

I went on to opine that because of 3), everyone serious about self-defense should learn to shoot with either hand, and my correspondent responded (with a sniff, I feel certain) that he'd never sprained a wrist in his life and didn't intend to start anytime soon. *shrug* I dunno anyone who plans to break bones ... do you? But it happens.

No time like the present. Annoying as it is, it's probably a good idea to get in as much practice as you can while you're, um, motivated. ;)

pax
 
I feel like I am watching the Princess Bride

Darn I lost my entire post trying to do a spell check:( Lets see if I can remember what I had to say....

Jibjab I was a senior in HS when I had an injury to my trigger finger (over 2 months with screws cast etc) no way I could write, take notes etc, except with my left hand (imagine your hand replaced with a club, nobody wanted to get in a fight with me though:D

I learned to do many things "lefty" never learned shooting at that time, but.....
Before I went to Iraq, I taught myself to shoot both pistol and rifle lefty (don't carry lefty...yet...although the way my wife likes to walk on my strong side..... http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194088 ) when I get back stateside, I will probably start trying lefty holsters (know a place that over ordered LOL)

back on topic... with a handgun already in hand....I am just as good with either hand (I am left eye dominant though).....with a rifle from a rest/supported position I hold a better shot group.....my follow on shots take longer as do magazine changes...

Pax...you learned to shoot lefty/weak hand just to teach? That is awesome. :cool: (actually you had 3 reasons listed LOL) I also improved my Right/strong side skills. There is something to be said about actually thinking marksmanship etc. I practiced so much with my right side...I picked up bad habits:eek: that I was able to overcome practicing lefty.

everyone else...you are so right, practice with your weak hand, weird positions etc... when you don't have to, because you when you need those skills it might be too late to learn them.....

Jibjab...reguarding the cant of the pistol...last time I shot stateside, had someone suggest that to me. "They" said the basis was to align the bones of the wrist and forearm better. I tried it...I would say about 1030-1100 cant with the right hand, 1300-1330 with the left hand, and I handled the recoil better, follow on shots were faster (just my opinion, I did not time it)

Anyways, I will continue to practice, with both hands, pistol/revolver/rifle mainly because of my chosen occupation (army) and arthritis and gout type flare ups run in my family (so far no one had both hands affected at the same time.

Good shooting, and I hope your tendon gets better soon
 
I'm lefty but shooting my dads gun with a right handed target grip forced me to learn to shoot right. I'm pretty much ambidextrous (sp?) now.
 
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