07-24-2005, 19:46
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#1
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Guerrilla
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Canada
Posts: 179
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Southpaws!
My name is Chris, and I am a southpaw (lefty). I would like to know how many Quiet Professionals are also left handed. How this has hindered or abled you in any way? Whether being ambidextrous or living in a right-hand world has ever been a challenge.
Thanks for reading,
-Chris
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Chris is offline
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07-24-2005, 21:10
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#2
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Castle Rock, CO
Posts: 2,531
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i am left-handed, although i throw right handed (Dad wanted me to be a middle infielder and refused to let me throw left handed)...i shoot left-handed, actually throw grenades with either hand and in many respects became ambidextrous out of necessity...
did i struggle with left-handedness....? all my life...weapons school was not as much fun during the mechanical training portion..."Take the upper receiver in your right hand..." alot of the instruction seemed counter intuitive to me...the magazine slide on a 1911 requires use of the right hand...but i adapted...i can do most things i needed to do in SF with either hand...
the only time i was really self-conscious about being left-handed was in the Middle East...there are certain taboos regarding using the left hand that made life uncomfortable...i used to sit on my left hand during meals, as it is a no-no to touch food on a communal plate with your left hand...i used to chuckle to myself about that...
i tend to compartmentalize...when i am surveying, i expect the knobs that operate the instrument to be on the right side...that's how they are built...i've never known a left handed survey instrument and probably couldn't operate one if i had to ...i use my left eye, so there's not much problem there...scissors...i haven't mastered scissors or tin snips yet...a circular saw or sabre saw is problematic...i try using them right handed, but the term wood butcher has my name all over it...never the less, there are alot of things that are designed for use with the right hand that i have never thought about because that's how it's always been...
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""A man must know his destiny. if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder. if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.""- GEN George S. Patton
Last edited by lksteve; 07-24-2005 at 21:17.
Reason: added some things
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07-24-2005, 21:19
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#3
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,827
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by lksteve
...the magazine slide on a 1911 requires use of the right hand...but i adapted...
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lksteve:
If you are referring to the magazine release, most left-handed shooters manipulate it with their index finger, some faster than right-handed people can with their thumbs.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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The Reaper is offline
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07-24-2005, 21:22
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#4
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Castle Rock, CO
Posts: 2,531
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by The Reaper
If you are referring to the magazine release, most left-handed shooters manipulate it with their index finger, some faster than right-handed people can with their thumbs.
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true...and i learned that probably seven years after being issued an M79/1911 as a grenadier in the 82nd...before that, i used my left index finger in a less-than-efficient manner...once being taught that i was allowed to use my right hand ( i am not joking about this), i found it was more efficient...when firing right handed, using the thumb seem awkward...
__________________
""A man must know his destiny. if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder. if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.""- GEN George S. Patton
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lksteve is offline
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07-26-2005, 19:53
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#5
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Ohio
Posts: 982
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I'm left handed and I adapted like every other south paw that came into the military. It becomes second natured after a few thousand muscle memory drills.
You can do it!
Doc
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Doc is offline
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07-26-2005, 20:19
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#6
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Occupied Pineland
Posts: 4,701
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Doc
I'm left handed and I adapted like every other south paw that came into the military. It becomes second natured after a few thousand muscle memory drills.
You can do it!
Doc
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That's it in a nutshell. Handedness is an overblown issue (except that we are inately superior because of our ability to adapt to the prejudices and outright discrimination of a right-handed world). Though it does come in handy clearing to the right around corners.  Peregrino
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07-26-2005, 21:05
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#7
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Kia ora, bro
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 931
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Does the US Mil issue many of the lefty M16 series? I've seen a picture of an SF soldier with one, but it's the only picture I've ever seen of a lefty M4.
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"That block was already messed up."
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Huey14 is offline
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07-26-2005, 21:09
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#8
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Castle Rock, CO
Posts: 2,531
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Huey14
Does the US Mil issue many of the lefty M16 series? I've seen a picture of an SF soldier with one, but it's the only picture I've ever seen of a lefty M4.
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i've never seen a lefty M16...i'd bet the photograph was reversed...
__________________
""A man must know his destiny. if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder. if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.""- GEN George S. Patton
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lksteve is offline
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07-26-2005, 21:24
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#9
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Kia ora, bro
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 931
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It could well have been. I'm not certain to be honest.
I've heard of some guys here and in the Aus army who have found the Styer to be a bitawkward with the charging handle. I think you can move the ejection port over to the other side, but not the CH.
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"You destroyed half a city block!"
"That block was already messed up."
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Huey14 is offline
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07-26-2005, 21:37
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#10
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,827
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by lksteve
i've never seen a lefty M16...i'd bet the photograph was reversed...
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Same here. I agree, bad photo most likely.
TR
__________________
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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