South Paw Shooting

[Gene Econ]

Fellows:

Read through that thread from a fellow suggesting he wanted a left handed bolt rifle. Might as well stir the pot some and see what comes up. May be some good ideas and thoughts to come out of this.

My thoughts on this are pretty simple. God made someone left handed and why not go with the flow? I know left handed bolt rifles are about twice as expensive as right handed ones. However if a fellow isn't in the Army and wants a rifle to fit what God gave him -- and has the money to do so -- then what is the big deal? I won't hold my breath waiting for the Army to issue another bolt rifle -- let alone any left handed bolt rifles though so don't think I am suggesting the Army issues another bolt rifle, let alone some that are left handed.

When running local SOTIC courses here at Lewis we had more than one SF man shoot the 24 left handed and do so for the NMC phase of training where he had to maintain speed standards in rapid and sustained fore -- with the right arm in a rifle sling. These guys were faster and more precise reaching over the rifle with it canted somewhat and working the bolt with their left hand than if we had tried to force them to do something they weren't made to do. Never saw any problems once the optic was on either.

As for eye dominance -- I recall more than one 'eye dominance' guy forcing an otherwise good shooter to become a leftie when he was right handed and vice versa because of this peculiar idea of eye dominance. Eye dominance isn't the key to consistency and precision although it certainly helps. So I saw poor fellows who were right handed sling up with M-14s as south paws and proceed to abuse themselves while showing consistent failure. I told them to shoot the way God made them but their coach seemed to have a philosophy that eye dominance is the most important factor in shooting so he insisted they shoot with their weak hand and arm. None of these guys ever returned to precision shooting. If a fellow thinks he is left eye dominant and is a right handed shooter -- have him put a patch over his left eye when he shoots for a while and he will soon develop his right eye well enough.

A good shooting buddy of mine was a right handed shooter. He literally went blind in his right eye over a period of about two years. He had no choice but to train himself to shoot left handed. Fortunately for him, he wasn't a bolt gunner so he had a relatively easy time. Took maybe five or six years of continual work before he was competitive again. He does some long range shooting and bought a left handed Remington. He tells me he likes the left handed bolt but the rifle doesn't hold well enough for him. Out of the box Remington. Some do outstanding and some suck.

I figure a fellow who has his own rifle at home has the time to train himself to be a weak handed shooter. Fellows in the military who depend on the military for their fireams work may be better off sticking to what is natural for them. I have seen right handed guys shoot left handed for no reason other than they shoot left handed. Very uncommon but I have seen it.

So, let the fun begin!

Gene