Shooting with your Opposite Hand

[Hunter527]

My Dad and I have inherited multiple old hunting rifles from our relatives over the years and I would like to take them to the range and shoot at least one animal with each. I shoot left handed, but I would like to learn how to shoot right handed rather than just shooting them left handed and reaching over the top to cycle the bolt. I imagine it just takes practice, but I just thought I would ask you guys if you've ever tried this and if you found any tips or tricks to making the process easier.

 

[GUNDOGLOVER49]

You will need three things, practice, practice and practice..

 

[punkur67]

We shoot off hand at some of the matches I shoot. The hardest thing for me is getting your sight picture. But as stated above, practice

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Yep practice up, off a solid rest. Helped me that I switch hit baseball all my life. Inviting some jokes I bet..

 

[Hunter527]

Yep practice up, off a solid rest. Helped me that I switch hit baseball all my life. Inviting some jokes I bet..

Jokes?

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Jokes?

Switch hitting, from both sides of the plate.. never mind.

 

[TRICER]

Yep practice up, off a solid rest. Helped me that I switch hit baseball all my life. Inviting some jokes I bet..

As long as you were the pitcher.....

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

As long as you were the pitcher.....

Always pitching never catching lol

 

[Hunter527]

Oh no, I think I see where you guys are going with this!

 

[Hunter527]

Most of my little league games were spent standing in the outfield watching planes go by. One time I looked down and almost everyone was in the dugout already. At least I got plenty of practice watching the sky for bird hunting.

 

[punkur67]

Always pitching never catching lol

Is that any better? Both positions are..... nevermind

 

[ilovesprig]

I too was a switch "batter" and was/am left eye dominant... At a young age, I switched to shooting right handed...Shouldn't be too hard with practice.

ps...I've shot a number of turkeys left handed.

 

[longbowhunter2]

I always stroke it with the right hand

 

[Hunter527]

One of the old rifles belonged to my great-grandfather, he passed it down to my dad. Its a sporterized Mauser 98 rechambered to 30-06, it doesn’t have a floor plate, the stock covers where the floor plate would be. Also, they kept the original mauser safety. He hunted deer with it in D11 back in the 70s and who knows where else, its seen quite a few hunts by its looks! I wish I knew the full story!

 

[Hunter527]

I always stroke it with the right hand

Thats how you pass the time between hunting seasons??! I realized the title could possibly lead to nasty comments, I don’t know how else to phrase it though!

 

[longbowhunter2]

One of the old rifles belonged to my great-grandfather, he passed it down to my dad. Its a sporterized Mauser 98 rechambered to 30-06, it doesn’t have a floor plate, the stock covers where the floor plate would be. Also, they kept the original mauser safety. He hunted deer with it in D11 back in the 70s and who knows where else, its seen quite a few hunts by its looks! I wish I knew the full story!

great story. I like old Mauser actions. are right or left eye dominate, use left for left eye dominate and right for right eye. so they say.

 

[longbowhunter2]

Thats how you pass the time between hunting seasons??! I realized the title could possibly lead to nasty comments, I don’t know how else to phrase it though!

lol I was talking about my rifle. I am right eye dominate and right handed

 

[sdolan617]

I'm also in the cross-eye dominant crowd, once I started wingshooting it made it pretty apparent I had to learn to shoot lefty if I wanted to hit anything consistently... Awkward at first but after a summer of practice I felt pretty comfortable. Now I shoot my rifle lefty too. However, I still only own right-handed bolt guns, I don't find it too cumbersome/awkward to operate the bolt.

 

[Papadeuce]

Mark me down as a left eye dominate, right hander. My right eye is basically blind so I have no choice but to shoot lefty. If you think shooting a gun with your opposite hand is tough, try doing it with a bow, lol.

 

[Mud Pigeon]

Not sure why you don't want to shoot them in your normal shooting position. I'm cross dominate and my shotguns and .270 are LH but I've also shot a ton of rabbits, ground squirrels and coyotes at my place with my son's RH .22. Easy to operate the bolt with your right hand if the gun is on the rest (.22 has a bipod). I think if I buy a new high end rifle I may get RH just because of the available calibers.