Self Taught Ambidextrous Shooting

[Muff Hucka]

As a lefty living in a right handed shooting world, I wanted to be able to shoot right handed and get to the point where it felt natural. So here is what I did to make that happen. Maybe some other folks have additional tips to mention?

I recently purchased a new Kimber 1911 Pro Carry II. I wanted this to be my carry piece. I had already decided I wanted to shoot right handed so while I was shopping, I decided that I would handle any new gun strictly as a right handed (this was to begin associating this new gun as being a right handed gun). After my purchase, I refused to handle it left handed. I purchased a RH holster and I am not installing an ambi safety on the 1911.

I practiced hundreds of RH draws. My first shooting done with the 1911 was all right handed. By this point, it feels totally natural. My accuracy was better than I thought it would be and now it's pretty much par with what my LH shooting was. Now, when I reach for a pistol I instinctively do it with my RH. It has gotten to the point where LH seems "different". This was not a month long process. Really, about 3 days before it felt totally natural.

Now my predicament is I still want to be able to shoot LH as a "just in case" measure. So I hope my practice doesn't totally undo the RH work I have done.

In a real world situation this might all be different if I have 20 gallons of adrenaline pumping through my veins but so far I'm please with the results.

Any additional tips?

 

[fogman]

I'm a lefty who has spent his.entire life shooting right handed, 40+ years. I've dabbled occasionally with shooting lefty but never seriously. My dad's logic was that there are not a lot of left handed options when it comes to firearms, and 40 years ago there were not.
Muscle memory has developed to be all right handed. Even picking up a firearm left handed feels completely unnatural. Eye dominance even shifts to right eye when shooting.
I figure with lefty being my "weak side" I can be very proficient with the little practice I get in.

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[Batt816]

Another lefty here. I shoot long guns right handed and handguns left handed. I would like to be able to shoot left and right with my handguns though.

 

[boothdoc]

Another lefty here. I practice shooting both left and right handed. My dad told me don’t plan on always having both hands. Also coming in handy shooting around obstacles.

 

[toppkatt]

Situations occur where your 'weak' hand is the best in that situation so it needs to be trained to work, so don't forgo ambidextrous safeties, mag release (if available), etc. just train both ways. If your dominate eye is the right, right handed will be easier but should the occasion arise where you need to shoot the 'opposite' hand you'll be ready. Practice in front of a mirror. I used that method when I wanted to learn to throw left handed (watched my motion in the mirror then imitated them with my left.
I might be ambidextrous anyway but being brought up in a right handed world means training right handed more often than left. I can print very well with my left (when my wife and I do crossword puzzles I write left handed and sit on the right and she writes right handed and sits on the left) but my cursive is slow, I just need more fine motors skill training before it gets better and not sure it's worth spending that much more time on it now that everything is typed :-(

 

[smokey]

I'm righty and right eye doninant, but drill right only, right with left support, left only, and left with right support. I also drill malfunction clearing and basic manipulations in those ways. It's common to shoot at a gun, so you may get shot in your strong side hand/arm. It's important to then be able to transition to your non-diminant side AND be able to change mags and clear malfunctions without the help of the other arm.

Eye dominance isn't something that typically switches back and forth, especially under stress. When I shoot lefty, I just cant the top of the gun over to the right a bit and it aligns nicely with my right eye.

I have found that appendix holsters make switching and doing one handed manipulations much easier. You've got a little work station down on your belt that you can access from either side, so you don't need to really drop down to the back of your knee or do anything too weird for mag changes.

 

[TheLizardKing]

I'm a righty, but shooting rifles lefty feels more natural to me. I've been trying to force myself to shoot right handed

 

[Garet Jax]

It happened naturally for me. I have had 3 shoulder surgeries. Each time I have had to shoot 1 handed using the arm that wasn't recovering.

 

[Crosseye Dominant]

For me it depends on the handgun... I can hit the controls on most "right handed" semi autos better when shooting lefty. For revolvers right-handed just works better though. Use left eye regardless.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Back when I first started hand guns , I made a point of shooting each hand more or less equally .

Over the years of laziness, still always did left hand practice smaller % , to where equal or better accuracy at slow to medium pace , but faster with right .

And then was hand injury and tendon surgery to left hand . Good surgeon , and good physical therapy . Left hand is officially 100% , but only about half its previous grip strength .

Left hand is still good enough " to ( real) Qualify with " , but not what it was , and also effects two hand right hand shooting .

 

[SummitCnty]

I'm a lefty who has spent his.entire life shooting right handed, 40+ years. I've dabbled occasionally with shooting lefty but never seriously. My dad's logic was that there are not a lot of left handed options when it comes to firearms, and 40 years ago there were not.
Muscle memory has developed to be all right handed. Even picking up a firearm left handed feels completely unnatural. Eye dominance even shifts to right eye when shooting.
I figure with lefty being my "weak side" I can be very proficient with the little practice I get in.

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This is how I am.

 

[303_enfield]

Sister Kathleen Marie made sure I wasn't left-handed. Still, have the scars from that damn metal yard stick.

 

[Overboost44]

Lefty here also. I always have shot right handed guns with my left hand. I really need to learn to shoot a pistol right handed. The only other thing I do right handed is golf.