Back to Basic to Master Left-Handed Rifle Shooting

[Richard S]

All right. Here's the situation.

Right-handed dominate. Detached retina in right eye. Retina reattached. Retina detached again. Retina reattached one more time. Retina holding this time. Vision in left eye -- 20/20. Vision in right eye -- 20/something less than the ability to focus on sights and targets simultaneously when shooting a rifle using the previously accustomed right eye for sighting. No problem with shotguns or handguns, having always used both eyes for shooting those.

I find that I can shoot a rifle or carbine with moderate accuracy "left handed," but it still takes time and is in no way as natural as it had been for more decades than I care to admit.

Anyone out there who has gone through such a "conversion" or who has any recommendations, I'm listening.  

[Relic]

Richard,  I'm very sorry to hear about your vision troubles.  I'm certain that it is a frightening and frustrating experience.  

I'm a lefty, so I've had a lifetime of having to adjust to the right-handed world.  As some encouragement, I'll say that eventually it becomes natural to shoot "wrong-handed".  Shooting glasses with a blind over your dominant eye will help there.  Blanking out the dominant eye seems to force the brain to adjust .

I've found that I still test as left eye dominant, but when shooting it doesn't matter now, I don't need to close or cover my dominant eye anymore.

Shooting rifles right handed with a cocked grip to use the left eye causes most people to place their teeth against the comb.  This is a very bad idea that can lead to some unanticipated dentist visits.  Also you'll likely have your face closer to a scope trying to shoot that way, leading the way for scope bite.  So moving over to shooting as a lefty might be your best bet.  Try the shooting glasses with a cover over your right eye if needed.  Putting the glasses/blinder on a few minutes before shooting helps.  I suppose an eye patch will work also if you like the pirate look.  

I did meet one vet, blinded in his dominant eye by shrapnel, use an offset mount(used on many CQB rifles for a secondary sight) to continue to shoot right handed while using his left eye. It wasn't a perfect solution for him, but he made it work.  He said that couldn't get used to the brass flying in front of his face while shooting ARs left handed.  Since he already owned several right handed rifles, he came up with that offset solution.  It looked awkward, but it seemed to work with some effort.  Instead of canting the rifle away from his face to acquire the sight as most do with these mounts, he just used his good left eye and look through the angled sight with the rifle held in a normal vertical position.  Picatinney rails are ubiquitous these days so offset scopes/reflex sights are possible on most rifles, but I'm dubious if I could adjust well to that configuration.  You'd have to try it to see, if you wish to go that route.

For pistol shooting with a cross dominant eye most instructors recommend cocking the pistol 10-12 degrees toward that eye.  This seems to work very well for everyone I've shown.  Now that both of my eyes are used to shooting as dominant, I can cock the pistol and have my right eye "take over" automagically.

Consider the process more like the adjusting a dimmer switch than an on/off switch.  It takes a while, but eventually it becomes natural to work with the non-dominant eye and wrong side grip.  I do it now without thinking. Your brain will adjust, it's an amazing flexible thing.

Good luck and I wish you all the best.

[Relic]

Richard,

One last bit, that came to me when I was trying to recall my challenges of learning to shoot right-handed.  

Lower body position has a lot to do with the awkward feel.

Take your normal right hand stance and make meticulous note of foot, leg, knee and especially hip positions.  Try to mirror that in a left hand stance.  Switch back and forth to ensure you have your lower body positioned in a true "all lefty" stance.  I recall struggling with that for a while.

I found that (rifle unloaded) setting up left handed then switching  to right hand and swiveling my hips around my forward foot (bringing my rear foot around to the front so I was facing in the other direction) put my body in the right position.  It looks goofy as hell doing this but you can switch hands and swivel right to left to right to left, etc (obviously you'll move forward as you do) bringing your rifle to the appropriate eye each time and it will start to "sink in".

Sorry for the long winded posts.  Just thought it could help.

[Reinz]

Richard, Sorry to hear of your situation.  I wish you the best in your challenges and your healing.

[Richard S]

Thank you, gentlemen!

Relic, your advice is very insightful, shall essentially become my new "manual of arms," and is very much appreciated.

I am learning to understand more fully each day the challenges faced by a "lefty" in a right-handed world. In any event, to paraphrase Dylan Thomas, I have no intention of going gently into that good night.  

Thanks again to you both for your good wishes. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of basing my "new look" after that man in the old Hathaway shirt ads:

 

[kjtrains]

Richard.  Don't know if you can use contacts or not, but I have been using mono vision for longer than I want to remember.  This is where one eye is used for reading and the other for distance.  This works for me with a rifle or handgun.

My left eye has a 350 power contact which gives 20/20 vision for reading and right eye has 150 power for distance and 20/20 vision with the contact.

This works much like Relic explained; another way of saying the same thing is - the brain works like a channel selector on a TV; when you read, the brain selects, in my case, the left eye, then for distance, the brain selects the right eye, automatically tuning out the eye not needed.  Believe it or not, the brain knows how to do this.

You may can't use contacts when a retina is detached and then healed, I don't know; or you may not want to use them.  It is another option and I know, personally, it works.

Wishing you the best in your solution.

[Relic]

Richard, that positive attitude is your strongest asset.  
You'll wind up a better shooter that you started because of the effort you make to focus on shooting technique in a weak hand stance.

Bullpup and bolt actions forced me to learn weak hand rifle, and that has definately made me an all around better rifleman.  I honestly don't care what hand pulls the trigger anymore I just naturally shoulder some rifles right handed without even thinking about it.

However, I still "throw like a girl" with my right hand.  I guess I didn't put enough effort into that.

Never sell yourself short, and don't settle.  Expect the same performance that you've always been able to accomplish.  I'm betting you are capable of surpassing your right hand efforts.

[yankee2500]

Richard, I'm sorry to here about the eyesight issues and wish you the best.
  As far as the Hathaway shirt man look... not bad, might start a new fad.  
   Hope every thing works out.

[Richard S]

Thank you all. Thank you for the good wishes and for the advice.

Anytime I think I might start feeling sorry for myself for suddenly having to cope with diminished sight in one eye, I remind myself of those who have lost so much more. Hell, I still have a left eye which can read the bottom line of the eye chart. (The other day, the retina surgeon's nurse who was giving my left eye the standard vision test quipped, "You haven't memorized that chart like Donald Sutherland's character in Space Cowboys, have you?")

In closing, permit me to reciprocate with some advice to all of you over the age of . . . let's say 50. Have your eye's throughly tested once every year or two by a qualified ophthalmologist. And if you wake up some night with an amazing "light show" going on in one of your eyes, get yourself immediately to the nearest retina surgical specialist.

[size=10]Edit: Correcting typo. Even proofreading now has to be honed.[/size]