New to handguns, do I need to shoot left handed?

[chuckml97]

I have the same issue right handed with left eye dominate. I been reading a lot of books on shooting. People usually recommend switching to left handed for long guns. But for hand gun is not required. I keep shooting right handed with both eye open. I have no issue shooting the target in 25 yards.

[breakingtime91]

I have the same issue right handed with left eye dominate. I been reading a lot of books on shooting. People usually recommend switching to left handed for long guns. But for hand gun is not required. I keep shooting right handed with both eye open. I have no issue shooting the target in 25 yards.

With a rds on rifle it is a non issue. Just my opinion, was a little harder with an ACOG but a good 1-4 was good to go also. If you are using irons, just close your left eye and your good to go. Don't over complicate it

[spinmove_]

With a rds on rifle it is a non issue. Just my opinion, was a little harder with an ACOG but a good 1-4 was good to go also. If you are using irons, just close your left eye and your good to go. Don't over complicate it

While that does generally work fine for that I've found that shooting a shotgun on something like sporting clays is best done with both eyes open. Usually that works best with putting the gun in front of the dominant eye. YMMV of course, but I've found it best for me to shoot long guns left handed and handguns right handed being left eye dominant myself.

[breakingtime91]

While that does generally work fine for that I've found that shooting a shotgun on something like sporting clays is best done with both eyes open. Usually that works best with putting the gun in front of the dominant eye. YMMV of course, but I've found it best for me to shoot long guns left handed and handguns right handed being left eye dominant myself.

Yes it is hard to come with a solution everyone agrees on and while people can be decent with their off hand the juice is not worth the squeeze for me. Either way, you probably won't be kilt on the streets and people make a bigger deal out of this then they have to.

[spinmove_]

Yes it is hard to come with a solution everyone agrees on and while people can be decent with their off hand the juice is not worth the squeeze for me. Either way, you probably won't be kilt on the streets and people make a bigger deal out of this then they have to.

Very true and I totally agree. Ultimately the shooter just needs to get out there and figure out what works best for them and drive on. Plenty of ways to skin the cat, just gotta figure out which way works best for you.

[Rex G]

Handedness can be a moment in time, as things change. If my right hand has just been cut or shot, or detained by business elsewhere, I had better be able to work left-handed, yesterday. Yes, if just learning, start with baby steps, learning to shoot first with your most-dextrous hand.

In my case, I am left-eye dominant, but did not understand that part when I first learned to shoot. Several shooting instructors, over the years, have noticed I seemed to be cross-dominant, when seeing me shoot right-handed, but things are not that simple: I am left-handed with small, skilled tasks, but right-handed/armed with larger, more-gross-motor-skill movements. Drawing large, heavy revolvers from my first low-slung duty rig being a lot like throwing, well, I decided to carry at 0300 in 1983, while attending the police academy. There was no general legal carry for private citizens in Texas in those days, I had only recently been able to buy a handgun, and I had lived in a non-handgun household, anyway, so I had not established a "weapon hand." Plus, my low-slung carry duty rig was not easy to reach while seated inside a vehicle's driver's seat, reinforcing the practicality of carrying right-handed.

Most DA revolvers being caveman-simple to shoot, it really does not matter which hand I use to shoot them*. Pre-Gen4 Glocks work better in my left hand than in my right hand. Gen4 seem more hand-neutral. Some of my best 1911 groups have been shot left-handed, but my best one or two groups were shot right-handed.

An immediate side benefit, back in the day: A shooting session with big-bore Magnums would largely spare my writing hand, as I mostly shot right-handed, working from the holster.

A delayed benefit: Today, my right thumb and wrist cannot tolerate much recoil, but my less-abused left hand is still relatively healthy, and, it just so happens that pre-Gen4 Glocks, and some revolvers, are my favored lefty handguns.

With long guns, my shooting performance often sucked; I was a mediocre shooter with long guns, until I understood the importance of shooting long guns from the shoulder corresponding to the dominant eye. Actually, one reason I preferred plain-bead-sight shotguns, with no rib, for so long, was because they were eye-dominance-neutral for me. Some open sights, on rifles, are OK when I shoot right-handed, but with aperture sights, or optics, or with a vent-rib shotgun, it is important for me to shoot lefty.

*My hands are built a bit differently, so an individual weapon's grip dimensions and trigger reach may favor one hand or the other.

[KP]

Handedness can be a moment in time, as things change. If my right hand has just been cut or shot, or detained by business elsewhere, I had better be able to work left-handed, yesterday. Yes, if just learning, start with baby steps, learning to shoot first with your most-dextrous hand.

In my case, I am left-eye dominant, but did not understand that part when I first learned to shoot. Several shooting instructors, over the years, have noticed I seemed to be cross-dominant, when seeing me shoot right-handed, but things are not that simple: I am left-handed with small, skilled tasks, but right-handed/armed with larger, more-gross-motor-skill movements. Drawing large, heavy revolvers from my first low-slung duty rig being a lot like throwing, well, I decided to carry at 0300 in 1983, while attending the police academy. There was no general legal carry for private citizens in Texas in those days, I had only recently been able to buy a handgun, and I had lived in a non-handgun household, anyway, so I had not established a "weapon hand." Plus, my low-slung carry duty rig was not easy to reach while seated inside a vehicle's driver's seat, reinforcing the practicality of carrying right-handed.

Most DA revolvers being caveman-simple to shoot, it really does not matter which hand I use to shoot them*. Pre-Gen4 Glocks work better in my left hand than in my right hand. Gen4 seem more hand-neutral. Some of my best 1911 groups have been shot left-handed, but my best one or two groups were shot right-handed.

An immediate side benefit, back in the day: A shooting session with big-bore Magnums would largely spare my writing hand, as I mostly shot right-handed, working from the holster.

A delayed benefit: Today, my right thumb and wrist cannot tolerate much recoil, but my less-abused left hand is still relatively healthy, and, it just so happens that pre-Gen4 Glocks, and some revolvers, are my favored lefty handguns.

With long guns, my shooting performance often sucked; I was a mediocre shooter with long guns, until I understood the importance of shooting long guns from the shoulder corresponding to the dominant eye. Actually, one reason I preferred plain-bead-sight shotguns, with no rib, for so long, was because they were eye-dominance-neutral for me. Some open sights, on rifles, are OK when I shoot right-handed, but with aperture sights, or optics, or with a vent-rib shotgun, it is important for me to shoot lefty.

*My hands are built a bit differently, so an individual weapon's grip dimensions and trigger reach may favor one hand or the other.

[KP]

Grainular Discharge

There is no need to switch to shooting left handed. Keep both eyes open, turn your head and bring the pistol up to your left eye. Focus directly upon the front sight - the target and rear sight should be blurry and out of focus. Take the shot by pressing the trigger back in a constant motion without moving the muzzle.