Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Rifle shooting with non-dominant side.

I'm a right-handed shooter that recently started practicing rifle shooting left-handed with some surprising results. I started this because I have one hunting spot that may require a left-handed shot, and because it was something new to do.

All of this shooting was done standing at 100 yds. at a SR-1 target. The target has a 3.35" diameter 10 ring, and subsequent rings are 3" larger in diameter out to a 18.35" diameter 5 ring. The shooting was done in three different sessions over a period of weeks this past winter. All examples are from ten-shot strings.

I shot two very different rifles. First was a Winchester model 94AE chambered for .30-30. It is a Legacy model from around 2000 with a 24" barrel weighing 6# 10 oz. unloaded. It has a Williams receiver sight and a 3/32" white bead front sight making a 27-1/8" sight radius. The second rifle was a Savage model 10 chambered for .223 with a 20" bull barrel, and weighs 9# 4 oz. unloaded. It is very muzzle heavy, and has a Leupold M8 6x42 scope.

In the first session I shot the 94AE right-handed, and did better than my long term average. I score 89-0X. The group was 6.5" diameter. The average POI was 0.3" left and 0.9" high.

The second session I shot the model 10. Right handed I scored 86-0X with a 8.7" group 0.5" right and 0.8" high. Left handed I scored 85-0X with a 7.9" group 1.0" right and 1.2" high. The left-handed group was smaller, and may have scored higher if it had been more centered. This was encouraging. The sight picture seemed a little clearer while shooting left-handed.

The third session I shot the 94AE again. Right-handed I scored 84-0X with a 9.3" group 2.1" right and 0.7" low. I'm not sure what caused the shift in the windage from 0.3" left to 2.1" right. Maybe light conditions. I then shot left-handed and scored 24-0X with only eight shots on paper. What a miserable showing. I assume the missing shots were off paper on the right, and the presumed median POI was 7.3" right. The median POI of the eight shots on paper was 4.7" low.

After the encouraging results from the model 10 this was a shocker. I haven't yet puzzled out what's going wrong. The recoil of the .30-30 shooting right-handed is comfortable, as one would expect. I wasn't expecting the recoil to be as uncomfortable as it was shooting left-handed. Not brutal, but I felt it for a while afterwards. It gave me some insight into how new shooters experience recoil. A few years ago I found the same thing shooting a Remington model 760 chambered for 300 Savage left-handed.

Have any of you experience shooting rifles from the non-dominant side?

I actually switched from RH shooting to LH many years ago because my right eye only corrects to about 20-30. Recoil was noticeable at first but very quickly became a non-issue.
IIRC I started with smaller calibers.

Perhaps your POI shifts with the 30/30 were due to light angle on the front sight. I get 2 or 3 minute changes from sun light.

If you can see the sight more clearly from your left, I'd keep shooting left handed.

Standing is not easy. It boils down to wanting a good shot more than anything.

I hope I never have to switch, but that’s better than not hunting.

It could be that your dominant eye is playing havoc with the sight picture using the Williams when trying to use your left eye.

I practice shooting from my weak side fairly often, as this is frequently a requirement in some stages I shoot in competition. Being left-handed/ambidextrous is helpful, as us lefties have to live in a right-handed world, so doing things right-handed comes fairly easily most of the time. It takes practice to become comfortable shooting from your support side, but it's a worthy skill to develop, IMO.

Youper, do you know which eye is dominant? Maybe I missed it, but if you are left eye dominant those results are not surprising. Sorry if I missed it.

I’m left handed but right eye dominant. I shot back and forth off and on for several years. At least for me it’s a lot easier to shoot with a scope and the non dominant eye than it is with irons. Scoped there isn’t much difference between the two but I’m way worse left handed with irons just due to the eye thing

Yes I'm left eye dominant. I started shooting right-handed long before I knew anything about eye dominance. At this point I'm just trying to be able to shoot both ways, not necessarily switch to left handed. Who wants to start looking for left-handed rifles?

If Left eye dominat, you will instinctively shoot better left handed. One you settle in on the ergonomic changes from right to left, you will not notice the felt recoil. You will find quick shoots, moving shots, snap shots, etc.. will improve.

I’m in same boat. I am very right handed but discovered my sight out of left eye is superior. I’d been practicing LH shooting a lot but still very awkward - it’s just not working well for me. I decided to try an off-set mount so I can scope thru my left eye while carrying right handed.

I’m trying something like this: http://ultimak.com/pic36.htm
Wish me luck.

For what it’s worth, my experiment to side mount my scope to view thru left eye while carrying on right side did not work. Problem is this mounting arrangement is too sensitive to cant variations - it’s too much of a PIA when I’m carrying for a hunt.

So.. I am right-handed. But it’s left hand carry for me because I am left-eye dominant.

I bought a quality lefthanded 22 bolt gun and have been shooting it a bunch. It really helps us righthanded/left eye guys. Still struggle with the shotgun.

I started practicing lefty a couple years ago but I still just naturally want to shoot right handed; I wasn't born left eye dominant, an injury in my youth made my vision only correctable to 20-25 in my right eye but the cause is a small cataract nearly centered in my pupil - as my pupil contracts as light goes away late in the day my vision gets worse in my right eye and rifle scopes in particular suffer from it. I can't say its ever cost me - but I do find myself more and more moving my rifle to a left hand configuration during the last few minutes of legal light when whitetail hunting.

I was on a public land draw hunt last year and was hunting out of a small blind that was provided. Not much room for me at 6' 4" 3 00 lbs. Two deer came up on my right side down about 40 yards. Had to shoot off of my left shoulder but got both. Sometimes you just don't know when you might have to shoot off of your non-dominant side.

I'm completely left handed, including being left eye dominate. I was a tactical shotgun instructor with the 870 more most of my career. I did have to become competent with the 870 right handed as most of my students were right handed. Despite getting to the point I could successfully qualify with the 870 right handed and teach the course to others, it still feels bass ackwards to me to put a gun on the incorrect shoulder.