Home Forums Hunting & Shooting The Lefty Forum What rifle inspires you to shoot RH

We all have our list right handed rifles that we would jump on if/when left handed versions will be offered. But which, if money is no object, would you happily saddle up to with your right shoulder and hold your right eye open for.

Mine is the Desert Tech SRS-A2 in 338 Lapua. Coming in under 11 lbs all up, I might even sheep hunt with it

Injury to my right eye at the age of 11 is the reason I had to learn to shoot left handed. Soooo....I couldn't do it if I wanted to--even with the lens replacement surgery.

That said, the Kimber Montana is one I have always lusted for. Still pizzes me off that they won't make LH runs.

Yep, I won't budge either. I have no desire to shoot a righty anymore, too much crap in my eye than I care to remember.
And ditto on Kimber, I'd love a LH Ascent at about 4lbs 10oz. bare. Bastids.

I have never owned a right hand bolt rifle and never will. At 66 don’t see any point in even trying.
Kimber? Purchased two different ones for the wife over the years and never again. Could not get either to shoot under 2 MOA and one had feeding issues.

I finally started shooting left handed rifles in my early 30's. I'm 60 now. I made do with right handed rifles until 1993 when I bought my LH KS Mountain Rifle. The changeover was effortless for me. But I am irrevocably left handed. I have forced myself to learn to shoot some right handed. Left handed tactical shotgun instructors really have to be able to shoot from both sides to effectively teach new right handed shooters.

I do have a few right handed rifles but I shoot them left handed. They are odd ones that never were, and never will be available in left hand. Husqvarna 46, 256 Mannlicher, 8x56 Mannlicher, custom Krag given to me by an old friend.

I'll keep shooting left hand unless something drastic changes. I don't teach the shotgun course anymore so there is no need for me to shoot wrong side.

Left Hand dominant. Right eye dominant. Have always shot from Left Side. Never from the right side. No intentions of trying.

Had one obnoxious Hunter Ed instructor harass me into trying a shotgun RH one time. Hit one out of five birds. After 50 years of LH muscle memory, one of the most unnatural feeling things that I have tried.

To the OP's original question... "If money were no issue.." I would find a Pete Grisel type machinist gun builder to build a Left Hand Kimber Ascent action, fit a 6.5CM / .270 barrel to it. Then commission Duane Wiebe / David Christman / Lee Helgeland to build a very lean, open, Dakota style stock using a straight grained piece of walnut with nice mineral lines in it. Done... Sell everything else except the LH .22LR and the LH Benelli, and go hunt...

HA! You could never get down to one big game rifle and be happy. You would secretly be buying rifles and hiding them like the rest of us.

Shhh...

All of my rifles are right handed. AR's, bolts, it doesn't matter. I shoot them all and shoot them well. They don't slow me down, as that is what I grew up with. I'll even shoot them right handed if the need arises. I once shot this one at a buck that was on the hillside at 600 lrf yards away:


One shot from the 300wsm and the buck did a cartwheel off the mountain side.


I had to shoot right handed that time because I had just had an injection in my left eye and things were still a little blurry. I few years later and I shot a buck in the same canyon at 648 yards. That time I shot left handed. But that is not what this thread is about is it?

The only rifles that I am forced to shoot right handed with, are the ones with iron sights, as my left eye is still not great. It's good enough to net me sub .8moa 10 shot groups on a consistent basis, when peering easily through a scope, but when it comes time to shoot through a peep sight or military sights, all bets are off for my left eye. That is the only time I shoot right handed, and here are the rifles that I love shooting right handed with:

1949 winchester model 52B target model:





And the military rifle I use for military rifle comps here locally:

O3A3 Springfield.

Totally blind in the OD, so I shoot everything off the left shoulder.

When I first started shooting trap about 30 years ago, I fumbled around loading and handling empty hulls. Trap shooters don't like upsets in their rhythm. They told me to sit down and get on the next squad, at station 5 and do what they did. That squad was all lefties! I learned "proper" gun and shell manipulation in 10 minutes.

If you want to be competitive at shooting trap, you need to shoot with your dominant eye. No easy way to get around it. I've seen guys place tape over their dominant eye, trying to "mask" the problem, but what you get is slower target acquisition doing that. Guys like that struggle and they don't take home the money. That's all I did, was shoot for money back in the late 90's/early 2000's. So for the guys giving out advice on shooting with the non dominant eye (right shoulder, left eye dominant for example, or vise versa), it is poor advice. Unless you are blind in one eye, then that would make the eye you can see out of your "dominant" eye, it is of the utmost importance to shoot dominant eye. It makes absolutely no difference if you are dominant in your opposite hand. That just means you were not started off on the right foot when you were young. Not meaning you borchardt, some of the other guys that promote shooting non dominant eye. Its ludicrous. If you are fine with being mediocre, at best, keep shooting that way. A lot of guys don't shoot comp either, so that may also be the reason they are not giving out proper advice. If you want to be competitive, you shoot from your dominant eye. If you want your kids to be competitive, you teach them to shoot using their dominant eye. Pretty plain and simple concept..

I am another one of the cretins shooting non-dominant eye. Fair to middling with a Rifle. Used to SUCK with a shotgun. Before I found out about cast on, proper fit, comb height, LOP, etc... Have learned that there is a lot that goes into proper shotgunning. And have tried to adjust accordingly. Still not "competitive". But definitely better than when I started.

One learning is "Don't assume" that a "Left Hand" shotgun is set up for a Left Hand shooter. Had a LH Benelli SBE for 2 or 3 years before I found out that the stock shim plate for cast had been set up for "Cast Off" for a RH shooter...