Home Forums Hunting & Shooting The Lefty Forum Why do you want a LH bolt gun?

Both my sons are RH and Left eyed. At first they shot RH, but accuracy/consistency was very bad. Once I discovered they were LE'd, we switched to shooting LH and accurace/consistency improved dramatically and immediately. Took a bit of them getting used to shooting LH; NERF guns to the rescue! Easy, cheap, safe practice using the hand that matched the eye. Now shooting LH is second nature to them.

If you dig through old posts here, I started a thread on the RH/LE issue years ago when starting my kids out. The overwhelming majority opinion then was to follow the eyes. I followed that and I do feel that overcoming the coordination of using the off had is easier than what it would take to overcome using the off eye. YMMV.

Another thing I noticed being left eye dominate and normally right handed, is when I shoot a pistol from my left hand I get better accuracy. That’s a whole new topic, trying to find left hand or ambi pistols. Holsters are just as hard to find. I do have a few truly ambi pistols, not reversible, but ambi. I still practice strong hand/weak hand and have done enough over the years that it feels no different shooting pistols from either side, just a bit more accuracy on the left. Not much, I’m not real good with pistols, but it’s noticeable. I’m a more serious rifle guy.

Growing up, my dad wasn’t into bow hunting so I trained myself to shoot left handed and seem to do well.

I’m a lefty. Shoot left, throw left, write left, and left eye dominant. I golf right and shoot a bow right. I’ve been shooting right handed bolt guns and shotguns my whole life. I recently started buying only left handed bolt rifles. Why, because I could.

Ron

I am left handed, shoot left hand, left eye dominant, only buy left hand rifles.

It is a good idea to learn to shoot with your dominate eye.

Same here. We lefties buy and shoot left handed guns for the same reasons righties buy right handed guns, not left.

However, that doesn't address the OP's question. For any of the mixed situations, it really depends on the shooter's specific needs and preferences, and the gun(s) in question.

The reason I shoot left handed rifles is I like having a bolt on the correct side (left for me) so I can reach it quickly when needed. I like having the ejection port away from my face if anything goes wrong. I do not like watching brass eject in front of my face from a right hand AR type rifle.

I shoot left handed play most sports right handed. The best combination I have found is a left bolt right port action, on hunting and competition rifles.

I am right handed in some things (writing, throwing, golf, etc) and left handed in some things (shooting, billiards, archery). Mainly anything that requires eye dominance use i have to do it lefty. That being said, I can write lefty, throw lefty, and golf lefty too, i am just better at it right handed. The exact opposite in shooting. I cannot shoot a rifle or shotgun at all right handed. I could probably shoot from the bench right handed, but I havent ever tried it.

That being said, I dont particularly like lefty bolt guns as I was brought up shooting right handed bolts so I have gotten used to that. I understand all of the safety measures that go into it so I am not debating that. The other hitch with lefty guns is that I like to carry my rifle on my right shoulder so a lefty bolt gun jams the bolt into my side which is annoying.

The last two days we shot around 135 nutria from the airboat. If you are one of those shooters that cannot handle missing your target, this is not for you. Nutria are running or swimming, the boat is moving at times, everything is offhand.

I thought about the question in the original post, there is no way I could be nearly as efficient shooting nutria with a right bolt as I can left handed with a left hand bolt. It is so easy to work the bolt with the rifle in my shoulder and head on the stock.

If you asked this question you must not be a real lefty. Why do right handers need right handed guns?

Sweet ,I like Mikes picture and answers ! Signed disabled about 50 % on the right hand and a real lefty .

I shoot LH and have LH dominant eye.. I've had 2-3 LH rifles over the years and they feel totally alien to me.. After decades of using RH rifles I guess I've adapted more to those just from use... I only have one LH rifle remaining in the stack and it's been a dozen+ years or more since I used it..

Timely conversation here...my 10 yr old grandson shot his first clay birds yesterday. The weekend before I was throwing pinecones in the rapids, and he was blasting them as they bobbed downstream...having a little trouble hitting. We discovered he was shooting right hand with a dominant left eye. So yesterday I had him try shooting birds left handed. Nope...he wasn't having it, hated it. OK Gramps, back off, stop 'coaching', enforce safety and be patient, let's see where this goes. Miss, miss, miss...hit, about ten birds in he started having fun, forgot about recoil. Who is to say what a bad habit is, or poor technique..as long as you are dusting them? This mentor is going to stay backed off, buy clays, reload shells and let him work out what works for him. Neither one of us will ever compete at a high level probably...but we will have fun.