Tips on switching hands?

[Guns&Hoses]

I shot my first Appleseed this weekend, had an absolute blast!  I managed to squeeze out a 210 on the last AQT of the 2nd day, after switching to my AR when the Tech Sight fell off of my Marlin in the middle of a string...should have checked the mounting screw after the first day! I've been shooting AR platform for 23 years in the military, always right handed even though I'm left eye dominant. I noticed this weekend however, that my right eye has started to get fuzzy on the far targets, while my left maintains 20/10 vision.  I've decided to learn to shoot lefty. I've done it before, and I'm comfortable with sight picture/alignment and trigger pull, but are there any tips for teaching my hands to swap sides for rifle manipulation?

[slim]

Practice.

Practice some more.

[Nero]

I shot 'reverse hand' for Saturday at a event in Sacramento back in December.  (Mostly to re-experience the 'shooter side' of Appleseed, but also partially as test, since I have a progressive condition in my hands that has affected my left trigger finger first and most.)  I'm a natural right-hander, but have always shot lefty due to strong cross-eye dominance.

My experience was that the positions came fairly naturally, since the fundamentals don't change and I've done a lot of right handed demos.  Made me more sore than usual, since my body isn't stretched out for the righty version as it is for lefty.

What did surprise me was how many of the six step fundamentals immediately fell out of their programmed in, muscle memory places and had to be thought about specifically again.  Bad trigger finger habits that I'd licked years ago came back in all their awfulness.     You'd think a natural right-hander wouldn't fumble with magazines, but that's an automatic skill as well...  The only cure for this is what slim says - lots of practice to get the body reprogrammed.

For the record, I didn't shoot a score on the one AQT I tried reverse handed.  I suspect I'd probably have gotten there on a second day, but decided I needed some centerfire time more.

[scuzzy]

A human is pretty adaptable. As slim said - practice.

I was a rightie at one time. However back when I was a teen working at a manufacturing plant I was working on a press brake which was defective. After chopping my right trigger finger - which was reattached - I had to start using my left hand while healing. So I adapted to the situation.

I now shoot pistols right handed and rifles left handed. I'm strongly left eye dominant too. Many things I can do either right or left handed now.

I need to try shooting rifles right handed again and see if I can train my eyes a bit better.

[Charles McKinley]

Drop a PM to PA10mm.  He is a lefty and spent a weekend with his AR last summer.  He may post here if he sees it.

[Nero]

I now shoot pistols right handed and rifles left handed. I'm strongly left eye dominant too. Many things I can do either right or left handed now.

Heh, me too.  I'm actually better as a righty when I do two-handed pistol (isosceles style), but as a lefty when I do one-handed - it's probably those trigger control skills again.  I set up the sights for the left eye, and just have to remember to hold off if I do one-handed righty.

[PA10mm]

First of all, congrats on the great score!

My advice would be to just practice and practice some more.

My son and I both shoot left handed, and find the AR platform to be very user friendly.

We just use left thumb to manipulate the safety, and to hit the bolt catch to chamber a round when the bolt is locked back with a loaded magazine in place.

To lock back the bolt when the rifle is unloaded and magazine is removed, use left hand to pull back charging handle, and with right hand under mag well, use tip of middle finger to push down on bolt catch.

To change magazines, grab one with right hand, use right hand thumb to hit mag catch, let empty mag drop free and insert mag straight up into mag well till it locks.

I'm sure there are other ways, but it works for us.

[passinthru]

3 or 4 years ago my monovision right eye contact lens tore in half on a road trip to shoot an Appleseed at my son's property in MO. and I had no spare.
Applied what I'd learned through previous shoots and shot left-handed; first AQT = 176, second one = 216.
It can be done.

[DEH]

Start using your left hand in your everyday activities.  Like eating, opening doors, compute mouse use, post elimination routine.

If you wear a watch or a ring, put it on your right hand to help you flip the mental switch to the "lefty" mode.

[FiremanBob]

And remember, dry-fire practice costs nothing at all...

Since you're training your muscles and eyes, you can to 99.9% of the training you need without firing a single live round.

[Mudcat]

I have shot Rifleman scores right and left handed on a few different rifles mainly for the "how hard is this really as a new shooter" thing. The AR was the first and easiest to master off side (left side) the 10/22 was hard for me due to the magazine changes. I would really like to find a left hand bolt action rifle to give it a go since I am a bolt guy.
The shooting oart was pretty easy, the rapid fire stages caused a little trouble at first but you will get used to it. Go through the SHFs as you build your position and conduct the magazine changes very deliberate, I was actually talking myself through them so I hear.
It is good practice and is a good teaching tool to boot. I will second or 3rd the comment that dry practice is free.

[MandyMonstar]

Hi!  I'm actually a right handed person with insurmountably strong left eye dominance.  Half of all women are cross-dominant, so that's not really unusual.

When I first started learning, I didn't realize that cross-dominance was a thing.  I tried for months to shoot right-handed, but the sight picture just never made it, and my groups just weren't groups.  After getting schooled on eye dominance, I tried to do as Scuzzy does and shoot handguns with my dominant hand, and rifles with my weak hand.  I found that less than helpful.  Switching over completely to my left hand made an enormous difference in my group size with both pistol and rifle.  I can't say that I'd have ever made rifleman if I'd kept shooting with my right hand.

One thing that can really help when training your vision to adjust to the new sight picture is to put a piece of frosted tape over the eye that's not in use.  This blurs your vision, but doesn't obscure it, which means that you can shoot with both eyes open and relaxed.  If you use it in training consistently, eventually you're not going to need it anymore.

As to shooting an AR lefty, there's a few rifle modifications I've made to mine which I strongly recommend:

• Ambidextrous charging handle.  I'd actually recommend this for every AR ever, but I know some people don't see the point.  It'll make your life easier, and if you're shooting right-handed from a rest at any point in the future, you can use the left hand to work the charging handle without getting out of shooting position.
• Ambidextrous magazine release.  For probably obvious reasons, this speeds up your reload.  The one I have is a handy button directly below the bolt catch.  A lefty shooter with this installed on their rifle can actually reload from bolt lock back faster than a right handed shooter, because you can reach that bolt catch with your trigger finger.
• Ambidextrous safety.  This lets me maintain the correct grip on the rifle while manipulating the safety.  There's many different ones on the market, so pick the one you like best.  It's a simple modification too.

None of the mods I've made required machining the lower in any way.  If you'd like, I can get some photos or PM you with where I got the parts. 

I shot my rifleman score with a lefty bolt action rifle.  As someone who can't even write my name with my left hand, I surprisingly didn't really find it difficult to learn to shoot with it.  It's a matter of consistency.  If you tell yourself, "I shoot left handed," and then follow through by not handling guns right handed anymore you'll definitely get there with lots of practice.

[PaleRider]

So half of all women are cross-eye dominant?! So when I buy that new rifle and my wife gives me that cross-eyed look, I shouldn't really take any meaning from that? Thanks MandyMonstar!

[jmdavis]

Lindy Cooper (Jeff Cooper's daughter) is (or was) left eye dominant as well. By using blinders (as simple as some frosted Scotch tape on a lens of shooting glasses) she learned to shoot with her right eye. Cooper talks about it in one of his books but I don't remember which.

The big consideration is trigger control. You can learn 4 moa trigger control without a lot of hassle. But it's much harder when you are trying to shoot 1 or 2 moa prone or sitting with the non dominant hand. Whatever you try, good luck.