Changing from shooting right handed to left handed

Alright most of the sight from my right eye is gone. Has anybody done it? Any gun that makes it easier? Looking in the 22 type rife. Thanks. John

As a matter of fact I knew two people to change shooting side, injury and eyesight. They both picked it up quickly, Top eject, breakdown or left hand pumps & LH auto.

My dad had the same problem, he has an offset scope mounted on his rifle and muzzleloader now and has no problems.

Hey John,
You will adjust to it. I am left handed but often shoot right just for the practice of it. I think if you are talking about a rifle, it will be easier than a handgun. My dad is right handed but shoots lefty with pistol. It is the dominant eye thing. He used to shoot competition and I could never out shoot him... maybe now..... he is 92.
The best thing to do is just get out there and practice. Shoot short distance to begin with and as confidence/proficiency improve shoot longer distances.
bottom line is have fun with it. As soon as it becomes frustrating, put things up for the day.
Just my 2 cents.
Good shooting,
Cal

i had an eye injury leaving me blind in my right eye. i started out shooting right handed out of my left eye. And a couple years ago i said what the heck ill try shooting left handed. WALAH! i can do either or but its easier shooting lefty.

Yes it can be done. Especially if your "good eye" is no longer your "good eye." Practice, a little at a time, until you become comfortable with new stance, grip, etc. You"ll get the hang of it.

I shoot both sides, so did my son before he got a pacemaker and had to drop left handed shooting.
Often would shoot left handed when the opportunity presented itself, especially when deer hunting.

If the problem is your eye just shift the way you hold your head not the way you hold your rifle. I at times shoot with one or the other eye depending on what and where I am shooting. They even talk about that in the hunters safety course they teach in Missouri

That's why the possums laugh at you.....you's using the wrong eye........

I shot an M16 qualification range left handed on a bet once. Didn't do as good as right, but qualified and got a steak dinner out of the deal. Watch out for the brass if you are shooting semi auto.......

I used the M14 in basic training and got the M16 in Vietnam. I shoot left handed and the hot brass burns your neck when it goes down your collar. Loved the 50 cal. with double thumb triggers. DH

Just practice. I can shoot either side but better and quicker with the left side. Rifle and shotgun. I shoot pistol right side. I don't think I have tried left hand yet ?

I can drive a nail with either hand too. Many times this is good to know how to do when you get in tight spots. Same with wrenches.

Dont forget about the whole dominant eye issue, of course if one is injured, there is no option. I blame my right handedness and right eye dominance of all the skeet / birds I miss!

I think Browning still makes a bottom ejection .22, may be cheaper and hold more resale than a left hand model.

great grandpa was left handed but blind in left eye, had shotgun stock reworked so he could shoot left handed and aim with his right eye. funny looking stock

J,

I shoot right handed. My RH bolt action .22 and grampa's falling block Stevens .22 Favorite work OK for me left handed too. Any semiautomatic .22 isn't as good for me RH and is awful left handed. I don't know why.

Are you using iron sights or a small diameter .22 scope? You might consider trying a larger low power scope with a bigger objective lense to pull in more light to your eye. A good scope might help your right eye and could make it easier for you to get used to shooting left handed too. Try looking through some different scopes before you buy any to see what works best for both of your eyes and in your shooting conditions.

Paul's suggestion of an offset scope mount sound's like a good one too.

Several years ago I put a cheap used 2.5x32mm shotgun scope on a pellet gun and that worked out very well for shooting rabbits in the snow on winter nights. The rabbits were tearing the bark off young trees and eating any shrubs and rose bushes they could get to. I could see the rabbits well against the snow cover, but it was much too dark to see iron sights on the gun. Small 20mm diameter .22 scopes were a joke in low light.

A low magnifiacation scope with a big objective lense sucks in a lot of light. The view through the 2.5x32mm scope was actually brighter and more detailed than what I could see with my naked eyes and glasses. The scope's cross hairs showed up well against the snow and the low power magnification still left a reasonably wide field of view at very short ranges. FYI, A 32mm objective is 2.5 times brighter than a 20mm, a 40mm is 4 times as bright as a 20mm.

Since then I've tried the 2.5x32mm on a the bolt .22 rifle and it's great. I put another used 4x32mm and a cheap used zoom 3-7x32mm on two other .22's. The zoom scope always stays on 3x and is OK, the view on the 4x is darker and a little too narrow compared to the other two.

In the off season used deer rifle scopes can be found reasonably priced on ebay and sometimes on craig's list. Inexpensive 1 inch scope rings for .22 rails are available on Amazon.com and ebay.

Some wing shooters use "Red Dot" style scopes on shotguns, I've never tried one. I think I've seen something similar being used by US forces on M-16's in Iraq too. I've had good luck with a green "High Vis" bead sight on the end of the shotgun barrel.

Shooting off a brick or two of .22's to adjust and fine tune your shooting style sounds like a good excuse to have some fun. Good luck.

About 10 years ago MD in my right eye. Cannot see a thing with it. I was #2 All-Navy Shotgun shooter. 4th at Olympic trials, all services.
So I couls shoort a shotgun. I swtched over to LH and used my 20 Ga O/U with 3 inch shells for ducks pheasnats, and geese. Got the left hand and eye parts down pretty fast but took me a lot longer to get to be "left footed". Got turned around the wrong way a lot of times. Within two years I was outshooting my buddies again, lefty.
Trip to Argentina and shooting 2500 doves helped a ton.
I shoot bench rest LH using Ruger #1, or RH Rem 700. Shooting the RH 700 left handed in a single shot mode, is actually faster and easier than right handed because you are loading it with your right hand, with rifle on left cheek, into open bolt on right side of rifle. I'm deadly left handed on those prairie dogs.

A peep sight will help a lot.Hard to find a 22 with a peep sight now.I have alway shot right and left handed.