Tried To Shoot Left Handed Today

[Frizzen]

Well since I can't see out of my right eye anymore and after lots of nagging from my dear wife, I went
down to the range today to see if I could shoot my right handed flint left handed .  Wife took the pictures.
The blast from the vent wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Why you really don't even see it if you
keep both eyes shut! Well here is the results. I only shot 5 shots. I will keep at it. This was 50 yards.

[smokinbuck]

Good to see you are making an attempt. Keep at it, it takes some time and a lot of practice.
Mark

[Candle Snuffer]

Keep at it Frizzen.  I know people that can't even do that at 25 yards and they'd be the first to tell you they can... You're gonna make it work. Actually, you already have.

[George Sutton]

Not bad at all. You have a good start. It gets easier the more you practice.

Centershot

[EC121]

Being left handed, I shoot right handed rifles all the time.  Seems like your nose blocks a lot of the flash.  Keeping both eyes shut also helps a lot.   Just have to follow through a bit longer.

[omark]

Been to rendezvous when 1 requirement was shooting offhand from weak side. Many people do surprisingly well. Hang in there and have faith.    Mark

[Frizzen]

Here you can see how the old girl fires

[Don Steele]

Wish you all the luck getting used to shooting from the left side.
I'm left-handed, and own a right-handed T/C Hawken flintlock. I shoot it VERY well from the bench.
When I take it off the bench, the trouble starts....can't hit an 8x11 sheet of paper at 25 yds.
(For reference, I shoot my right-handed Hawken caplock well enough to keep'em all in the black of a NMLRA 25 yd target offhand. )
Sooo...I'm wondering if a better lock might help....perhaps one of the L & R replacement locks..??
I have the latest version of the T/C flintlock, and it seems to be OK.
"dry-firing" goes fine, but when I load her up....It's a problem..!!

Good luck Frizzen...hope that transition keeps you in the woods..!!

[Frizzen]

I put this rifle together from a  T/C kit in 1976. It has a H & H  45 barrel. I shoot competition only.  I
had a  L & R  replacement lock on it for a while. My scores really went down. The rifle moved too much
with that lock, although it was a fine lock. The old T/C lock was "softer "  and I could shoot it more
accuractly . If I was hunting, I would choose the L & R. Since I only shoot bench , I'm going to put a
Lyman 57 rear peep sight on today and the matching front sight with the ring insert and go back to the
range today and see how that works. This rifle shooting is a lot harder than my pistol.

[EC121]

I like the car jack for a rest.  I have one around the shop somewhere.  Does it wobble much?  Is it bolted to the bottom board?

[JB2]

you'll get it!  Looks like you're "minute-of-buffalo" already!

[smokinbuck]

Phil,
I put a lyman 57 on one of my TC's with a lyman 17 series, mid height, front. It shoots real well. I had to shim the rear sight base to get the sight vertical. You'l like that setup.
Mark

[Dean2]

Sorry to hear of your eye troubles that a are forcing you to relearn shooting, but relearning is much better than not being able to shoot at all.

I too am a lefty. I really do not like shooting right hand flintlocks. I can shoot right hand percussions but very much prefer these to be left handed too. I think if you gave a LH flintlock a try you would find your shooting improves much quicker, and you don't have the same risk of stuff like flint chips blowing back or burning your right arm. All the best in the future.

[smokinbuck]

Phil,
I think I forgot to mention that when I lost the use of my right eye I put together a rig that let me shoot right handed with my left eye. I have it on an under hammer but it can be adapted to a side lock. I can send a couple of pictures if you want.
Mark

[Daryl]

Keep at it Frizzen - it will come.

Close friend of mine here in PG went blind in his right eye - he was right eye dominant. Now, he's a left handed shooter and actually shoots better now than he ever did previously - he also shoots more since taking up shooting air rifles indoors so he can shoot no matter the weather, hand gun and rifle. His newly developed skills transfer straight over into his big gun shooting nicely.  Shooting left handed is not second nature for him. Shooting air guns MAKES you follow through due to the low velocity.

[AZshooter]

My Dad is right handed and his dominant eye is his left.  He's done ok as a competitive shooter over the decades, and a few years back got bronze and silver successive years shooting pistol in the Senior Olympics.

I'm lefthanded, and all my modern rifles are right handed.  I also have several right handed black powder rifles.  Even though the black powder rifles I grew up shooting were right handed flint and percussion rifles, I do enjoy the lefthanded flint rifles I have now. 

I do many things righthanded already, and my better eye is the right one, so I forsee the possibility of either shooting righthanded, or lefthanded with right eye.  I've tried both and either way is doable should the need arise.

[dagner]

  frizzen  
I have  macular degeneration and lost use of  right eye  for shooting 5 years ago.switched to left handed and became a very respectable chunk shooter for years.this last spring left  gave up had to give up my long guns with open sights. shoot the heck out of pistols now.  short barrel  big fat  sights and 25 yards.. what I found out was any rest type of shooting I actually shot better.i would sneak up and stroke the light trigger .off hand required a whole lot  more of practice.2 of my friends had to change do to same thing and stayed very competitive.keep up the practice and don't get discouraged
  dag

[dagner]

 frizzen --this is what doctors  came up with for us.
  eat 2 bauch and laumb presservision gel caps a day-eat 3 1000 mg fish oil ,keep eyes damp and flushed out.

  check to see if  diapter helps.if it does get a good set of single vision shooting glasses.you adjust these for you and your gun.every little edge helps now. knoblock -campions choice etc. go to a shooting eye doctor  for your lenses and prescrition.look around they are out their.they are worth the effort

 get glass lens-really helps on scratches down .
 
 get anti glair and uv protection in med yellow.even helps on dark days..for target shooting this is a must for weak eyes.it brightens-clears  and seems to magnify with the target glare gone

this got me 3 more years of being  competanive shooting right handed and 4 more when had to change to left


 the over the counter pills and eyes drops do help .the anti glare and yellow is a must\even if you don't have bad eyes get anti glare .you will be impressed

 hope this helps anyone one out .it has helped us keep shooting when we thought we were done

  dag