Bandog Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Due to severe injury to my elbow I have lost a great deal of strength in my right hand. I am cross eye dominate. Shoot right hand dominate left. I have been playing around with shooting left handed and find I like it or it actually feels more natural. Though are there any Masters or Grand Masters that shoot left handed? I searched the internet and could fine none. Of course likely I will never make Master let alone GM. But I am curious if it is possible as a lefty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Yes, there are more than the 2 I know I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wurm Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Matt Griffin is a GM in revolver. Came 99.43% of Jerry Miculek at the 2010 nationals. Made me realize that revolvers aren't completely useless to use lefties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingchef Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 I'm a master in open and limited. I'm left hand and right eye dominant. And deaf! Anything is possible if you practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 There are plenty of good left handed shooters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technetium-99m Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 I know a lefty with a Limited M card. His last name is spelled funny and I think that's what gives him his power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PINMAN44 Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Ron Francisco is a Left handed open GM... and an AWESOME one at that!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockcomma Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Patrick Kelley was a GM (may be a Master now) and is a South Paw. This doesn't apply to you with your injury but many lefties are more well rounded shooters living in a right hand world, their non dominate hand shooting in general is superior to right handed shooters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike cyrwus Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Im a lefty; and while a small majority of stages are biased for Rightys, every once in a while theres a nice stage that gives a good advantage for a lefty, and I can rack up some stage points. The biggest problem Ive come across is the trouble of doing a mirror image walkthrough with a squad composed of mostly all rightys. Sometimes it can be frustrating, especially in memory stages. The moral of the story Im seeing so far is that its not a significant problem. Ill probably make GM one of these days, but its not really one of my goals.-so yes, being a lefty isnt a big deal, we all have our particular faults and issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JThompson Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Im a lefty; and while a small majority of stages are biased for Rightys, every once in a while theres a nice stage that gives a good advantage for a lefty, and I can rack up some stage points. The biggest problem Ive come across is the trouble of doing a mirror image walkthrough with a squad composed of mostly all rightys. Sometimes it can be frustrating, especially in memory stages. The moral of the story Im seeing so far is that its not a significant problem. Ill probably make GM one of these days, but its not really one of my goals.-so yes, being a lefty isnt a big deal, we all have our particular faults and issues. Dude you are going the wrong way! lol I have friends that are lefties the ongoing joke is, "Dude your gun is on the wrong side!" You need to get a shirt for the RO's that says gun with an arrow pointing left on your back. I've been running these guys for years and I still go to the wrong side on occasion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Robbie Leatham is left-handed, albeit he has chosen to shoot rightie (and is functionally ambidextrous, natch). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Im a lefty; and while a small majority of stages are biased for Rightys, every once in a while theres a nice stage that gives a good advantage for a lefty, and I can rack up some stage points. The biggest problem Ive come across is the trouble of doing a mirror image walkthrough with a squad composed of mostly all rightys. Sometimes it can be frustrating, especially in memory stages. The moral of the story Im seeing so far is that its not a significant problem. Ill probably make GM one of these days, but its not really one of my goals.-so yes, being a lefty isnt a big deal, we all have our particular faults and issues. Exactly right..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandog Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 (edited) I posted another post on trying to decide between staying right or going left. I thought no one responded to this post as being a DA I did not subscribe to this post. Thanks for the replies I appreciate it. I am all screwed up over whether to go left as The Roger School suggests (shoot from your eye dominant side) or try to continue to shoot right handed as I have for years. I can get around the injury. I am in a rut. Left already feels more natural as the gun comes up to my left eye. But it is going to take 1,000's of repetitions to instinctively not go right. This is important as I plan to go back as LEO. Edited July 5, 2011 by Bandog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I posted another post on trying to decide between staying right or going left. I thought no one responded to this post as being a DA I did not subscribe to this post. Thanks for the replies I appreciate it. I am all screwed up over whether to go left as The Roger School suggests (shoot from your eye dominant side) or try to continue to shoot right handed as I have for years. I can get around the injury. I am in a rut. Left already feels more natural as the gun comes up to my left eye. But it is going to take 1,000's of repetitions to instinctively not go right. This is important as I plan to go back as LEO. I have known fellow LEOs who had to change hands because of injury. They didn't shoot competitively, but they were good enough to qualify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pvhendrix Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 (edited) I posted another post on trying to decide between staying right or going left. I thought no one responded to this post as being a DA I did not subscribe to this post. Thanks for the replies I appreciate it. I am all screwed up over whether to go left as The Roger School suggests (shoot from your eye dominant side) or try to continue to shoot right handed as I have for years. I can get around the injury. I am in a rut. Left already feels more natural as the gun comes up to my left eye. But it is going to take 1,000's of repetitions to instinctively not go right. This is important as I plan to go back as LEO. I had an officer that worked for me several years ago. He was in his 50's when he developed an issue with his RH. He was so determined that he taught himself to even write with his LH. Making the transition is possible. As a LH person myself, I have taught myself to do demo's as the lead instructor on the range with my RH as the majority of my trainees are RH. Stick with it. You will adapt. Edited July 6, 2011 by pvhendrix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandog Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 I posted another post on trying to decide between staying right or going left. I thought no one responded to this post as being a DA I did not subscribe to this post. Thanks for the replies I appreciate it. I am all screwed up over whether to go left as The Roger School suggests (shoot from your eye dominant side) or try to continue to shoot right handed as I have for years. I can get around the injury. I am in a rut. Left already feels more natural as the gun comes up to my left eye. But it is going to take 1,000's of repetitions to instinctively not go right. This is important as I plan to go back as LEO. I had an officer that worked for me several years ago. He was in his 50's when he developed an issue with his RH. He was so determined that he taught himself to ever write with his LH. Making the transition is possible. As a LH person myself, I have taught myself to do demo's as the lead instructor on the range with my RH as the majority of my trainees are RH. Stick with it. You will adapt. Thank you I will. I believe in the end I will be a better shooter in the end as a lefty. I believe I was meant to be lefty to begin with. In hindsight I would have trained myself as a left hand shooter from the beginning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandog Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 I posted another post on trying to decide between staying right or going left. I thought no one responded to this post as being a DA I did not subscribe to this post. Thanks for the replies I appreciate it. I am all screwed up over whether to go left as The Roger School suggests (shoot from your eye dominant side) or try to continue to shoot right handed as I have for years. I can get around the injury. I am in a rut. Left already feels more natural as the gun comes up to my left eye. But it is going to take 1,000's of repetitions to instinctively not go right. This is important as I plan to go back as LEO. I have known fellow LEOs who had to change hands because of injury. They didn't shoot competitively, but they were good enough to qualify. I know that even now I could probably qualify left hand. What concerns me is the competitive aspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 You can over think anything. If you can shoot better with your left hand because your right hand is injured, then what the heck, then it is obvious you are more competitive with the hand that works better. I don't get why handing would "handicap" you. I shot for a whole year shooting left handed because I didn't know better and some guy who was better than me said I needed to shoot left handed because my left eye is slightly more dominant and I believed him. I switch to my right hand and non dominant eye and shot better, oh well, do what works best for you, handing won't stop you from winning if you do the work needed to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonovanM Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Stop wondering and asking on internet forums if you can and start dry firing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyburg Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I have included shooting left handed into my training routine so when i am working with left handed shooters i can not only discuss what and how to correct something but to also be able to demonstrate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Griffin Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Due to severe injury to my elbow I have lost a great deal of strength in my right hand. I am cross eye dominate. Shoot right hand dominate left. I have been playing around with shooting left handed and find I like it or it actually feels more natural. Though are there any Masters or Grand Masters that shoot left handed? I searched the internet and could fine none. Of course likely I will never make Master let alone GM. But I am curious if it is possible as a lefty. Why yes, yes there are. I started shooting Limited/Limited 10 and while revolver turned out to be my sweet spot, I wasn't too bad with the skinny guns either. I took the occasional stage from Sevigny and Vogel at Area matches (by occasional I mean "one each") but I did notice a few strange tricks that worked for lefties better than righties. Feel free to ask questions, it's a minor pain to find gear and a minor mystery to work out methods but overall I'd say it's no real disadvantage and in revolver I consider it a significant advantage. Those poor fools are grabbing for moonclips with their bad hands! Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Less Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Check out Károly Takács. Olympic gold in Rapid Fire in 1948 and 1952. He was a righty, but lost his right hand in a training accident. He learned to use his left hand. Pretty amazing what people can do when they apply themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandog Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 (edited) I am a big believer in defying the odds. I have been seriously injured before and was told I could never do this or that again. But I busted my ass and proved them wrong. I went to my surgeon today and when measuring the strength of my "gimp" hand I hurt his hand( I started rehabbing two days post op) When I get hurt the fight comes out. I am confident that I will be able to remain a right hand shooter now. I never give up. Even if I had to have become a lefty. They said I would always be somewhat handicapped in that hand but I have faith and will continue to defy the odds. Thanks for all the feedback guys:) I appreciate it. Really I do. Nick Edited July 13, 2011 by Bandog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
818-DVC Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Matt, read your write up in FS and I must say I am really impressed with not only the logic for lefties, but your fine execution as well. That being said, where do you think you would stand if Jerry was a lefty? I'm right right dominant, so I'm sticking with it. Does Jerry shake your hand and nearly break it before the 1st stage? JL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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