lefty or righty in the US service?

[Karl E. Hungus]

a question,

in the various branches of us service, how are left handed shooters adressed? are they forced to learn to fire righty? im sure with most of the modern semi and full auto MBRs theres probably no difference. but what about sniper and marksman programs where a bolt action rifle is still used?

the reason im asking is im thinking of joining the service and i pride myself on my left handed marksmanship. i can fire certain rifles ambidextrously but on certain rifles my accuracy suffers as a righty. i may try to get into a sharpshooting roll, and obvously this is a major part of it. are there any vets or active servicemen/women out there that can give me an idea?

[NavajoNPaleFace]

When I went in in '68 everyone shot right handed.

If you were left handed you learned/forced to adapt.

[nalioth]

When I was in, they issued the M16A1 and the lefties got a snap on brass deflector to shoot southpaw. . .

The A2 came along with a built in brass deflector.

[XO3319]

built in brass deflector on the A2 and M4

But lefties had a snap on with the A1 and got brass burns anyway

We started buying the ambi mag releases for about 90 a pop in 2004 though

[tanstaafl4y]

Shoot left handed w/ right handed rifle...I'll write more later.

[Planning]

a question,

in the various branches of us service, how are left handed shooters adressed? are they forced to learn to fire righty? im sure with most of the modern semi and full auto MBRs theres probably no difference. but what about sniper and marksman programs where a bolt action rifle is still used?

the reason im asking is im thinking of joining the service and i pride myself on my left handed marksmanship. i can fire certain rifles ambidextrously but on certain rifles my accuracy suffers as a righty. i may try to get into a sharpshooting roll, and obvously this is a major part of it. are there any vets or active servicemen/women out there that can give me an idea?

i hate to tell you this, but one thing the weapons instructors dislikes is getting someone that is a "marksman" before joining the service. they have to "unlearn" the new recruit and start all over. this take a lot of extra time and a lot of effort . if they get someone that has never even held a rifle they usually do much better with them. just pretend you "know nothing" and go from there. good luck...... the MC does really good on weapons training........

by the way i have a friend who just came back from iraq about 6 months ago ( he did 3 tours), he was a sniper, when he came back he got out of the marines. they kept calling him and he joined back up last month and is going back to iraq in oct.. they are in need of good snipers. good luck....

[M1 Tanker]

Ain't that the truth Planning. Its always easier to take a city boy who has never fired a rifle and teach him right.

[SSwee]

Ain't that the truth Planning. Its always easier to take a city boy who has never fired a rifle and teach him right.

It's always easier to train someone that is green instead of someone that has developed bad habits and it don't apply to just shooting.
SS

[Drew]

We have several left handed rifleman in my platoon they just make do with what they've got. Most folks will swap shoulders depending on the situation anyway such as pie'ing a corner thats opposite of their firing side or when behind cover where they can only fire from your non-firing side.... etc

I've never even heard the topic brought up really. random though... I can't say I've ever seen anyone fire a SAW left handed.. hmm

To actually answer your question Karl, they won't make you shoot right handed at this point in time (Army).


-Drew
11B, 4th ID

[rustypirate]

When I was in the Army, we shot both Lefty and Righty.

I was pretty good on either hand so I allways wound up with the left hand side of the foxhole when shooting with another right-handed shooter.

[SteelCore]

Slighly related...In Japanese sword arts, everyone was trained righty....there are no left-handed samurai.

As a southpaw, I'd learn it all righty, then convert it to lefty in my practice. This was a good idea, since I found it easier to 'switch hit' when I got into western martial arts, fighting w/hand and a half and great sword.

Sorry 4 the OT...I'm sure you have little interest in ancient Japanese military stuff...just a southpaw sharing my exp.

BTW, are you a lefty and left eye dominant?

[Patria Povo]

In the Australian Army, we shoot the AUG bullpup. So, left-handers get issued with a left-side ejection port. Sadly, ambi-shooting isn't really possible with a side-ejecting billpup.

[tanstaafl4y]

When I was in the Army, we shot both Lefty and Righty.

I was pretty good on either hand so I allways wound up with the left hand side of the foxhole when shooting with another right-handed shooter.


At PLDC they insisted on Right sector right hand / Left sector left hand. At BNCOC the instructors said that the manuals (not sure what FM#) had changed and the reccomendation was the soldier should use their dominat hand. The theory being that a right handed person carrying left handed will upon contact switch hands, losing valuable seconds. Also someone who is carrying opposite of dominate eye (reguardless of dominate hand) may not be able to place accurate aimed fire on a target

I sent an email to a "friend" who was with the Amry Marksmanship Unit to see if she knew any "left-handed" rifle shooter

[Optimus Prime]

If you're a sniper, you've got glass, so it doens't matter which eye you use. You shoot right handed so you can work the bolt. For the M-16 family of weapons you just shoot righty or lefty depending on eye dominance. But that's really only for the range, once you hit a MOUT situation you're not using the sights usually anyway.