Born right handed, played sports right handed, lived my first 55 years a righty, it has served me well. In my 30’s I developed tremors in my right hand, runs in my family, mother had them, a few cousins have them. At the start it wasn’t a big deal, now at 55, anything requiring a steady hand is a bit of an issue but I still managed, work (with my hands) no problem, I have managed to get use to it and have lived my life.

Enter hand guns, hmm, I can’t find or develop a work around to accurately use a pistol, at least to what I would consider adequate and proficient, I am able to hit a target at 7 yards but can only do a 12 inch radius with the occasional bulzeye. Frustrating doesn’t even describe what I feel, as hard as I concentrate on my hand to hold it steady only brings on more frustration because the tremors are involuntary, I could always fix any problem in my life but this I am at its mercy.

At the range this week, it was my self and the range officer, it was a slow day, Brian was very nice, patient and more than willing to help a new shooter gain proficiency with a hand gun. After he helped my with my grip and trigger finger placement, he tried to address my right hand shaking, I had to explain what was going on and that no matter what it will not stop shaking. Brian said no problem! Let’s shoot lefty, I looked at him like he was crazy.

Brian took 30 minutes with me working on adjusting my thinking to be able to shoot left handed with confidence, in 30 minutes Brian had me shooting 4 inch groupings, I had confidence in my ability to shoot left handed in just 30 minutes. Now after 3 range trips shooting lefty on my own, practicing what Brian had showed me that day I can place 10 rounds with the occasional flyer in a 2-3 inch grouping. Finally I feel like I can only get better with practice. Instead of being frustrated.

My point of this post is more for new shooter.
An old dog can learn new tricks!

Good on him! If you must shoot righty, use a Judge or Governor. 410 with buck works well.

Two things in my life helped me be more left handed. The first was a motorcycle crash that caused my right hand to be bandaged for about a month when I was 21. The second thing is learning the guitar. The left hand does the coding. Today I use my computer mouse with my left hand and do many things as a lefty. Good luck……buy a second hand guitar - chances are you’ll go far! (Bachman–Turner Overdrive)

I learned to shoot left handed when I became a firearms instructor in the service....I found there is always one of ‘em in the crowd and learning to shoot like they do helped me explain things better.

I’m not super good with left handed shooting, but I can qualify left handed, and that’s good enough for me.

Glad you found a work around to your tremors.

I can only imagine the difficulty you must be facing! I am one of those evil lefties myself, and have found that it's more difficult for me to shoot anything that is purpose-built, left-handed firearm...dunno why.

I'm glad that Brian was able to help you out with that. I took a ccw course via work a few years ago (I was working as a paralegal at a prosecutors' office at the time), and I had a heck of time trying to shoot right-handed during the course, because like you shooting lefty, I had never tried it before.

I like the solution! I'm happy for you.

I'm left handed. Left eye dominant.

Handguns and all the equipment easily available are mostly for right handed people, When I started shooting some thirty years ago I simply got used to rely on my right hand.

Adopt, adapt, overcome.

A few years ago, i was asked by a fellow instructor to help another shooter, to «lend him a hand», he said.
When i got to his lane, the shooter was missing the entire arm.
Wasn't sure if it was a prank or not. Firdt i got mad then very nervous and couldn't stop making stupid comments like «hey, i'm also a lefty!».
Not his fault, he wasn't to be blamed so i tried to help him.
He was shooting with a buddy. Another one armed man (my friends were playing a number on me?, what are the odds?).
I remember thinking my friends were hidden somewhere laughing their asses off.

The guy was very good and fast all things considered.
The spread was inconsistant and wide.
After watching him shoot for a few minutes I concluded he was watching the target instead of the sights.
I removed the bullseye and left him shooting a blank cardboard.
His buddy was bitching loudly about not having distant reference to aim at. I left.

A while later the guy came to me sporting a large smile. His shots were tightly grouped. Everybody was pleased and happy.

Last i heard of them, both one armed men were teaching others to shoot without a bullseye.

That's the excellent stuff I learned at Sigarms Academy 20 years ago.

0-0

I'm an anomaly . I write left handed . Eat left handed . I shoot and throw a ball right handed .
I'm a strange one alright .

If forced, we develop dexterity beyond what we imagine. Look at what people without use of hands do with their feet.

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:
If forced, we develop dexterity beyond what we imagine. Look at what people without use of hands do with their feet.

I went to a dirt pit one day to get a load of limestone . While I was standing in the office , there was a guy sitting on the counter . He was barefooted and had no arms . He picked up a box of Marlboro cigarettes off the counter , took out a cigarette , and lit it with a Zippo lighter . And he did it damn near as fast as I could have .

quote:

Originally posted by SparkyWho:
I can only imagine the difficulty you must be facing! I am one of those evil lefties myself, and have found that it's more difficult for me to shoot anything that is purpose-built, left-handed firearm...dunno why.

I'm ambidextrous for the most part although there are things I can only do well right handed and things I can only do well left handed. I'm okay with firearms shooting them either way except for semiauto shotguns that eject in my face when I shoot lefty and I can't use scissors left handed at all because of how they're made.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
I'm an anomaly . I write left handed . Eat left handed . I shoot and throw a ball right handed .
I'm a strange one alright .

I’m the same!

I have a coworker with a very bad tremor. He has to scrunch up with the pistol very close to his face, essentially like someone imitating a T-Rex, to get some stability.

If it wasn’t for the RO and his nonchalant attitude about shooting left handed, I would never have even considered it. Very happy he did make the suggestion and make it seem like it was just a normal work around. Bit scary doing anything left handed when you have used your right hand for 55 years.

quote:

I have a coworker with a very bad tremor. He has to scrunch up with the pistol very close to his face, essentially like someone imitating a T-Rex, to get some stability.

Funny you mention this, I tried to brace my elbow against my ribs to ease the tremor, ehh, it didn’t work.

Redeye65, my e-mail is in my profile. I have a couple of questions and possible suggestions regarding your situation.

When I became a reserve on the sheriff's dept I was required to shoot with either hand to qualify. All the deputies had to do it on a monthly basis to qualify.

Every instructor course I have attended over the years has included an element of non-gun hand shooting. Other than that my primary use of my left hand is to load a magazine into the pistol. Also to hold the knife while cutting a steak-afraid to use a fork in my left hand as I would probably poke myself in the eye.