Southpaws and the military

[Smiley]

Does the military teach southpaw new recruits to fire whichever hand is domminent to the recriut or right handed only?

I recently went shooting with my brother and some buddies and it turned out that all of them think that they were suppossed to be lef thanded but were forced to be right handed in school. So now one of them shoots lefty and another shoots righty but using his left eye even though they are both right handed(writing and playing baseball). I guess he set his rifle up okay since he can shoot fairly straight and hit his targets.

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

the US military teaches soldiers to shoot left handed if they're left, and right handed if they're right.



the british army has horrible rifles and has to make everyone shoot right handed.

 

[Boats]

I was actually instructed in the rifle, shotgun, and pistol by the Marine Corps to be a member of my ship's boarding party/reaction force. We were taught to shoot dominant eye, so that those cross dominant would shoot from the side that had the stronger eye. Everyone else was of course left or right handed and eyed. I have no idea if that is official USMC training doctrine as our small arms training as squids was rather ad hoc.

 

[cdbeaver]

Southpaw in the Army

I'm a lefty, too, and encountered the same pressures to switch to the right hand when I was a youngster. It didn't take (except that I wield a fork with my right hand).

When I entered the Army (in 1950), the instructors at first suggested I'd get along much better with the M1 if I shot it from the right shoulder. Again I protested and they let my do it the natural way. Qualified in good shape, too.

Where the left side shooter encounters minor problems is in loading the eight-round clips into the magazine. The M1 thumb isn't for right-handers only. Had a heckuva time deciding which hand to hold the rifle in while fumbling with the clips.

 

[jem375]

I had to shoot right handed in the service even though I was a lefty and it was unnatural for me to shoot that way....they would not let me shoot the M1 left handed........

 

[Bravo11]

I was just talking to someone about this the other day.
Neither of use are left handed and we were curious how left handed soldiers fired their weapons. If the military teaches both ways does a right handed designed rifle(M16) pose problems.
I was a tanker so we only qualified with M1911's and crew served weapons, didn't see any lefties firing M16's.

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

having had an ar-15, and being a lefty I feel qualified to answer this.

The ar-15 poses no problems for a left handed person, especially once the safety is replaced with an ambi one (it should have one from the factory, but the military is evil and doesn't care about left handed soldiers.)


the m-16 and m-16a1's are pains in the arse for lefties, since they don't have the brass deflector. (you have to bury your face in the side of the stock to keep from being hit in the cheek)


the m-16a2 is great, because of the brass deflector that's part of the reciever.

 

[jem375]

Megcatia....... there are no problems shooting the ar15 and M1 left handed.........I do have a left handed ar15, but, have shot many ar15's and M1's left handed without any problems.........my next ar15 upper will be right handed, so, no big deal.........the safety is the only minor problem......

 

[Boats]

Having an M1 and having fired AR-15s, the safety location on the AR is not a "minor problem." On the M1 the safety is centerline and either protruding into the trigger guard or it is not. It is flickable by whatever hand the trigger finger happens to be on. The safety on the AR is on the wrong side. (It shouldn't be on a side at all).

The mag release is the true "minor problem" on the AR. No lefty I know of can just hit it with their trigger finger like the righties can, and the reach around/under method is slower and more awkward, hence aftermarket companies making $50.00 solutions for a problem that didn't exist on the the M1 or the M-14.

 

[willyjixx]

same here no problems being a lefty on the M/4, AR Family.

however the 203 quad site is set for rightys
an most of the machine guns. (SAW, M240B,G,etc) are made to be shot right handed.

adapt an overcome as they say

 

[Ebbtide]

the US military teaches soldiers to shoot left handed if they're left, and right handed if they're right.

Not when I was in the Navy. I had to learn to shoot with the right hand(pistol) as there were no left handed holsters. I tried the same with the M-14 but ended up learning with the left.

I do not have a weak side when it comes to pistols, pingpong, tennis, racketball, or swinging a hammer. Everything else is all left.

 

[TheLastBoyScout]

I have no problems with the safety on my AR.

I HATE the righty mag release, and I hate the people who charge $90 for this little fix as well.

Aside from the fumbling, there's probably not too much of a speed difference though, because I never let my mags drop to the deck anyway.

 

[Ebbtide]

the US military teaches soldiers to shoot left handed if they're left, and right handed if they're right.

Not when I was in the Navy. I had to learn to shoot with the right hand(pistol) as there were no left handed holsters. I tried the same with the M-14 but ended up learning with the left.

I do not have a weak side when it comes to pistols, pingpong, tennis, racketball, or swinging a hammer. Everything else is all left.

 

[Handy]

I don't get the mag release complaint. If you're pulling the mag out with your right hand, hit the button with that thumb as you grap the mag. Same deal as pulling an AK mag out.

Sure, you no longer get to eject your mag into the dirt, but the AR is one of the only rifles that allow this to happen in the first place.

 

[Boats]

AR mags are so cheap they should just be able to hit the dirt as designed to drop from the rifle if that is what one wants.

The problem with the righty only mag release is on a speed reload. Right handed one takes his trigger finger off and stabs the release. When this is happening, the left hand can already be bringing a fresh mag for insertion. Left handed, one is either having to strike the button with the right hand and ready the mag for insertion or push and rip the mag out, pocket it, and make a repeat trip from the mag pouch with the fresh mag.

Say what you will, but stock AR mag changes are slower with the "wrong" hand and negates one of the advantages of this type of rifle over its predecessors--faster reloads and return to action. Therefore there are various fixes on the market for this appalling design oversight for a supposedly "modern" weapon.

"Adapt and overcome?" One should never have to overcome bad design when ambidexterity is a modern concern for mil-spec weapons. At least the M9 and M11 are left hand friendly, a step in the proper design direction.

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

eeh. reloads are still faster than the mini-14 shooting left handed, and i can operate the safety with my trigger finger if i have to.


the ambi safety that was on my AR when i had it was only about 20 or so.