Nightcrawler
Member
Not sure where else to put this, as it applies to all longarms, rifles and shotguns alike.
When does a shooter need to fire a long gun from his off shoulder?
People say it's done in close quarters or indoor shooting, for firing around corners. But I've seen videos of Navy SEALS and SWAT teams in training; they way the team enters a room each man covers a different sector with his weapon, and nobody swaps shoulders on their weapons (they're usually slung with an "assault sling" anyways).
Firing from the opposite shoulder can come in handy when you need to fire around offhand cover. For instance, I'm left handed, but I'm standing at the right edge of a wall. If I put the stock of my FAL into my right shoulder, it's easier to fire around the wall without bending my back in funny ways.
However, being left eye dominant, and perhaps not having practiced firing offhand enough, I might be better off risking exposing a little bit more of my body and using my left shoulder, as I'm not super confident in my right handed rifle shooting skills.
So what do you think? I ask because so many countries now issue bullpup rifles, and while nearly all of them are swapable for lefties, I think all of them require a different bolt to accomplish this. However, the UK, France, China, Austria, Australia, and others don't seem to think the swapping hands problem is too much of an issue. I've read many poor reports on the SA-80 rifle, but never once have I read a report where someone berated it for not being able to swap shoulders on the fly. (With that rifle, that's the least of your worries, I think.)
I'd be nice if they could make a bullpup that you could fire from either shoulder. Like a lever that you could flip to make it eject from the left or from the right, like it flipped the extractor to the other side or something. It'd take a bit of engineering, but I wouldn't say that it's impossible.
When does a shooter need to fire a long gun from his off shoulder?
People say it's done in close quarters or indoor shooting, for firing around corners. But I've seen videos of Navy SEALS and SWAT teams in training; they way the team enters a room each man covers a different sector with his weapon, and nobody swaps shoulders on their weapons (they're usually slung with an "assault sling" anyways).
Firing from the opposite shoulder can come in handy when you need to fire around offhand cover. For instance, I'm left handed, but I'm standing at the right edge of a wall. If I put the stock of my FAL into my right shoulder, it's easier to fire around the wall without bending my back in funny ways.
However, being left eye dominant, and perhaps not having practiced firing offhand enough, I might be better off risking exposing a little bit more of my body and using my left shoulder, as I'm not super confident in my right handed rifle shooting skills.
So what do you think? I ask because so many countries now issue bullpup rifles, and while nearly all of them are swapable for lefties, I think all of them require a different bolt to accomplish this. However, the UK, France, China, Austria, Australia, and others don't seem to think the swapping hands problem is too much of an issue. I've read many poor reports on the SA-80 rifle, but never once have I read a report where someone berated it for not being able to swap shoulders on the fly. (With that rifle, that's the least of your worries, I think.)
I'd be nice if they could make a bullpup that you could fire from either shoulder. Like a lever that you could flip to make it eject from the left or from the right, like it flipped the extractor to the other side or something. It'd take a bit of engineering, but I wouldn't say that it's impossible.