Wednesday, December 04, 2013

And now for something completely different...

I have carried a pistol in a right-handed IWB holster every day for so long now that I literally no longer notice it. I have fallen asleep on top of a full-size service pistol more times than I could begin to count.

The gun on my left hip feels weird. I'm constantly aware of its presence, and I felt like everybody else at the store was, too.

Here's the weird thing, though...

I have mentioned before that I'm actually a southpaw. I write and eat left-handed, but do almost everything else with my right hand, simply because shopping for, say, left-handed computer mice or pistol holsters is a pain.

I have always shot pistols* and used my computer mouse right-handed, but just a half day of having the gun on my left hip is making my right hand feel awkward on the mouse. I'm sure there is some sort of fascinating neurological reason behind this...


*This is why at gun skool, when the instructor is making those comments about WHO (weak-hand only) drills like "Okay, here's the part everybody hates!", I always pipe up like Ralph from The Simpsons with "Oh boy, sleep! That's where I'm a Viking!"

19 comments:

  1. Seems a bit......

    Sinister to me.


    Snork snork snork.

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  2. Oh! I smell federal grant money.
    Just leave out the yucky gun part in your proposal.

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  3. I am one of several Odd Dominants where I work. Basketball, baseball, completely lefty. Tennis, shooting, right hand all the way.

    A psychology prof had the entire class draw an image to show the transfer of learning from one hemisphere of the brain to the other. My times were so slow or so fast he kept me thirty minutes after class trying to figure it out. Embrace the weird.

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  4. I had a stage were you double tapped 5 targets from your strong side. The second string was the same thing but from a rifle mounted on your weak side. Lots of chaos and hilarity followed.

    Gerry

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  5. With a little practice, you'll be able to carry, mouse, write, eat, etc. . . . in stereo.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0gzQS4w1sc

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  6. I swear you're like my long lost sister or something. People always ask me why I shoot righty when I'm left-handed otherwise. Short answer is, "Why not?" Using a gun right-handed as a lefty is about the same thing as using a pair of right-handed scissors. It's not some special ninja skill, just something that some of us have chosen to do for practical reasons.

    But I run my right-hand mouse happily with either hand as the mood strikes, and swap it back and forth from hand to hand all day long. Helps avoid muscle cramps. I'd probably do the same thing with the holster if finding left-handed holsters weren't such a pain in the patootey.

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  7. Your brain is trying to 'rewire' to accept the change...

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  8. I was perfectly ambidextrous until grade one, when it was (literally) beaten out of me. I am now right handed and right eye dominant, but once in a while I will catch myself eating or doing something else that doesn't require too much dexterity with my left hand.

    When the Brits switched from the L1A1 (FAL) to the SA-80 (bullpup) rifle, there was some discussion about lefties. The Army decided that since most recruits would never have shot or even handled a firearm before, they would just teach everyone to shoot from the right shoulder.

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  9. The major reason I shoot left handed is because it messes up the opposition. Nobody expects to get shot from that side!

    In fact, with the right timing I can get them to flinch into the path of the bullet.

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  10. I did the left handed holster thing for about a year when I had the 2 surgeries on my right shoulder. I'm right handed, but the difference was I knew I was going to be behind the power curve so I signed up for a week long, high round class at the Sig Academy.

    In talking with the SIG guys awhile back they noticed I was right handed and mentioned it. Yeah, so what? I then had to explain the circumstances. They actually thought I was naturally left handed!!!

    I found it took me about 25 minutes for it feel 'natural' in terms of presentation and draw stroke.

    My accuracy however was not nearly as good as what I could do with my right hand and that's why when the shoulder healed I went back to right hand holsters even though the vision in my left eye is far better than what it is in my right...

    All The Best,
    Frank W. James

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  11. Same same here. Write/eat/knife/etc lefthanded;
    gun/phone/scissors right. I figure it was adapting to right-sided gear, but also note that I'm right eye dominant...

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  12. I am handedness-assigned very much like yourself. I must have missed the previous reveal. As far as I can figure out, my situation stems from the fact that in the day, you know, there were no left hand Mossberg bolt action .22s, and no left hand pencils.

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  13. I ripped my back pocket one day at work, put my wallet in the left pocket. It was a bizarre experience.

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  14. I am not alone!!!!

    I shot a match with the local PD and one stage required you to start from a desk, signing your name. Despite the pistole holstered on the wrong (non-left) side, I picked up the pen with my correct hand to write my name on the paper. I was told I still had to put the pen in my right hand, even though that wouldn't be the hand I'd be holding it in.

    Artificial rules, keeping it real for the wrong-handers. Go figger.

    As the refrigerator magnet at my sister's says, "Everyone is born left handed - you only become right handed when you commit your first sin."

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  15. Thanks to a feisty old battle axe of a woman, Sister Roberta, the left- handedness was beaten out of me with a ruler across my knuckles. At 4 years old.

    I have since, mostly used my right hand because she trained me to do so.

    When I went to the Academy back in the day, I decided to learn to shoot lefty, since I had no experience shooting at all.

    It was liberating. My brain took to it like a duck to water.

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  16. If you ever get into swords, you should do it lefty. It is almost impossible to win against a left-hander.

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  17. Being sinister, myself, I was always called upon during team competition to be the guy who shoot weak hand - as most of the right handers couldn't find their left whilst clapping.
    While very strongly lefty, I've made a point of shooting some righty.
    Just because.

    gfa

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  18. What Richard said. Fencing instructors love/hate me because I fence left handed. Bugs the fire out of my opponents. (Foil and stage fencing).

    LittleRed1

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  19. Until two lefties meet in a bout and hilarity ensues.

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