As I was working on the videos for my series on the Mauser K98k, I thought it would also be a good opportunity to take a moment and demonstrate my technique for shooting right-handed bolt action rifles, left-handed. As you can see, there’s no reason a left-handed shooter cannot be proficient with right-handed weapons!
Shooting Right-Handed Bolt Action Rifles Left-Handed
Joe6167
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As I was working on the videos for my series on the Mauser K98k, I thought it would also be a good opportunity to take a moment and demonstrate my technique for shooting right-handed bolt action rifles, left-handed. As you can see, there’s no reason a left-handed shooter cannot be proficient with right-handed weapons!
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I'm a lefty. I've gotten so used to right handed bolt actions that my one left hand bolt gun is awkward for me.
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Lefty shooter shooting R handed bolt guns is the story of my life.
I'm right-handed, but left-eye dominant, so I have to shoot long-guns off the left shoulder if I want to hit anything. I shoot right-handed Mauser-style bolt actions off the left shoulder all the time, no trouble for me. I started this way and never bothered looking for a special left-handed bolt-action. At this stage, a left-handed bolt-action would probably feel a lot stranger to me than shooting a right-handed rifle off the left-shoulder, since my hands have already learned how to operate the bolt on the right side of the gun.
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In 1966 my army senior ROTC class was sent to Camp Pendleton during spring break for pre-summer camp training. There WWII and Korean war gunnies taught us the Zen of the M1 Garand. One thing we had to do for them was shoot left handed. When asked why we had to do this, one old grizzled gunnie explained that a flesh wound to the right arm was not an excuse to quit fighting.
I dunno why he insists on using his supporting (right) hand to work the bolt, instead of just reaching his left hand over the gun to work the bolt (like the OP does in his video above). The latter is the way I do it, and it feels a lot less awkward than Ian McCoullum's way. The way Ian does it, you're having to support the entire weight of the gun with your trigger hand while you work the bolt with the other ... just looks uncomfortable.
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My range club buddy - retired USMC - shoots lefty owing to an eye injury. He likes his Swedish M96 Mauser with its straight handle more compared to his 03-A3. The straight bolt handle requires less contortion to reach and is easier for him to work even with its cock on closing.
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Most lefty's seem to learn how to make things work in a right handed world. Training yourself is the key just like it is for everyone. I find operating the bolt with the off-hand is easier because the strong hand supports the rifle while a friend does as noted above and reaches over the action to run the bolt. It works fine either way if you practice. Its pretty crappy if you don't. I know right handed guys who can't seem to run their bolts so it is more the shooter than the method....practice makes things go better no matter how you do it.
Frank
Frank
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My aforementioned range club buddy shooting his Swiss K31 fitted with the original Swiss Products LHO - left hand operating handle. The LHO worked perfectly as long as you kept your left elbow level with the rifle. If it dropped down then the LHO would bind.
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The Swiss straight-pull action is completely reliable. Bolt operation is slick when the action is suitably greased. The binding I experienced when I tested the LHO was a peculiarity of the design and the technique for using it. With the techniques mastered, operation with the LHO was flawless.
Here is the current version of the LHO: K31 Left hand operating system. | swissproductsusa
The original used the K31's operating handle welded to the crossover assembly and replaced the original righty operating handle. The current version clamps around the original handle, as illustrated. Both versions have an advantage over the standard charging handle in having the handle pivot, using the mechanical advantage of leverage for initial bolt opening. The current version may look a bit clunky, but it gets the job done smoothly.
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Alberta RCMP officer speaks about becoming first in Canada to police with 1 eye | Globalnews.ca
An Alberta RCMP officer is speaking out about being the first person in Canada to police with one eye and says he still can't believe he has been given the chance to do his job again.
globalnews.ca
In my province, he taught himself to shoot left. Interesting story.
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To me Ian's way makes more sense in regard to staying consistent in technique regardless of shooting position and rifle; I can get away with racking the bolt with my firing hand if its a straight bolt handle, but with the curved bolt handles I simply don't like how I have to both move my hand that much further down to effectively grasp the handle and use my off hand to rotate the rifle to access the bolt. Least with Ian's technique it doesn't matter what shape the bolt handle is, or even if its got an optic over the bolt, I can still access it with my off hand, even if I have to take the rifle off my shoulder and secure the buttstock into my elbow to do it.
As for technique, I'll frankly admit that I simply draw the line with trying to rack a scoped bolt action from the standing or kneeling wrong-handed, because by that point there is virtually zero way for me to pull off racking the bolt without taking the rifle off my shoulder every time. At that point I'd rather just sink the money into a left handed bolt action, or even better, just buy a semi-auto or lever action instead of having to treat the rifle like some kind of Rubix cube between how much I have to rotate my hand to get over the scope to reach the bolt handle and rotate the rifle to the side just to get easier access to the handle compared a non scoped bolt action.
I've never been in a shooting position where reaching my left hand over to operate the bolt didn't work. Standing, kneeling, or prone, the technique illustrated by the OP above has worked for me in the past. I do agree with you that straight bolt handles are easier to manipulate this way than turned-down bolt handles, although that certainly doesn't mean the latter is impossible, as illustrated by the OP.
I'm an ironsights-only guy, so I've never encountered that issue, but yes I could see where it'd be a problem if you've got a scope mounted. I guess the solution is simple... shoot your bolt-action without a scope 😜
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