were all Germans right handed??

[G.T.]

I'm left handed, althought my mom tried to beat me into right handed, the best she could do was make me "no handed" as I was too busy trying to dodge her smacks to really concentrate on the task at hand... Anyway, fast forward 60 years up to today... again, still left handed, I tried to aim my Luger artillery rig with the holster stock assembly and I found out, much to my dimay, it is canted to the right, and although perfect for a right hander, it was impossible for a left handed shooter to get on the sights? Switch to the right, perfect.. upon closer inspection, I can even see the cant to the right. Am I alone on this or has others realized the same thing?... Best to all, til....lat'r....GT

[Ron Wood]

Which eye do you sight with?

[Doubs]

G.T., when a shotgun's stock is biased to one side or the other it's called cast off or cast on. The stock you describe has cast on for a right handed shooter.

I bought a Winchester Model 101 O/U shotgun when I was in England and had a gunsmith there apply cast on to the stock. It was done by using hot oil to soften the wood fibers and then bending. I hold my head up and when I bring the shotgun to my shoulder the rib is perfectly aligned with my eye. I do not have to tilt my head over the comb.

[Ron Wood]

There is no cast on a Luger stock, artillery navy or carbine. There may or may not be a need for cast to accommodate right eye or left eye dominance. Roughly 65-70% of the population have eye dominance that corresponds to their "handedness", but not all, so cast compensates for the varying degrees of "cross dominance". As Doubs has pointed out, cast can also be used to establish a more comfortable and quick sight picture even with corresponding hand and eye dominance.
When a handgun is fired off-hand, whether with right hand, left hand or both hands, minute horizontal rotation with the wrists allows the attainment of a correct sight "picture"/alignment for the dominant eye. When a stock is attached the gun is locked in alignment with which ever shoulder is used, this takes away the option of wrist correction and requires a head tilt or other compensation if the shoulder is not on the side of the dominant eye. In a dominant hand/dominant eye sighting situation acquiring ideal sight alignment requires a head tilt adjustment of only a few millimeters or fraction of a millimeter. In a dominant hand/non-dominant eye condition, the interpupillary distance is on an average of around 63 millimeters and that is a lot for head tilt and brain to compensate for so it appears that the culprit is stock cant, but it isn't.
Ron

[Deputywood]

GT,

I too am left handed. I have to remove the holster from the stock so that I can get comfortable eye-sight alignment. With the holster attached, my head is uncomfortably tilted to get alignment.

As to being beaten to give up my "right" mind. I started school in France, (dad was stationed there while in the USAF). The nuns at the Catholic school rapped my knuckles until they were bloodied, but still could not get me off the "Devils" hand.

Woody

[Norme]

My elder brother was born in Berlin in 1926 and lived there until the age of 10 when the family emigrated to England, where I was born. He was a natural left hander which was regarded in Germany back then as a birth defect which had to be overcome by "a triumph of the will", and he was forced to write right handed. When the family moved to England he, along with my two elder sisters were enrolled in the English school system where, as a natural lefty, he was encouraged to write left handed. For the rest of his life he could only write English left handed and German right handed.
I'm pretty certain that the German Army back in WW1 expected ALL their men to shoot right handed.
Norm

[HerrKaiser]

My observations as a right/right dominant. My LP.08 Stock is slightly loose on my pistol, and naturally cants slightly when I pull to shoulder. I perceive this as well when shouldering my Navy stocked but it’s not as obvious and I’m willing to buy Ron’s summary on that.

And maybe this is just me, but even as a right/right dominant I have always found mechanical operation and navigation of the Luger in all aspects except firing comes more naturally and fluidly to me left handed. (IE, at the range I will flip the Luger into my left hand on empty for the reloading sequence and then back to my right hand to shoot).

[Vlim]

I always had that extra little handicap. I am right handed, but my right eye developed poorly. I had an eye correction at a very young age, but right always remained a back-up, while my left eye became dominant.

I deliberately started training to aim with my right eye and it actually improved. But nowadays, to hit any target, I have to wait for the guide dog to bark twice before I pull the trigger.

Up until some 40 years ago, lefthanded writing was seen as a defect that needed to be fixed, quite common in Europe.

Our police did not get ambidextrous gun safeties until the late 1990s, when it became a requirement, along with grip straps for different hand sizes.

I guess we will get them in rainbow colors next

[mrerick]

I'm left handed, and was one of the first of the cohort to be allowed to develop without being 'switched" to right hand writing. I'm also left eye dominant.

Military arms are almost universally not ambidextrous. They generally have right hand oriented controls, and the forces are trained to shoot and operate them as supplied. I don't believe that they force operators to shoot weak side as their primary, but many are taught to shoot weak side as an alternate. That goes for the AR-15 / M4, M9, M1911a1 and modern SIG pistols our military is using. Same during WW-I and WW-II.

I have used adaptive techniques when operating them, particularly the M1 Garand rifle.

The Luger is nice in that it doesn't eject brass across my field of view, but rather straight up and out of my way behind my head...

[Vlim]

Luger ejection is fun. At our range we had a little ceiling above the stands, separated by brick walls. My shooter Mauser would eject most rounds on top of that ceiling. One time a range officer freaked out because he saw me shooting without brass falling on the ground.

A DDR Vopo would spit the ejected cases in my face and on my head. Interesting feeling to have hot brass landing behind my glasses. Changed the little extractor spring and that solved the problem.

Staying on topic: I do have one lefthanded pocket pistol holster.

[Vlim]

Here is the lefty. Came with a M1914 that left quite an impression.

[Mac Cat]

I think that most guns were designed for right-handed people, too!

There are a number of rifles made for left-handed people.
Some of them are mirror opposites of their original version.

But, I always thought the Luger was fairly neutral, particularly because it ejects upward.

I do agree with G.T. about the artillery stock and holster. That rig is definitely optimized for a right-handed shooter!

I have heard target shooters suggest that the rifling twist in most guns favors right handed people, too.

My left-handed shooting partner often ends up with shell casings in the back of his shirt after shooting his 1911 left-handed. We both wear safety glasses and our range requires them.

[Edward Tinker]

My brother is left handed but shoots either way.
I'm at the age where they weren't yelling at folks, but its a right handed world.
As others said, mid-last century, I think people started ignoring the right vs left (??)
I am right handed, but my right eye got worse as I aged, and I try to use my right eye without glasses and my mind still wants me right eyed. A bit frustrating. With glasses I am still not as good as I used to see when younger.

[tomaustin]

Ron, GT said in his opening above "upon closer inspection, I can even see the cant to the right."

if this was not the practice of the manufacturers of the stocks, who would put this onto his rig...?

[rhuff]

I was born left handed and the teachers in grade school used to try everything to get me to write right handed. My Mom finally called the school and told them that I am left handed and to quit trying to convert me.

I shoot handguns with my right hand, but am left eye dominant so I definitely have to tilt my head when looking for a correct sight picture. I am ambidextrous in many chores.....especially eating!!

[G.T.]

Hi Tom, I never even knew until a gun show exchange with a fellow collector? I was a bit shocked as the stock is an ODIN and I have long been a fan if the quality they usually reflect? But, on this stock, you can definitly see it set to the right, which, might be grest for a right hander... but alas, I regress.... best to all, til....lat'r....GT

[G.T.]

But, I am equally blind in both! I now shoot only to watch the empties fly around, and hear the gun go bang! Other than that, most everything down range is pretty safe... Best, GT..

[ithacaartist]

Forcing kids to conform to right-handedness is old-school, for sure. My grandmother described how she'd been trained to write right-hand, and also use utensils for eating the same--although she didn't mention any violence involved. These days, South-paws can avail themselves of places like Ned Flanders' "Leftorium" and other sources for mirror image ergonomics for lots of stuff to make their lives more comfortable. Calling it the "Devil's hand" is just one of the ludicrous notions that religion has pressed upon us.

If you don't know which eye is dominant, here's a little test: Hold an index finger at arm's length, then draw it back to your eye. Since the eye is deliberately not specified in these instructions, your tendency will be to bring it to the dominant eye automatically. The motion must be done without any mental bias or over-thinking, and one's first time doing it gives the best answer, particularly if they don't know what the purpose of this simple test is.

I believe that statistics show that lefties also live a bit longer than the rest of us.

[G.T.]

If violence is the right word? I quickly out grew my mothers frail efforts to physically disipline me.. she was weak 120 pounds and I was more than a match, but restrained by the fact you never raise your hand against your mom! Never, ever, EVER!!! So, when she felt it was totally necessary to administer immediate discipline, her weapon of choice, also used in conjunction with, "wait until your father gets home" was a yard long Harley belt with a heavy brass buckle??? I still can still hear her swinging that thing over her head like Conan the Barbarian!!! She never connected, as it was all show, but to this day, still, one of the most impressive things I've ever witnessed?... ... Best to all, til...lat'r...GT...

[Doubs]

Another test for the dominant eye is to point at something and then close first one eye and then the other. The one that still points directly at the object is dominant.