Switch Your Bolt Side and Shoot Better from Prone and Bench
Most bolt-action rifle shooters work the bolt with their trigger-pulling hand. This is because most rifles sold to right-handed shooters come with right-side bolts, while “lefty” rifles come with left-side bolts. This “standard” configuration requires the shooter to take his dominant, trigger-pulling hand off the stock to cycle the bolt, then re-position his hand on the stock, and “re-claim” the trigger. Often the shooter must lift or move his head to work the bolt, and that also requires him to re-establish his cheek weld after each and every shot. Not good.
This really doesn’t make much sense for precision shooting with fore-end support*. There is a better way. If you leave your trigger hand in position and work the bolt (and feed rounds) with the opposite hand, then you don’t need to shift grip and head position with each shot. All this requires is a weakside-placed bolt, i.e. a left bolt for a right-handed shooter or a right bolt for a left-handed shooter. The video below shows a “Lefty” working a right bolt. Note how efficient this is:
As our friend Boyd Allen explains: “If you think about it, if you are going to work with a factory action where your options are left bolt and left port or right bolt and right port, and you are building a rifle that will only be shot from a rest, using the left/left for a RH shooter or using a right/right for a LH shooter works better than the conventional configuration”.
Shoot Like a Champ and Work the Bolt with Your Weakside Hand
Derek Rodgers, the current F-TR World Champion, the reigning King of 2 Miles, and the only person to have won BOTH F-Open and F-TR U.S. National Championships, runs this kind of “opposite” bolt set-up. Yep, Derek shoots right-handed with a left bolt. Though Derek is a right-hander, he shoots with a Left Bolt/Left Port (LBLP) action. He pulls the trigger with his right index finger, while working the left-side bolt with his left (weakside) hand. This allows him to stay in position, and maintain his cheekweld. He places his right hand on the grip, while manipulating the bolt (and feeding rounds) with his non-trigger-pulling hand.
Current King of 2 Miles (and F-TR World Champion) Derek Rodgers
This is the rifle with which Derek won the 2013 F-TR National Championship.
*For true standing, off-hand shooting (whether in competition or on a hunt), a conventional strongside bolt placement makes sense, since the non-dominant arm must support the front of the rifle all the time. When shooting from bipod or rest, it’s a different story.
Similar Posts:
- Bolt Configuration: The Benefits of Weakside Bolt Placement
- Benefits of Weakside Bolt Placement — For F-Class and Benchrest
- Weakside Bolt Placement Benefits for Benchrest and F-Class
- Weakside Bolt Placement — When and Why It Works
- Weakside Bolt Placement — The Competitive Advantages
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Tags: Left Bolt, Right Hand
Many of us started shooting using this technique a while ago (1988) when Anschutz brought out the EXEMPLAR SILHOUETTE LEFT HAND hand gun. Then Savage released their handgun with the same concept. It isn’t hard to understand the positive aspects of this combination left bolt/left port.
I can’t wait until this catches on so the major manufacturers will start putting the good stuff on the LH rifles. Right now, we don’t get stainless steel or fancy, optioned stocks. We get carbon steel and plain-Jane stocks. My left-eye dominance doesn’t mean that I don’t like nickel in my steel or that I can’t make use of an adjustable stock.
The problem with this is if we left dominant/left handed shooters opt for a right handed rifle it’s a waste of a perfectly good cheek rest.
I had two nice left handed rifles, a Remington 700bdl and a Winchester 70 Featherweight both in 7mm Rem Mag. Today unless you settle for super duper ultra short mags, there aren’t a lot of options for lefties.
Left-handed shooters, anyone else deformed??
This was said by my sergeant to recruits!!
As someone who started shooting left, handed with a penchant for collecting and using old military rifles, this is something I have been familiar with for quite a while. Even after I re-learned shooting right hand, I miss the economy and ergonomics of being able to work the bolt with my offhand from a rest.
But frankly, this is a insane concept! I am a former champion of the world and I can insure you that nobody cans win a competition in changing the hands and the eyes with the ones of the opposite side.
EDITOR: Jean — the shooter still uses his dominant hand for pulling the trigger. He is simply using the other hand to work the bolt. We explain this only works when shooting from a front rest or bipod that supports the rifle. You are correct that this method does not work when shooting standing or kneeling without a front support.
Different methods for different disciplines. Derek Rodgers is also a World Champion (in F-TR). He shoots right-handed and works the left-side bolt with his left hand. Yes it works!
The F Open World Champion also shoots left handed rifles right handed.
Pauvre blaireau d’Amat… tu es bien resté le même boulet depuis que tu nous as tous trahis.
Do not mind Jean-Pierre Amat, he may have been a “champion of the world” twenty years ago but he remains a staunch gun grabber and a fierce opponent of your 2nd Amendment.