Off hand shooting?

[Jazzman]

This may have been posted before, but i couldn't find a reference. What is best method for offhand shooting? Am i better off shifting my tank from my right shoulder to my left, but still firing with my right hand? Or is switching the marker to my left hand and firing with my left hand the better option? I'm curious as to how everyone else handles this.

[TheTramp]

This is one of the things our coach has the biggest problems with. He says you should ABSOLUTLY use your left hand when shooting out the left side of a bunker. He gets worked up when he see someone shooting out the left side using their right hand to pull the trigger and their left hand to hold the gun up.

I like to use a Warp so I can just tilt the gun on it's side to shoot with my right hand out the left side.

[MantisMag]

i suck at shooting lefty. so i used to just switch shoulders. if you do it right then you're really not exposing much more of yourself than when going out the right side. then i got a warp. sooooooo much better. on both sides! :D

[JEDI]

I think this is a popular arguement. My coach says switching is wasting time. (in most situations)I find the best way, and tightest way is to shoulder the tank on your left shoulder, and continue to shoot with you right hand. Your right and is on the grip even less than with normal right hand shooting, but you can fan the trigger just as well. This way you only have to poke the left side of your head out to see, and shoot.

[fire1811]

if you want to stay as tight as you can you better switch hands. (warp excluded)
In big tourneys you give em an inch they will give ya a welt.

you might get some funny looks but when your watchin tv or just sitting around, practice pullin the trigger with your off hand. once it becomes a normal motion for your hand
you will be able to rip.

[Evil Bob]

Without a warp, you really need to switch hands to stay in tight, otherwise your hopper is a big target for the other guys to shoot at.

I use this fact of life against the guy I'm bunkering, I like catching them mid switch unable to shoot back. Run at the bunker firing at the side you're going around, then fire at the other side just before you're going to bunker them. 90% of the time they switch because they think you're coming around the side you're shooting, I can usually catch them with their pants down and unable to shoot back.

The warp makes this a non issue, you can easily shoot out either side without switching hands.

-Evil Bob

[rehme]

well i noticed this if you hold your tank by your left hand and pull the trigger with you right hand you are elminting that left shoulder

[fire1811]

but you are also eliminating your aim

if you are like most of the ppl that are right handed you are also right eye dominate.

that means that your not going to aim with your left eye and your going to stick your peanut out the side of the bunker further to use your dominate eye :D

[Evil Bob]

That's where you're wrong, you don't need to "sight" with the dominate eye, since paintball is basicly indirect artillery, you can "sight" with both eyes open and adjust where the paint drops, no need to fully expose your head when one eye will do the job nicely.

-Evil Bob

[fire1811]

yeah i ment with both eyes open

i personally stick more of my head out the side when i do it the way he explained.

its really just a matter of how you learned to shoot that way when you started playin

for me its just easier and tighter to switch hands.

[Skoad]

Personally I don't switch hands just shift the gun to the left side.

I would do what feels comfortable for you and what feels confident for you. Switching to the left hand doesn't even really make your signature smaller if at all.

+ if you just keep your hands in the same spot and shift the gun you can very easily, quickly, and smoothly pop over to the other side of the bunker and shoot like normal. Also I find i lose massive bps using my left hand.

[Evil Bob]

Originally posted by Skoad
if you just keep your hands in the same spot and shift the gun you can very easily, quickly, and smoothly pop over to the other side of the bunker and shoot like normal. Also I find i lose massive bps using my left hand.

That's the benefit that the warp provides, you don't need to remove your hand from the trigger at any time, you are always ready to fire. Guys who switch have to setup their shooting position again, which is what I like them to do when I hit their bunker, I'm more then happy to have a target that can't immediately shoot back at me, makes the ref's job really easy.

-Evil Bob

[Jonesie]

When I use my warp, I just roll the gun over and shoot using my right hand.

When I use my vert feed, I switch hands and shoot left-handed. In fact, I shot a guy in the snake left-handed just this weekend! :D

It pays to practice. When I play at the local indoor place (which is REALLY expensive) I'll buy 500rds and play hopper only ball. I'll usually try to play the whole day left-handed, for the practice.

Later ~ Dave

[AcemanPB]

lol, I'm ambidextrous, the first time I picked up a paintball gun I could shoot just as well with either hand :D

Yeah, I'm left handed.

I can even write left and right handed fairly well.

[painball]

Originally posted by AcemanPB
lol, I'm ambidextrous, the first time I picked up a paintball gun I could shoot just as well with either hand :D

Yeah, I'm left handed.

I can even write left and right handed fairly well.

Yea same here. I write left tho and do most other things right. So left handed shooting is pretty easy for me. Both my fingers are equally slow on the trigger tho.

[freek133]

>>Both my fingers are equally slow on the trigger tho.<<

Hehe:D

I started shooting with my left hand for about 2 months just infront of the tv and stuff, after about 2 weeks you really start to up your speed with your left hand. I am just about as fast with my left as my right when im pulling, but I can walk the trigger 10 times as fast with my right hand as I could with my left.

[SyntaxError]

Originally posted by TheTramp
you should ABSOLUTLY use your left hand when shooting out the left side of a bunker

Good call, DEFINATELY learn to shoot with your off hand as well, it gets easier as you do it more. I've recently had a lot of coaching on this point, and from what I've ascertained:

I still can't shoot anywhere near as fast as with my right hand, but I've worked on it to the point where I'm just as accurate with either hand.

Also, switching hands is definately the way to go, especially for front players. Depending on bunker setups, you're gonna want to be able to shoot just as well with your offhand, like if you have to play the offside snake.

For back guys too, switching hands will let you wrap the bunker, you just can't do that without exposing too much if you shoot righty out the left side.