Finally a rifle I can shoot :)

[SteveP-52]

The back story: girlfriend saw me looking at a Beeman R7 .20 on PA back in February and asked if I wanted one. Said yep, someday. For our 2 year anniversary, she handed me a card and inside was money with a handwritten note to say she wanted to get it for me and would add until there was enough. Fast forward to a month ago when I spotted one on Ebay. She asked if it was the same rifle and I said yeah, but it's an auction, I'll hafta bid and she grinned and said go for it. Last day of the auction, we sat watching and when my bid got beat, she says that ain't right, get out of that chair, this guy is about to lose.
I learned a couple things that day, 1: she can cuss as good as any sailor, I know, I was one and 2: she hates losing...lol. When the dust settled, she won and a week later, I took delivery of a new to me Huntington Beach Beeman R7 .20 caliber. 
Today, I took a chance and found I can easily cock and shoot it from a bench with just my left arm and for the first time in 6 months, I got bench time with a rifle and spent 2 hours taking my time (like I have much choice...lol), being crazy careful and learned although it took some, I actually don't shoot too bad as a lefty, very likely just for being way more focused on trying to shoot any semblance of well with an arm I never shoot with but thought I did pretty good
Ran 4 different pellets over the chrony in 10 shot strings:
-H&N FTT's: Average 554, ES 11, SD 3, 7.78 fpe
-JSB Exact: Average 497, ES 20, SD 6, 7.53 fpe
-H&N Spitzkugel: Average 585, ES 21, SD 6, 8.33 fpe
-Predator Polymags: Average 488, ES 17, SD 5, 6.88 fpe

Already knew I was going to scope it, my eyes just don't see well enough for open sights and it now wears a Hawke Airmax 3-9x40 AO scope that as far as I'm concerned is perfect for it and after getting it dialed in at 20 yards, shot 2-5 shot groups with the FTT's and 2-5 shot groups with the JSB's. FTT's are the top 2 targets, the JSB's are the bottom 2 targets. It's also already been blooded after a four legged grey rat wandered in to my shooting range and was dumb enough to stay but not a pic I can post here.
On that note, on to the obligatory pics or it never happened stuff....lol.

[Leaded]

Congrats on the purchase and on finally getting in some rifle shooting. By the way, nice shooting after such a long break!

[SteveP-52]

Thanks, Mike. I'm normally right handed, so shooting left handed (well anything left handed) is an alien thing to me until today. The screwed up right shoulder has forced me to learn to do a lot of things left handed, this is just another thing to add to the list...lol.

[SpiralGroove]

Hey Steve,
Lucky find on the Girlfriend, she sounds like a great partner .
The gun's very nice too; the stock has nice grain and checkering ... 
Happy Anniversary - your getting back your MoJo

[avator]

Congrats Steve...
Fortunately I'm right handed and my left shoulder is screwed up. I know how bad that is and can't imagine if it were the other way.

[Yogi]

Welcome back to shooting!
Shooting left handed must be a real challenge.  Maybe everybody should try it, just to see how difficult it really is?

-Y

[Lt. Dan]

Beautiful rifle. I really like the story of how you acquired it. I'm super jealous you can shoot that well on your weak (left side, non prominent side...) shoulder.  I can't even scratch with my left hand.  Seriously those are some good groups shot lefthand by a righthanded shooter.
When...let's say next June... you shoot the same pellets,  the same targets at the same distance and compare them.

I'm proud for you friend and I know it's been hard having it around, staring at it, wondering when you you would be able to shoot it.
Bravo...hang in there. 

Looks like a definite keeper. 

Dan.

[SteveP-52]

Thanks Kirk, the girlfriend is a definite keeper and for more reasons than just she encourages my addiction.

Bill, Yogi and Dan...left is a definite challenge after 56 years doing everything right handed. Brain still wants to do everything that way. I have some flexibility but if it tells you anything, reaching to the pellet tin on the table while it should be simple, routine thing isn't. Done it 1000's of times...cock the rifle, hold the barrel in my left while I grab a pellet and load with the right, pull the barrel closed. Everything is now backwards and I have to focus a lot to keep the right arm out of it or pay for it...lol. I've always said I liked the challenge of springers, now it's just a bigger challenge

[Fate]

Beautiful rifle. I really like the story of how you acquired it. I'm super jealous you can shoot that well on your weak (left side, non prominent side...) shoulder.  I can't even scratch with my left hand.  Seriously those are some good groups shot lefthand by a righthanded shooter.
When...let's say next June... you shoot the same pellets,  the same targets at the same distance and compare them.

I'm proud for you friend and I know it's been hard having it around, staring at it, wondering when you you would be able to shoot it.
Bravo...hang in there. 

Looks like a definite keeper. 

Dan.

A great post, Dan, to a great man who's a fighter where others become quitters.

I was also moved by his words. In my own way, been there, and still am there, and understand. You just have the class to put in words what I can only feel.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

Congratulations Steve.

Very Nice rifle !   Excellent shot groups !


Best Wishes - Tom

[maraudinglizard]

Great story Steve, congrats to ya on the new rifle.

[lefteyeshot]

Steve, nice gun and girl friend. Looks like it shoots tight. I got into air guns to learn to shoot left hand ( lefteyeshot ) after I lost some vision in my right eye. Then I got hooked. I was lucky. To me the mechanics of it switched right over. The hardest thing for me was trigger finger control. After a couple of years I did the thumb test and my dominant eye changed. I think I shoot now as good or better as I did right hand .

I use both hands on my big guns to cock and switch hand now and then. I have some right hand thumb hole stocks and couple of right hand pistol grips (B40, 2078B) but I can shoot them okay left hand. Side levers are the hard one, especially my Diana 56th. It's heavy and switching hands to cock and load and switching hands back to shoot wears me out after about fifty shots. Enjoy the new gun.

[fwbsport]

Aha!  You GOT to SHOOT left handed and found out it isn't that bad after all!

Congratulations and when is the wedding.  I'm an ordained sort here and might cull you on.....

[SteveP-52]

Thanks Jeff, Tom and Kris. And yes, Mr Dan up there is one of a handful of GTA members I consider a "best friend I've never met in person". Tommy is another.

Tim, you probably hit the nail on the head. Hardest part was trying to make the left finger and left eye do what I'm so used to doing with the right. Also figure I'll have to do this all over again when I can (I hope anyway) finally use the right again. There's other issues with the arm besides the torn stuff I keep to myself so we'll see....

John, yeah, I hafta shoot left or not shoot. It's kinda like chronies...use one a couple times, you'll find out they're not so bad after all..heheheh.  It's not that lefty is a bad thing, it's just trying to wrap the brain around doing everything backwards from what it's been trained to all these years.

Also? No wedding....lol. We talk lots about the future, what it might hold, but one thing we both agree on is not needing a piece of paper to know we want to be with each other.

[c_m_shooter]

Welcome back to shooting!
Shooting left handed must be a real challenge.  Maybe everybody should try it, just to see how difficult it really is?

-Y

If it was so difficult why do left handed folks have no trouble doing it?  I don't understand why more people don't practice from both sides of the gun.  It may be useful someday....

[Yogi]

Welcome back to shooting!
Shooting left handed must be a real challenge.  Maybe everybody should try it, just to see how difficult it really is?

-Y

If it was so difficult why do left handed folks have no trouble doing it?  I don't understand why more people don't practice from both sides of the gun.  It may be useful someday....

Yes, look up the Olympic 1936 right handed pistol champion who returned in 1948 and won bronze shooting left handed.

-Y

[Lt. Dan]

Welcome back to shooting!
Shooting left handed must be a real challenge.  Maybe everybody should try it, just to see how difficult it really is?

-Y

If it was so difficult why do left handed folks have no trouble doing it?  I don't understand why more people don't practice from both sides of the gun.  It may be useful someday....

I tried shooting my Airtact left handed with open sights. I was surprised, out of three pellets fired, two pellets went in the same hole.   

Only thing is they were no where close to where I was aiming.

[Lt. Dan]

Thanks Kirk, the girlfriend is a definite keeper and for more reasons than just she encourages my addiction.

Bill, Yogi and Dan...left is a definite challenge after 56 years doing everything right handed. Brain still wants to do everything that way. I have some flexibility but if it tells you anything, reaching to the pellet tin on the table while it should be simple, routine thing isn't. Done it 1000's of times...cock the rifle, hold the barrel in my left while I grab a pellet and load with the right, pull the barrel closed. Everything is now backwards and I have to focus a lot to keep the right arm out of it or pay for it...lol. I've always said I liked the challenge of springers, now it's just a bigger challenge

What about your left eye? The vision in my left eye is completely different than my right eye. Shooting left handed I would have to change the focus on the ocular lens.

[SteveP-52]

No difference from right eye to left that I can tell anyway. Never had to change the ocular focus from where it was setup when I had that Airmax mounted on the Tomahawk, it just got switched over to the R7 and tightened down. Completely off and had to be dialed in for the R7 but I expected that...lol.

[mac]

Congrats on being able to shoot and on the new R7, it is beautiful ! I’m afraid I will be in for the same surgery in the near future. My right shoulder was injured years ago and is now getting limited on what it will do without too much pain so something is not right.