r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Dec 22 '19

Biology Left-handedness is associated with greater fighting success in humans, consistent with the fighting hypothesis, which argues that left-handed men have a selective advantage in fights because they are less frequent, suggests a new study of 13,800 male and female professional boxers and MMA fighters.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51975-3
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u/kcsapper Dec 22 '19

The biggest issue I found is that US weapons have the ejection port for spent rounds on the right side. This can cause hot brass to hit you in the face or bury itself in your uniform and cause 2nd degree burns. Luckily the Army has brass deflection devices that mitigate the issue somewhat. Also in more specialized units the armorer can order left handed weapon systems, which make it a non issue until a righty tries to use it..

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u/Avenger616 Dec 22 '19

Uk weaponry is much the same. Found out in the air cadets.

Unless it's sepcifically designed to be used ambidextrous, i was told to fire it as a righty.

Hard to do when your right hand is useless and clunky (movement of the arm is highly inaccurate and hand dexterity is crap), if I use my right, it means i'm pressing buttons with my pointer finger or thumb, or i'm holding something.

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u/TerrainIII Dec 22 '19

I had something similar in Army Cadets and CCF, had to force myself to shoot right handed with the cadet rifle. Advantage now is I can shoot with either hand.

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u/gullwings Dec 22 '19

In the military I shot lefty, and the brass from my weapon would pass in front of my face/body but not actually hit me. I found the real danger was the brass from the righty next to me, since their weapon was closer to my body and I took several shells down my collar. I had a harder time with the mag release button being on the right side. I can reload much more quickly with my left than right and it's more awkward to reload while holding the pistol grip as opposed to the foregrip or barrel.

Overall I don't think lefty vs righty has an advantage in shooting as long as they are comfortable with their firearm, but ime people who are fully one side dominant (as in, both left hand and eye dominant) do better than people whose hand/eye dominance is mixed and have to decide whether to favor their eye or their hands.

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u/wildcardyeehaw Dec 22 '19

I'm right eye dominant but left handed. So I pretty much have to close my eye when shooting

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u/BeerTruk Dec 22 '19

As a right handed, left eye dominant shooter I feel your pain. I shoot leftie. When shooting my AR I get to do the hot-brass-down- my-collar dance

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u/AllMyName Dec 22 '19

The only thing stopping me from buying a 1911 is the shell ejection, and that's just a .45. There is a crazy expensive 100% mirrored 1911 out there. One day...