# Right or Left arm ?



## Megadippen

Hello, iam new to slingshots and my question is what hand should i hold the slingshot with and what should i draw with ?
I have watch some videos of shooting and every good shooter i have found so far seems to be holding the slingshot in right hand and draw with the left,why ? 
Iam an archer so for me it feels more normal to draw with my mainhand ( the right ) but if it is better to draw with left hand i will ofc practise that.

/Thanks


----------



## NaturalFork

Shoot a slingshot the same you would with a bow. If you shoot bow right handed you would hold the slingshot in your left and draw with your right. That is how I shoot.


----------



## smitty

You should draw a slingshot just like you draw your bow. Your pouch is on the same side as your dominate eye. Just like a smooth release is important with a bow, so is the release of the pouch. Keep a straight thumb on the pouch, straight slingshot arm, consistent anchor point, controlled breathing and just relax the pouch hand to get a smooth release. Don't try to shoot with ultra strong bands just for targets. Any slingshot frame that is comfortable for you to hold at full draw will work. Most people hold the frame by pulling with the index finger and pushing with the thumb while holding the handle lightly with the other three fingers. The thumb is on the lower fork on the side of the shooter and the index finger curls around the top fork. Just like a bow, let the slingshot do what it wants to do at the moment of release and think through the shot by keeping the frame in the release position until the shot hits the target.


----------



## Megadippen

Thanks alot guys for the good answers


----------



## kobe23

NaturalFork said:


> Shoot a slingshot the same you would with a bow. If you shoot bow right handed you would hold the slingshot in your left and draw with your right. That is how I shoot.


I have a Right dominant arm, but I hold the fork with the right and pouch on the left, left eye to aim. Is that considered left-handed slingshot shooting? I was never clear about this righty-lefty shooting


----------



## Guest

Excellent post smitty! Very well said


----------



## Classic Slingshot

VERY good post


----------



## Bill Hays

The best way for me is to draw with my dominant eye side. Lining up the bands under the eye so they appear as one.

A simple "how to" video





A little different perspective, pay attention to the line up and release.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cIBvHAiZgc


----------



## Megadippen

You are making me take back the thing i said about every good shooter i have seen draw with the left hand, Bill Hays !


----------



## Chrissz

Hey there!

Quite interesting to me, as i´m also again a "newbie" with slingshots....



NaturalFork said:


> Shoot a slingshot the same you would with a bow. If you shoot bow right handed you would hold the slingshot in your left and draw with your right. That is how I shoot.


I shoot a bow holding the bow in the left hand, pulling with the right... i always would do.
I write with my right hand, do all the rest also with right hand... would call myself a right handed person 
So when i just stepped into slingshots again, i saw some videos of Jörg and i thought: "Wow, nice... wanna do some... let´s start."

I saw him holding the catapult in his left hand, so my 1st natural was designed for my lefthand... then i got theraband and meanwhile i designed another fork wich was more like a mixture for hammergrip and this forkholding style and it is just round, so it can be used left or righthand. Then i found out that i like it instinctively much more to hold the Slingshot with my right hand... was instantly able to do butterfly... which was much more uncomfortablle with my left hand...

Dunno, maybe im strange (haha bet i am), or it is just a matter of testing it ???
Maybe i just learned bad manners when i was young, because when i took into my right hand it was like something i was used to...

I dont know and really thinking and still testing... but my stomach says... it should be the right hand holding, left hand pulling.. so mirrored bow shooting..

Excuse my bad english, as im not a native speaker,

regards,

Chris


----------



## Elastic Innovations

I have always shot, holding the pouch with my left hand. However, my right elbow started to hurt a while back (due to sports), so I had to learn how to switch hands. Now it feels strange to shoot the other way. This reminds me of a story that my dad told me a while back, about when he first learned to play the guitar (late 1950s).To this day, he has always been left handed, but at the time, you couldn't just walk into a store and purchase a left handed guitar. He also didn't know that you could reverse the strings (like Jimi Hendrix did)... so his brothers advised him to learn right handed. It ended up taking him a while (probably longer than it should have) but he learned all the same. So, in conclusion it is possible to shoot a slingshot with your less dominant hand. However, there is no need to unless you have an injury.

ciao


----------



## flippinout

I have been a competitive traditional archer for years. I hold my bow in my left hand, i am right eye dominant, and i shoot instinctive- very well. However, I prefer to hold my slingshot in my right hand and draw with the left. I shoot instinctive with slingshots too and can also shoot pretty well holding the frame in my left hand. Depending on your aiming/sighting method, i believe handedness is purely preferential per shooter. My two pennies! It is hard to argue with the physics of eye dominance and relationship to the bands though!!


----------



## Gwilym

How important is this dominant eye thing do you guys reckon. When i was a kid i held the catty in my right hand then when i got back into it i saw right handed shooters held with their left so I learned to shoot with my left. But now I just checked and have found I am left eye dominant. Is it worth the effort of switching. What do you guys reckon


----------



## flippinout

Gwilym said:


> How important is this dominant eye thing do you guys reckon. When i was a kid i held the catty in my right hand then when i got back into it i saw right handed shooters held with their left so I learned to shoot with my left. But now I just checked and have found I am left eye dominant. Is it worth the effort of switching. What do you guys reckon


I think it helps a great deal if you are an "aimer". However, if you shoot instinctive, it matters not IMO.


----------



## Gwilym

flippinout said:


> How important is this dominant eye thing do you guys reckon. When i was a kid i held the catty in my right hand then when i got back into it i saw right handed shooters held with their left so I learned to shoot with my left. But now I just checked and have found I am left eye dominant. Is it worth the effort of switching. What do you guys reckon


I think it helps a great deal if you are an "aimer". However, if you shoot instinctive, it matters not IMO.
[/quote]

Thanks flippin. I used to aim but now I just prefer instinctive and am pretty good with it now so I will stick with it I think.


----------



## kobe23

Gwilym said:


> How important is this dominant eye thing do you guys reckon. When i was a kid i held the catty in my right hand then when i got back into it i saw right handed shooters held with their left so I learned to shoot with my left. But now I just checked and have found I am left eye dominant. Is it worth the effort of switching. What do you guys reckon


Could you just close the left eye when shooting? I don't know if this works because I am left eye dominant and I shoot holding the fork on the right from the start...


----------



## pelleteer

kobe23 said:


> Could you just close the left eye when shooting?


Most sight shooters (like me) find they need to keep both eyes open, as it allows you to see the target "through" the fork of your catty. In other words, if you close one eye, the fork (or, more accurately, the upper prong) will block your view of the target, but with both eyes open you can still see it.

To answer the OP's question: I generally say hold the fork in whichever hand feels natural to you. But realize that if you feel more comfy with the fork in your left hand, for example, but are right eye dominant, you'll be shooting "against" your dominant eye, which means you may find it'll take a lot more practice to shoot well than in would otherwise.


----------

