Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Left eye dominant shooter help

https://d3axvdqkyu09xk.cloudfront.net/attachments/mussle-loader-for-left-eye-dominant-2-jpg.10909/

This was done by a friend.

My two kids are right handed but left eyed dominant. They learned to shoot left. I bought my son a Tikka T3-Light in .243 and the damn thing shoots 1/2 MOA. He also uses a right handed Ruger American in 450 Bushmaster for moose (got his first one this year) and it is almost as easy to operate a short through bolt wrong handed.

I'll do you one better. This is me at the last match I shot. If you look close you can see that the action is a RH Rem 700. And before you ask, the match results indicate that it wasn't much of a hindrance. In fact, it hasn't hindered me all these years, and around these parts finding, selling, and buying LH rifles is a lot more challenging than RH rifles. My RH Barrett FC and Kimber Montanas illustrate that fact. I would venture to say that being LH and shooting a RH rifle is an advantage in some situations over a RH shooter. I can work the bolt from a supported position without breaking my grip with my strong/trigger hand.

Now I'm not saying that being LH and shooting a RH rifle is ideal, but nothing is ideal about being a lefty in a RH rifle world. I will say, however, that shooting a RH rifle is not nearly as big of a problem as a lot of guys make it out to be.

A right hand bolt gun is fine off a rest, but is awkward as he!! from a field position. I started varminting with a right hand bolt and did fine from the bench or off a bipod. Then I went for a left hand bolt and soon was selling all my right hand rifles. I still know a lot of deer hunters who shoot right hand bolt guns from the left shoulder, but follow up hots are slow.

Happy Birthday!

This has not been my experience, compared to many RH guys that I hunt with, as well as LH guys that shoot LH rifles. When unsupported, you've either gotta break cheek weld if shooting LH, or break your strong-hand grip if shooting RH, either one slows you down compared to a semi or double rifle. The positional postal match posted by Carl Ross a while back is a good way to see how you measure up, WRT follow up shot speed and placement, using whatever rifle setup you choose.

Get a Lever action. Ambidextrous they be.

If yer kid don't like it, I might make you an offer.

Strange, I've never found such a setup when pursuing deer or elk on a mountain somewhere. If I had a group of sherpas to pack that, and then taught them to set it up in NASCAR pit-crew fashion....or I could get a LH bolt gun. Try shooting off sticks at 450 and needing a follow-up shot, then come talk to me about how "RH bolt guns are no hindrance."

I've been hunting and guiding the mountains and hills for many years, and have prevented more than a few critters from escaping, wounded, after a non-disabling shot. This isn't my first rodeo with a RH rifle...

If you looked at Carl's postal drill, you'd see that shooting from a sitting position off of sticks is literally part of the drill, under time pressure.

Left handed. With sights you can adapt somewhat but I can guarantee trying to shoot a shotgun right handed will be a complete disaster.

Very well said above by HuntnShoot so here it is again.


"Don't short-change your own child. Get them the firearms that match them, instead of forcing them to conform to the firearms. And there is the safety issue as well: a RH rifle fired in a LH configuration opens up the shooter to gas and metal, should the case let go. Are your kids worth the hassle of chasing down a LH rifle? The answer is pretty simple, huh? Particularly given that there are far more LH bolt guns now than there have ever been before. I always resented that my parents were too lazy or cheap or whatever to find the correct guns for me."

Buy him an AR. Perfect rifle and round for a young man starting out.

Ruger is practically giving away the 556s.

I was not aware that Ruger was making LH 556's. I would assert that under no condition except self-defense should you pass a RH AR to a LH shooter. I've witnessed a couple guns fire where either the case let go or the gun fired while not completely in battery (or maybe it was both), but the result was crap leaving the gun at high-speed through the ejection port. If that happens with a lefty firing, there is a high likelihood of injury to the right side of the body/face.

Really, folks. I've lived with this for many decades now. It is a function issue, it is a safety issue. Do you want function and safety issues to be a part of your shooting experience? Tell you what, right-handers: go pick up a LH gun and fire it for a while. Take it to the range and run it. Take it hunting and see what problems arise. Yes, most of those problems can be worked through, but in some circumstances, they can't. And the safety issue is ALWAYS there.

I'm not going to argue with you about this, Jordan. If you find no real hindrance from RH guns, and have no safety concerns, good for you. If you are going to advocate that LH shooters have no issues to contend with, or that there are no safety concerns, I am going to call BS. And I am going to then wonder why you would not assert that RH folks should also get LH guns for all their shooting.

Quite the opposite, actually. I'll repeat myself:

"Now I'm not saying that being LH and shooting a RH rifle is ideal, but nothing is ideal about being a lefty in a RH rifle world. I will say, however, that shooting a RH rifle is not nearly as big of a problem as a lot of guys make it out to be."

Not looking to argue anything, just stating my experiences. Regarding the safety issue- yes there's always the possibility that a guy can get hurt when generating 60k psi right beside his face, but in many years, and many, many thousands of rounds fired, I've never experienced anything that endangered my well-being because I was shooting left-handed. I also take a pretty big risk getting in my car to commute every day. A statistically much bigger risk, actually. These are risks we live with, and each of us needs to decide what kind of risks we are willing to take, and act accordingly.

Not sure I can agree with that- spent a long time in the Army and they don't issue "left-hand" M16s.

One of my sons is left handed and he shoots an AR just fine.

Thank you all for your help. I took my boy to Scheels here in Minot and we started the process. Not sure when or what we will get but we have started looking for a left handed rifle for him. My budget is very tight (medical bills for my problem child) so we will have to be creative. I am going to see if trading in one of my .22 rifles, sale prices, and rebates will get the price down where we can afford it for Christmas. Savage axis xp in 308 is a front runner right now because of price/value. May save up and go for the Ruger. Once again, thanks for the practical advice, it was all I have come to expect from you guys. Worst comes to worst I will let him shoot my .270 in practice until we find the right deal, thanks to the Campfire I have some good .270 recipes for light/medium loads that will let him practice cheaply.

Not rifle related, but I teach a lot of new young shooters at my club the shotgun clay targets. If the parent or the shooter are adamant about their right handedness I will tape the left eye on the shooting glasses just over the retina with the gun mounted. Some require a bigger spot of the opaque scotch tape.
BUT. This is not ideal. If the left eye is dominant and the shooter can learn to shoot left handed, the long term outcome is usually better. It can be a slow start and frustration needs to be mitigated by using easier target presentations to develop both the sight pictures, and overcome the awkward new idea of using the left hand side.
Most who go left with a left eye that is dominant are happy in the long run that they did.
Caution, more commonly in ladies and with some men eye dominance can change. Checking on a somewhat regular basis is a good idea.
The best test I have used is the pointing method vs. the two hand look through. Have the shooter point their fully extended finger at your nose when they are standing 5 to 6 feet away from you. Both eyes open and squarely at you. Look directly at them and see which of their eyes the pointer finger aligns with. Unlike the two hand test where the individual brings their hands closer to their eye, this pointer method will show central dominance as well as a strong eye left or right.
Have fun and enjoy the ride.

I am right handed. Shot everything right handed until about 40 years ago when I got tired of my poor marksmanship. You see my right eye is only correctable to 20/40. I decided to switch sides but have never switched guns. Like Jordan I don't really see it as a disadvantage. I even shot my first High Power matches with a M70 (No stripper clip) and could still get 10 well aimed shots in 60 seconds with a reload. I have never found left handed shooting with a RH bolt gun to be a problem.
Let your son shoot lefty but let him try bolt guns of each persuasion and decide for himself. As a side note I am ambidextrous with a shotgun.

Congratulations to the OP for getting the ball rolling and checking into a LH rifle for his son. I am a righty but have monocular vision (left eye only) so I fire all long guns from the left side. I prefer to shoot LH actioned guns but I can shoot a RH action without any problem. I agree with Jordan that at times LH guns can be a little troublesome to come by and a fellow can learn to handle a right hand gun from the left side if needed.

However I would encourage the OP to continue with his search for a lefty for his son.


Randy

I agree with this 100%. I used RH rifles for about 20 years, but since buying my first LH, I'd never go back to one. For something like a prairie dog gun a righty would be good for me, probably also for some sort of precision rifle, but for a normal hunting gun, nope. I tried every way I could think of but working that RH bolt with the rifle to my shoulder was just ridiculously awkward.