Left Eye Dominant

Agree with this, most of my hearing loss in my right ear is from shooting right handed guns from the left.

I wouldn’t blame that on shooting right handed rifles. I have hearing damage in my left ear from shooting right handed rifle from the right side. That’s the way it works according to the audiologist.
 
CAN be used, sure. But most are not ideal. Especially if something goes wrong like an OOB discharge or a ruptured case, as the features that mitigate hot gasses blowing in your face are either not there or are less pronounced on the right side of the gun (eg my shotguns have the ejection port on the right, so there is no solid wall of the receiver between my face and hot gasses if something goes wrong).

Safeties can also be backwards or on the wrong side of the gun, which is not ideal especially for young people just starting out.

Ahhh yes, the mythical OOB explosion that pretty much never happens because most guns are designed not to be able to fire out of battery. I've had a ruptured case shooting an AR left handed. I've also seen a ruptured case in a bolt gun fired by a right hander. In my sample of two, the righty shooting right handed was injured more than a lefty shooting a right handed semi-auto left handed.

We can talk till we are all blue in the face but the facts and statistics don't support any suggestion that right handed firearms are less safe when operated by left handers.



Agree with this, most of my hearing loss in my right ear is from shooting right handed guns from the left.

Please explain how the handedness of a firearm affects hearing loss? And how the exact opposite effect would not be seen by a right handed person shooting right handed firearms?
 
I wouldn’t blame that on shooting right handed rifles. I have hearing damage in my left ear from shooting right handed rifle from the right side. That’s the way it works according to the audiologist.

Exactly. Right handers tilt their head so the left ear is pointed towards the muzzle and the right ear is shadowed by the head. Lefties do the exact opposite. The handedness of the rifle / shotgun is completely irrelevant.
 
I am left eye dominant and I am right-handed. I chose to shoot right-handed, because I am most comfortable shooting right handed. Get your daughter to try both and ask which feels more comfortable. You can train the brain. I have no problems. I have done very well at long range bench shooting competitions, coming home with $ and prizes. It may require a little more trigger time and patience to train the brain but it can be done. Welcome to your daughter and the shooting sports!
 
" . . . Ahhh yes, the mythical OOB explosion that pretty much never happens because most guns are designed not to be able to fire out of battery. . . . "
Marlin-60 a couple years ago . . . Luckily right-handed, but Left-eye dom nonetheless . . .View attachment 631282
 
Ahhh yes, the mythical OOB explosion that pretty much never happens because most guns are designed not to be able to fire out of battery. I've had a ruptured case shooting an AR left handed. I've also seen a ruptured case in a bolt gun fired by a right hander. In my sample of two, the righty shooting right handed was injured more than a lefty shooting a right handed semi-auto left handed.

We can talk till we are all blue in the face but the facts and statistics don't support any suggestion that right handed firearms are less safe when operated by left handers.

Really? You've got stats to support the claim that the stats don't back it up? One anecdote is not statistics.

I suspect there are no stats on this. Statistics on OOBs would be hard to find, then you'd have to filter that for how many people were using guns wrong handed (highly doubt that would even be recorded for most oob), and then contrast injury rates with those who were using guns from the correct side...

And of course guns are DESIGNED so they can't fire OOB, but that's why they're called failures. #### happens. That's why guns are also generally designed with measures to keep the shooter safe even in the event of a failure - measures that can be less effective if you are using the gun wrong handed.

I bet most people here have experienced or knows someone who has experienced a failure of some kind, whether OOB, a ruptured case, handload gone wrong, real old surplus ammo that is acting funny... is it a likely scenario? Nope. Is it enough of a concern to stop me from using right handed guns from my left side? Also no. But the danger is there, regardless of how minute that danger might appear.
 
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Really? You've got stats to support the claim that the stats don't back it up? One anecdote is not statistics.

Ya, I know, that's why I specified my sample size was TWO.


I suspect there are no stats on this. Statistics on OOBs would be hard to find, then you'd have to filter that for how many people were using guns wrong handed (highly doubt that would even be recorded for most oob), and then contrast injury rates with those who were using guns from the correct side...

IF OOB were as common as most people seem to think there would be loads of evidence out there on the internets. The problem is most people haven't got a fricken clue how firearms actually work and how failures occur and what the consequences of an OOB are for a centre fire rifle cartridge. OOB is some fancy concept that ignorant people apply to anything involving the high pressure release of gas from the back end of the chamber.


And of course guns are DESIGNED so they can't fire OOB, but that's why they're called failures. #### happens. That's why guns are also generally designed with measures to keep the shooter safe even in the event of a failure - measures that can be less effective if you are using the gun wrong handed.

Agree with the first part. That was a point I was trying to make. Kinda disagree with the second part and my anecdotal story shows that a right hander using a right handed rifle can still be injured if a case ruptures. I have personally been through a case rupture shooting left handed with a right handed semi-auto with nary a scratch, which is also anecdotal evidence that shooting off side doesn't mean an injury will occur. Yes I understand how statistics works and anecdotal evidence but the majority of what we see on the internets is "everyone knows" passed around and around in circles without anyone ever actually knowing.


I bet most people here have experienced or knows someone who has experienced a failure of some kind, whether OOB, a ruptured case, handload gone wrong, real old surplus ammo that is acting funny... is it a likely scenario? Nope. Is it enough of a concern to stop me from using right handed guns from my left side? Also no. But the danger is there, regardless of how minute that danger might appear.

True OOB are EXCEPTIONALLY rare. To be correct, I never said they don't happen.

IF you are gonna go down the precautionary principle rabbit hole then lets remember the single most dangerous thing you do in any given day is to drive your car. You are many million times more likely to end up seriously injured or dead from a car accident than from a rifle cartridge failure while shooting from the wrong shoulder. Yet you get in a car without consideration of the dangers while at the same time you argue against lefties using right handed rifles. This makes no sense from a pure risk evaluation.
 
" . . . Ahhh yes, the mythical OOB explosion that pretty much never happens because most guns are designed not to be able to fire out of battery. . . . "

Yes and one example of such, doesn't counteract my statement. They certainly CAN happen but are still extremely rare.

PS I'm glad you were not injured. Having any firearm failure right in front of your face is a jarring and frightening experience.
 
Wear safety glasses not sunglasses. Make sure they are ANSI certified. I wont even buy ANY sunglasses unless they are ANSI. I visit too many construction sites to have some stylish sunglasses that I cant wear on the job. Why are the $300 oakleys NOT ANSI certified? If they are in fact worth that much money for 10 cents worth of plastic?

back to the OP.....just shoot left....and right handed....why not develop both? motorskills can become 'normal' after repeating the motion/exercise for a couple weeks. Heck, after laser eye surgery with one eye for close and one eye for far, the brain adjusts within two weeks post-op. Shoot left, both eyes open, shoot right, close left eye....especially being a youth, the brain develops so fast, probably become proficient in the first two range visits of focused practice...
 
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My boy was giving me fits at the range with his savage rascal. I couldn't figure out what the heck he was doing. As I watched, he kept craning his head over, setting his left eye in the peep. He is right handed with everything, including his longbow, I had no idea he was left eye dominant. Next time we went to the range, I threw one of his sisters eye patches on his shooting glasses and it worked like a charm. I want to find a small fixed 4 power to mount on it for him for grouse next year.

His sister just shoots the rifle left handed, I know for a fact she is left eye dominant, no point fighting it, though she shoots her brothers hand me down longbow just fine right handed.

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Ahhh yes, the mythical OOB explosion that pretty much never happens because most guns are designed not to be able to fire out of battery. I've had a ruptured case shooting an AR left handed. I've also seen a ruptured case in a bolt gun fired by a right hander. In my sample of two, the righty shooting right handed was injured more than a lefty shooting a right handed semi-auto left handed.

We can talk till we are all blue in the face but the facts and statistics don't support any suggestion that right handed firearms are less safe when operated by left handers.

I can tell you from personal experience the out of battery firings aren't mythical and really suck when you're on the receiving end of one. #### happens, even when they aren't supposed to.
 
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My boy was giving me fits at the range with his savage rascal. I couldn't figure out what the heck he was doing. As I watched, he kept craning his head over, setting his left eye in the peep. He is right handed with everything, including his longbow, I had no idea he was left eye dominant. Next time we went to the range, I threw one of his sisters eye patches on his shooting glasses and it worked like a charm. I want to find a small fixed 4 power to mount on it for him for grouse next year.

His sister just shoots the rifle left handed, I know for a fact she is left eye dominant, no point fighting it, though she shoots her brothers hand me down longbow just fine right handed.

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I'd be looking to confirm that your boy is left eye dominant (certainly seems to be that way) and then if he is just run with it. Rascals are available in lefty. I think I'll be putting one under the tree for my daughter this year...
 
Exactly. Right handers tilt their head so the left ear is pointed towards the muzzle and the right ear is shadowed by the head. Lefties do the exact opposite. The handedness of the rifle / shotgun is completely irrelevant.

When I use my semi auto shotgun, I always got really bad ringing in my right ear vs my left. I figured as it ejected towards my right side, this was the cause, as well as my left ear pointing more away from the muzzle.
 
I'm also left eye dominant and have hold my rifles on the left shoulder because of this. Always used RH rifles. Just need to be mindful about the ejections and taking a bolt to the face.
 
I'm also left eye dominant and have hold my rifles on the left shoulder because of this. Always used RH rifles. Just need to be mindful about the ejections and taking a bolt to the face.

In 35 years shooting right handed rifles from my left shoulder, I have never been hit by an ejected case nor taken a bolt to the face.
 
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