Lefties

lordarpad

Hi guys

I have noticed that a lot of guns are not available for us lefties and I thought I'd do a poll of numbers. I am mostly interested whether there are actually so few people who are left eye dominant, or whether southpaws are just considered weird.

For the record: I am left eye dominant and right handed and right footed.

I have a feeling that the spread of eye dominance is a lot more even than the one of hand dominance. I remember one day in my old archery club we had 9 archers on the line, 8 of which were lefties.

Sparks

Right-handed, cross-dominant, shooting with the dominant eye for pistol and the recessive (?) eye for rifle.

Rovi

Sparks wrote: »

Right-handed, cross-dominant, shooting with the dominant eye for pistol and the recessive (?) eye for rifle.

'Submissive'?

Or is that something else I'm thinking of?

Sparks

Yeah, I'm going with recessive.

Rovi

I think the correct term in this particular instance is 'non-dominant'.

It wasn't me!

Right-handed, left-eye dominant. Getting guns is a hassle, but not that bad. Tikka, Sako, Remington, Savage, Anschutz, Ruger and plenty of others make a decent selection of left-handed rifles. Slightly limiting, but not too bad. The biggest hassle is reselling and such really.

Hibrion

I'm right handed but left eye dominant too. I use a left handed bow for archery. The riser set me back a serious price as there was problems in acquiring a cheaper model of the brand I wanted.

As regards shooting I use a semi auto shotgun and ruger 10 22 which are both right handed but cause me no hardship what so ever.

At the moment however, my 223 is right handed which is a considerable pain in the a*s! I'm looking at getting a 308 in the near future and trading the 223 in and I will definitely be getting a left handed rifle. Would love a steyr scout but alas they don't do left handed and its not likely that they'll start any time soon. I'll probably end up going for a tikka T3, which model I'm not sure yet.

J.R.

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Getting guns is a hassle, but not that bad. Tikka, Sako, Remington, Savage, Anschutz, Ruger and plenty of others make a decent selection of left-handed rifles. Slightly limiting, but not too bad. The biggest hassle is reselling and such really.

Besides limited choice & resale value it's also annoyed that they charge more for the same model in a left handed version.

jwshooter

right handed left eye domance ,is a problem a lot of lady shooters suffer from .

pullandbang

jwshooter wrote: »

right handed left eye domance ,is a problem a lot of lady shooters suffer from .

Thanks a lot!

I'm right handed, left eye dominant.
My trap gun has an adjustable comb that I have set for my left side but I could do with getting one on my game gun too.

Had a chap for coaching recently who was left eyed but because of an elbow injury, couldn't put the gun to his left shoulder. Had to put it on his right shoulder with the comb pushed way over as far as it would go, and as low as it would go just to get him half lined up. Geat fun!

The Easy Hit beads can be a great help for shotgun shooters with eye dominance problems. Alternatively a small semi opaque patch on the glasses to cover the offending eye can be useful.

IRLConor

I'm right-handed, cross-dominant. I shoot right handed for everything, I either use a blind (in competition) or just close my left eye (when I don't have my blind with me).

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

See that film where the sniper is right eye dominant and left hand dominant? Crossing his arm over to the bolt on the right hand side to reload? Was it in saving private ryan? Classic...

It wasn't me!

I've done that while shooting sporting rifles before. Complete pain in the arse though. It's rather annoying that a lefty rifle will have precious little resale value, but it's worth it for the convenience and ergonomics.

Rovi

Tiana Poor Haircut wrote: »

See that film where the sniper is right eye dominant and left hand dominant? Crossing his arm over to the bolt on the right hand side to reload? Was it in saving private ryan? Classic...

Private Jackson in Saving Private Ryan was left hand and left eye dominant, but most certainly operated the rifle bolt as you describe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MnCqWdgeqc

It wasn't me!

I have a serious hankering for a 1903 Springfield, and would most certainly treat it the same.

ayapatrick

pullandbang wrote: »

Thanks a lot!

I'm right handed, left eye dominant.
My trap gun has an adjustable comb that I have set for my left side but I could do with getting one on my game gun too.

Had a chap for coaching recently who was left eyed but because of an elbow injury, couldn't put the gun to his left shoulder. Had to put it on his right shoulder with the comb pushed way over as far as it would go, and as low as it would go just to get him half lined up. Geat fun!

The Easy Hit beads can be a great help for shotgun shooters with eye dominance problems. Alternatively a small semi opaque patch on the glasses to cover the offending eye can be useful.

Do you shoot of the left shoulder pullandbang or is the stock adjusted so you shoot of the right shoulder but look down the barrel with the left eye??
im left eye dominant, but right handed. i have always shot of the left shoulder!

i have seen people left eyed but shooting of the right shoulder which i thought was a total cod?! once was where i was getting a bit of coaching and there was another guy there before me and the coach just kept trying to get him to hit of the undominant shoulder. would it make since to switch to the other side?


surely you should shoot from whatever shoulder matches your dominant eye?

pullandbang

ayapatrick wrote: »

Do you shoot of the left shoulder pullandbang or is the stock adjusted so you shoot of the right shoulder but look down the barrel with the left eye??
im left eye dominant, but right handed. i have always shot of the left shoulder!

No, I shoot off the left shoulder. I couldn't imagine even trying to shoot off my right one.
The one minor problem I have is the gun has a right handed stock, but the adjustable comb allows me get my eye lined up. But, because it's a right handed stock, the cast at the toe is just not quite right and I sometimes struggle with gun mount.
If I get a few bob spare together, I'll head for Italy and get a stock custom made.

ayapatrick wrote: »

i have seen people left eyed but shooting of the right shoulder which i thought was a total cod?! once was where i was getting a bit of coaching and there was another guy there before me and the coach just kept trying to get him to hit of the undominant shoulder. would it make since to switch to the other side? surely you should shoot from whatever shoulder matches your dominant eye?

That's just plain silly on the part of the coach. The eye is more important than the shoulder so of course it makes sense to put the gun under the dominant eye, which ever shoulder that happens to be over. It may feel uncomfortable in the beginning, but you'd get used to it soon enough.

jwshooter

could you put it down to in breeding

deliverance and banjo s come to mind

dave999

pullandbang wrote: »

That's just plain silly on the part of the coach. The eye is more important than the shoulder so of course it makes sense to put the gun under the dominant eye, which ever shoulder that happens to be over. It may feel uncomfortable in the beginning, but you'd get used to it soon enough.

Alright coach, how do you get around the fact that ONLY Left hand gloves are supplied for Falconers (can you tell that I'm trying to get falconry on the hunting forum agenda!), yes its true, history dictates that all birds fly from Left (gloved) hand --- please do not ask why!

I have had several Lefties in for training and they simply cannot get Right hand fitting falconry gloves for themselves. There is no 'dominant' eye in the accipter game. I'll shut up now as I'm being painfull!

Anyway Sporting shoot at Bishops Mountain - Monday 4th May - shameless or what!
David

flanum

right hnded, left eye dominant, doesnt bother me with shotguns, but the bolt on an air rifle or powder rifle can be a pain, its either ambi's or as ive just purchased.. a left handed s410 .22 xtra fac.

pullandbang

dave999 wrote: »

Alright coach, how do you get around the fact that ONLY Left hand gloves are supplied for Falconers (can you tell that I'm trying to get falconry on the hunting forum agenda!), yes its true, history dictates that all birds fly from Left (gloved) hand --- please do not ask why!

There's a simple answer to that. Falconry was originally a sport of the royalty and we all know royalty are left footers. Therefore, they must be left handed - hence the left handed glove.
Doh! I thought everyone knew that:rolleyes:

dave999 wrote: »

Anyway Sporting shoot at Bishops Mountain - Monday 4th May - shameless or what!
David

Shameless isn't the word for it.......anyway it's only an oul sporting shoot....glorified flapper....not proper shootin':D

By the way, meant to mention the great score young Aoife had in your place a couple of weeks ago.....great stuff!

IRLConor

ayapatrick wrote: »

surely you should shoot from whatever shoulder matches your dominant eye?

For a shotgun I believe this is true, but for a rifle it's not quite as clear cut. I've tried shooting left handed to match my dominant eye and I failed miserably. Hand dominance trumps eye dominance sometimes.

It wasn't me!

IRLConor wrote: »

For a shotgun I believe this is true, but for a rifle it's not quite as clear cut. I've tried shooting left handed to match my dominant eye and I failed miserably. Hand dominance trumps eye dominance sometimes.

And by the same token, sometimes it doesn't. I've always picked up any gun (except pistols) left-handed and can't shoot half as well right-handed.

Callow Man

Left handed and left eye dominant . Both my shotgun and rifle are left handed versions(Lamber o/u and CZ 452 american)
Its a pain in the hole having to pay 100 euro extra per gun for the privilege, not too bad with the shotgun but would be too awkward with the rifle. If right handed lads tried a left handed rifle you would see what I mean.

pullandbang

Actually I'm quite surprised by the results of this poll.
Out of 45 responses, 16 of us are "not normal":). ie. our dominant eye does not match our hand/shoulder.
That's a lot of people - over 35%.
It cartainly doesn't make our shooting any easier what with having to get adjustable stocks, make adjustments to our mount, patching up our glasses or just trying to compensate.

ayapatrick

pullandbang wrote: »

Actually I'm quite surprised by the results of this poll.
Out of 45 responses, 16 of us are "not normal":). ie. our dominant eye does not match our hand/shoulder.
That's a lot of people - over 35%.
It cartainly doesn't make our shooting any easier what with having to get adjustable stocks, make adjustments to our mount, patching up our glasses or just trying to compensate.

i was thinking the same thing - quite a lot of us,
luckily i was fortunate to find two guns that are both left handed(both second hand), so no need for adjustable stocks!

lordarpad

pullandbang wrote: »

Actually I'm quite surprised by the results of this poll.
Out of 45 responses, 16 of us are "not normal":). ie. our dominant eye does not match our hand/shoulder.
That's a lot of people - over 35%.
It cartainly doesn't make our shooting any easier what with having to get adjustable stocks, make adjustments to our mount, patching up our glasses or just trying to compensate.

Well, I am right handed and left eye dominant and shoot left. Much more easily trained IMO than the other way 'round. And I started with archery where closing one's eye isn't really an option ...