Hey all, as the subject states, I’m right-handed and heavy left-eye dominant. I’ve always shot right-handed, but as I aged into my 40’s, my right-eye vision continued to deteriorate switching my dominance. That being side, I’m looking to purchase my first bolt action rifle (probably 6.5prc) and dive into some new western hunting opportunities that have come my way, but could use some advice.
I really don’t like the idea of buying a left-handed rifle due to poor purchase selections, poor aftermarket support, my son is right-handed, etc. etc.
Being I have close to zero bolt action habits, would you purchase a right-handed rifle(sooo many more options) and just learn to shoot it left-handed or go full left and deal with the limited options and tell my son to go buy his own rifle? lol
Yes, I prefer both open…My left eye is so good/dominate that brain almost shuts off my right eye. If I shoulder a rifle on my right with both eyes open I have a hard time even seeing the recital, and if I do it is faint and blurry. Mounting rifles to the left eye is the only way for me.
First question is what shoulder with touch the stock. Some left eye dominant shooters have no trouble shooting righty and just closing the left eye. That honestly works just fine for the most part, but if you get really serious about it and shoot for a couple hours, it can get really fatiguing to close one eye the whole time. Some people wear a pirate patch.
Also. Some people just can’t get over the awkwardness of shooting with their left hand if they are right handed even if their left eye is dominant.
But the “correct” answer is to shoot with left shoulder on the gun if you’re left eye dominant. But do what’s working best for you.
Okay, now we decided the first question of what shoulder touches the rifle.
Next, do we go with a right or left handed RIFLE.
Again, the “correct” answer is that if you shoot lefty, you need a lefty rifle. It’s not just for ease of cycling the action. A rifle action is designed to blow up out the loading port. If excessive pressure were to build due to faulty ammo or a barrel obstruction, the metal breaks on the side where the ammo goes in. That’s safer because the shooter’s head is on the other side.
Having said that, my oldest son is left eye dominant and I just have him shoot right handed rifles. He has no trouble cycling the action as he has just gotten used to it, and he prefers it because he doesn’t have to buy specialty rifles.
Yeah, closing my left eye leaves me with a blurry reticle. Left-shouldering is the only way for me. I appreciate your insights and I too don’t want to be limited to the sparse selection of left-handed rifles. I think I’m going to go with a rightie and shoulder on the left.
That being said…what would your son say to the below?
Should I avoid right-side bolt safeties (ie tikka) and look for ambi center stock safety?
Should I avoid precision-style stocks (palm well on the right) and stick with a more traditional hunting stock?
or… eh, none of that matters, get what you want.
…and Yes, I should and will go to the LGS and feel for myself, but real life hunting experience I do not have.
I am right handed left eye dominant from the get go.
I find shooting left hand bolt actions to be actually easier at this point.
My recommendation is a very smooth very forgiving left hand bolt gun an older ruger m77 mkII , would be great but your cartridge requirement is probably best served by sako or tikka.
Savage makes the most left hand models and i have the 6.5 prc in the ultra light with the proof carbon barrel. But for you i would go tikka it’s going to feed alot better.
Eye dominance is a critical issue when using shotguns for wing shooting as the dominant eye is effectively the back sight. Because it is necessary to keep both eyes open to judge distance, and target speed, wing shooters have to ensure that their dominant eye is aligned over the barrel. Serious hunters and competitors will go to considerable effort and expense to build or modify a shotgun stock so that the shooter’s dominant eye is located at the correct (for the particular gun) height over the rib. My Father was right handed/left eye dominant and he used a shotgun with a cross-over stock that he used right handed but that aligned his left eye over the rib… I couldn’t hit anything with it which suited him as it prevented me from ‘borrowing’ it!
Eye dominance is less of an issue for rifle shooters as they rarely need to make distance/speed calls in the moment and they can usually ‘close’ the dominant eye and allow the non-dominant eye to go to work (half-closing the eyelid is usually sufficient to ‘close’ the dominant eye.
It is widely accepted (I will bow to Jim H if he disagrees) that fine trigger control is the most important factor in achieving accurate shooting and that is probably best achieved with the dominant hand. Similarly in the field ease of handling (feeding ammunition into magazines and bolt manipulation are important and again probably best achieved with the dominant hand.
Selecting a left-handed rifle to cater for left-eye dominance isn’t wrong, but most right handed left-eye dominant shooters are probably best off selecting a right handed rifle and learning to shut down the dominant eye when triggering the shot.
On a final note - eye dominance is not usually determined by any deficiency in the eyes themselves… it is quite possible to have defective vision in one eye, but for that eye to remain the dominant eye. If a shooter is experiencing more difficulty using a telescope sight with one eye than the other that is likely a deficiency rather than an eye dominance issue. I am right handed and right eye dominant but astigmatism in my right caused me problems until I elected to undergo surgery to correct the issue. Any shooter experiencing severe eye dominance or eye deficiencies should seek professional advice from an ophthalmologist before making significant choices about equipment or methods of use.
I myself have the same conundrum. For many years I shot right handed rifles on the left side. Can it be done? Yes.
Is it easy to cycle the bolt without losing your sight picture? Not so much
A few years ago I was going on a bear hunt and decided I probably needed to be able to cycle the bolt better/quicker so I bought a left handed bolt gun. It was a game changer. Way more comfortable, way easier to cycle and maintain the sight picture
So now, I will only buy lefty actions in a rifle. It’s going to eliminate some gunmakers, but there are still good options. Tikka, Ruger, Savage, and many others have good offerings. Which is fine, give me a Tikka action and I’m happy!