Yes so that’s what it’s like for me trying to put a rifle into my right shoulder just all very odd and my head doesn’t seem to want to in the right place or line up properly, whereas lefty gun comes up and it’s like pointing at something if that makes sense…
In reality how dangerous is a right handed rifle to shoot left handed..
- Thread starter Navarone
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That’s sort of what I’m thinking..with the tolerances of modern ammo what are the actual chances these days…
Morkai
Well-Known Member
Id go with what feels best.
It'd be a bit different story firing a semi-auto with cases and powder flying into your face.
Rafter
Well-Known Member
Risk is probability x severity of consequences.
The probability is low, the severity very high.
I'm a right hander who lost my right eye and learned to shoot left handed. It wasn't hard - a couple of months and several thousand air rifle pellets got it done, but if I lose this one I'm buggered.
I don't shoot right handed bolt guns at all. I know a cartridge failure is unlikely, but given l/h guns are available, why bother with r/h?
The probability is low, the severity very high.
I'm a right hander who lost my right eye and learned to shoot left handed. It wasn't hard - a couple of months and several thousand air rifle pellets got it done, but if I lose this one I'm buggered.
I don't shoot right handed bolt guns at all. I know a cartridge failure is unlikely, but given l/h guns are available, why bother with r/h?
Very good point. Sorry to hear about your eye.
I think you are probably right, it’s really just to maximise the rifles to choose from in the S/H market but tbh that isn’t a very compelling reason vs losing an eye.
Reloading old brass fires multiple times with hot loads will definitely increase the risk. I’m sure plenty of .308 target shooters have had it happen (the ones who carry a mallet in their bag to hammer the bolt open…!). Really we should all wear safety specs when shooting, just good safe practice. I used to, may need to reevaluate come to think of it.
Sorry to here that was it due to a firearms failure?
Rafter
Well-Known Member
No. It was a piece of pipe to my head after I threw a gang member out of a pub.
Work related injury.
MrD
Active Member
I wonder if any squaddie did shoot LH'd, or did the instructor beat it out of them and force them to shoot RH'd. Didn't a similar thing happen in schools with kids who tried to write with their left hands?
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
Fixing wrong eye dominance is easy.
Dominance is a bad choice of word.
It is in most cases just the brain being lazy.
Put some safety glasses on and mount the gun or rifle in your preferred hand.
Note which part of the lense the wrong eye is trying to aim through.
Now add a pea sized piece of masking tape to that same part of the lense.
In short time your brain will switch to correct eye and eventually you can remove the tape. The brain has been corrected.
The eyes dominate nothing!
Dominance is a bad choice of word.
It is in most cases just the brain being lazy.
Put some safety glasses on and mount the gun or rifle in your preferred hand.
Note which part of the lense the wrong eye is trying to aim through.
Now add a pea sized piece of masking tape to that same part of the lense.
In short time your brain will switch to correct eye and eventually you can remove the tape. The brain has been corrected.
The eyes dominate nothing!
I shot .303 @ 14 (1975) being left handed also all the .22 target rifles were RH at the 1944 club.
Watch enough big game hunting with many a left handed shooters are using RH rifles.
Most of the estate high seats I have shot in are bias for a right handed person as most who set them up are RH
I had to order a LH skeet vest years ago,
As usual a few members are talking bollix,
Utectok
Well-Known Member
I’m the same left eye right handed and have always shot left handed. I shoot left handed rifles and shotguns. I’d say it matters if you shoot a shotgun but so long as the stock is fairly ambidextrous shooting rifles that are right handed is fine in my opinion. Actually quite nice keeping the hand on the rifle when you reload….
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
Depends on the rifle design, in particular that of the firing pin. The Mauser design has large vent holes and a firing pin with a large so any gases going past the pin get deflected into the race ways. Ditto my Heym SR 20 and indeed my Rem 700. Note also the large bolt shrouds - there again to deflect gases.
Cases don’t fail that often these days, but where a definite issue in the past, especially with cheaply made war time mil ammo. The other cause is after multiple reloads when cases have worn thin at the base of the case. All that metal you trim each time has to come from somewhere.
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shakey jake
Well-Known Member
Left handed or eyed all ways seems a bit sinister to me!!
You swerve more questions than K Starmer lol
Why are all .303s RH with a % of service men/women who used them LH
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
My girlfriend is left handed but right eyed, I taught her to shot right handed due to ease of rifles and shot guns.
If you are stuck on left hand i wouldnt try to save a few quid and adjust.
Ive seen an hmr let go and wouldnt want that across my face.
Id guess if you pick an unpopular chambering you could pick up a bargain
If you are stuck on left hand i wouldnt try to save a few quid and adjust.
Ive seen an hmr let go and wouldnt want that across my face.
Id guess if you pick an unpopular chambering you could pick up a bargain
As has been stated, I suspect all service .303s are RH because it's cheaper to do it that way.
It would be helpful to know when/if the British Army started to allow soldiers to shoot their long-arms LH; and whether it still does, given the design of the SA80?
If a rifle is designed squirt hot gas and debris away from a RH shooter's face should a case fail, then there can't be much debate about whether a LH shooter using that rifle would come off worse than the RH shooter. Whether than means it is 'more dangerous' for the LH user, or merely 'less safe', is a matter for the potential user to weight up according his own circumstances.
He might take comfort from the fact that lots of people have done it for decades without obvious injuries; or he might think that's just because they have not yet had a significant case-failure, and he might therefore prefer to use a correctly-handed action just in case.
Not the case that %90 of people a right handed by any chance lol, make the % of rifles to suit the higher % of rh people.
Since when did you become the spokes person for Heym 20 or did you volunteer (again)
my money says it comes from the matchlock flash pan design that would be facing away
This thread - right in the emotive sweet spot of the forum faithful it has already, even in its inevitable infancy, produced some cracking statements, which we (for entertainments sake) will come to.
To answer the OP: If you read between the lines, modern rifles with factory ammunition are inherently no less safe no matter which the hand - it is a matter of preference and attitude to risk. Personally, I would choose an action that suited the eye from which I was shooting, although remember it is possible to have actions configured to port the casing either way to prevent it coming across your face. You should consider the stock configuration carefully as this can impact the ability to get ones head in the correct place comfortably. This thread should if nothing else convince you that the massive won't come up with a compelling reason to change the way your mind is already settling - to your personal preference.
"It's like kicking a football with the wrong foot" - Morkai (how are you bud?) - I expect more from you..... while I understand the sentiment, football is not as far as I am aware a sided game - I'd hope most use both feet (although there are some teams who do make you wonder....)
"Why are all 303's RH" - chuff - I mean apart from the obvious churning them out by thousands for the majority to use - could you not have come up with a more current example? I mean I appreciate it's VE80 and all that..... you could have gone for the early SA80 and it's right eject making it harder to fire around RH corners in urban environments...... and continued to ignore the fact that servicemen are trained to fire from both shoulders to minimise body exposure......
"Left-handed people should shoot right-handed rifles as it makes it easier for them to cycle the bolt" - FFS really. If this is true, why is the market not flooded with LH rifles for all those RH people who practice what they preach. This is one bit of BS spouted at LH shooters when they ask whether they should compromise that should absolutely be confined to the same annals of history as those relating to no need for LH 303's....
"Left-handed or eyed all ways seems a bit sinister to me!!" - subtle... ha ha - Sinister Times – The shady world of being a left-handed shooter- Gunstar was written in a similar vein
To answer the OP: If you read between the lines, modern rifles with factory ammunition are inherently no less safe no matter which the hand - it is a matter of preference and attitude to risk. Personally, I would choose an action that suited the eye from which I was shooting, although remember it is possible to have actions configured to port the casing either way to prevent it coming across your face. You should consider the stock configuration carefully as this can impact the ability to get ones head in the correct place comfortably. This thread should if nothing else convince you that the massive won't come up with a compelling reason to change the way your mind is already settling - to your personal preference.
"It's like kicking a football with the wrong foot" - Morkai (how are you bud?) - I expect more from you..... while I understand the sentiment, football is not as far as I am aware a sided game - I'd hope most use both feet (although there are some teams who do make you wonder....)
"Why are all 303's RH" - chuff - I mean apart from the obvious churning them out by thousands for the majority to use - could you not have come up with a more current example? I mean I appreciate it's VE80 and all that..... you could have gone for the early SA80 and it's right eject making it harder to fire around RH corners in urban environments...... and continued to ignore the fact that servicemen are trained to fire from both shoulders to minimise body exposure......
"Left-handed people should shoot right-handed rifles as it makes it easier for them to cycle the bolt" - FFS really. If this is true, why is the market not flooded with LH rifles for all those RH people who practice what they preach. This is one bit of BS spouted at LH shooters when they ask whether they should compromise that should absolutely be confined to the same annals of history as those relating to no need for LH 303's....
"Left-handed or eyed all ways seems a bit sinister to me!!" - subtle... ha ha - Sinister Times – The shady world of being a left-handed shooter- Gunstar was written in a similar vein
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