I have a question about shooting that I think you could answer.

[rockymountaindem]

I have never shot a firearm before, but I've been thinking about taking it up. There are two things standing in my way. 1) I'm in college (in Canada) and I can't just go out and buy a gun to keep in my dorm.

Secondly, I have interesting vision problems. Vision out of my left eye is better than perfect, but out of my right eye it's not so good. If I close my left eye I can't see very much beyond my face (let's say a couple of yards).

The thing is that I'm also right handed, so I'd shoulder a rifle on my right side and pull the trigger with my right hand. So my question is...

How would I see/aim with this predicament? Do you keep both eyes open or would I have to close the left one, in which case I wouldn't be able to see beyond the barrel. Would I need a pair of shooting glasses? A monocle? Could I learn to shoot left handed?

What do you suggest?

[-..__...]

1. Similar situation.

I'm right-handed, but left-eye dominate.

There's at least one minor problem with readjusting to shooting lefty with a rifle: you'll need a left-handed rifle.

There are plenty of left-handed models to choose from, but your choices would be limited.

You could still conceivably use a right-handed rifle, but the aggravation and fumbling around wouldn't be worth it.

For some auto-loaders you can install a brass deflector or brass catcher (ever get hit in the face a few times with hot ejected brass? :smoke:). Items such as the safety, mag release (semi-auto),etc) would still be positioned for a right-handed person.

I have regular eyeglasses, but seldom wear them. All my rifles have scopes on them and for me that seems to be adequate to correct any vision problem.

One problem I do have is that my close-up vision isn't that great (I often wear reading glasses). If I wear regular ol' safety glasses and using iron sights, I can see the sights with no problem, however, the target is really fuzzy.

If I put my regular glasses on, I can see the target clearly, but the sights are blurry. It's a trade-off that I've gotten accustomed to and manage to work around it... especially with handguns.

One thing that was suggested to me was getting a pair of progressive lenses. Then I found out how much they cost!

If you think you'd rather have corrective eye glasses (instead of switching from right to left handed shooting), be sure and mention it to the optometrist/ophthalmologist what the glasses are for.

Our resident Canadian can probably answer the storage question for you.