My father has gotten his eyesight reduced. Of course it's the right eye, his left is fine. This means he won't be able to use it for shooting.

So, what to do??

My idea is to let a gunsmith mount the riflescope a bit left of the receiver so he can use his left eye for shooting. The same solution for his O/U shotgun but with a low power scope or red dot sight.

I think this is a better idea for him than learning to shoot left hand.

Any ideas/comments/experiences appreciated!

PCH! I've seen shotguns with a severe S-bend in the grip area of the stock. Kind of intended to come up to the right shoulder, right cheek and line up with the left eye, for people with your fathers problem. How they feel I don't know. They might turn out to be an expensive example of the stockmakers art, though.
Re outrigger scope mounts, they would have to be rather sturdy I think, because offset and inertia produce a twisting couple, producing rotational stress on the bases. Maybe one of those old sidemount designd could be adapted?
I recall a story in one of the swedish hunting mags a few years back, about a guy who found himself in your fathers predicament through a logging accident. As I remember, he taught himself to shoot from his left shoulder, with some difficulty. Anyway, in the interview, he urged everybody to practise shooting from the "wrong" shoulder sometimes, because he lost the better part of a season because he hadn't.
Hope some of this helps and good luck and good hunting!

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Shooting your dinner is nobler than buying it.

Hey PCH, About 25% of my shot "opportunities" in the woods/swamps appear where only a left hand shot makes good sense. It would be more than that, but we try our best to position Stands to take advantage of the terrain. But, some Deer just don't go along with the Plan.

So, I just shoot them left handed with my right handed rifles. It really was not all that difficult for me to become comfortable shooting from the left. But, I suppose it is different for everyone.

The problem with a side mount is that the scope centerline is no longer aligned with the bore centerline. If he sticks with shoulder shots inside 200yds, it will work, but the bullets will not impact where he is aiming.

Anyway, I just don't have a problem shooting left or right.

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Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills, Hot Core

[This message has been edited by Hot Core (edited 08-02-2001).]

A rifle with a scope mounted like that is more vulnerable to damage during transport, too. It may not even fit into a case.

I once saw an M1 with the comb "dished out" to get the shooter's face way down low, allowing him to use the sights with the opposite eye.

I think that learning to shoot from the "port side" would be the better option.

I would think that any of these ideas are possible. However, if we're talking big bores, they would probably ring his bell when fired.

My gunsmith is a left handed shooter, and has been shooting right handed rifles all along. As he says, when he first started shooting as a boy, there was no such thing as a left handed rifle. He uses his rt. hand to come off the forearm and work the bolt. I would think your dad could learn to do it, people can learn almost anything if the desire is there.

Thanks for your replys.

The rifle is a 6,5X55 so recoil shouldn't cause any big stress on a side mount I guess. The scope - bore alignment problem is of course there but I can't see it would cause any problem when hunting. For serious target shooting, yes, but that's something different. To me it seems simpler to have a side mounted scope than learning to shoot left??

I have the same problem. Aside from the difficulty of side-mounting the scope, which I did do on one rifle, there is the problem of POI changing laterally as well as vertically with range change, if you zero it laterally at any range.

I find it easier to shoot left-handed than to mess with the mounting and zeroing problems.

PCH. In reality, the simplest solution would be to learn to shoot left handed. It's not that hard to do. It just takes getting a bit used to. I'm right handed, but I have taught myself to do it, and can shoot a right handed bolt gun left handed just about as fast as I can right handed.
There is an article in an old copy of Rifle magazine about a man who had basically the same problem. His gunsmith took two or three Redfield one piece mounts and welded them together so that the scope was well to the left of the rifle. You could do the same with current Redfields or Leupold one piece bases. BTW. The guy's rifle was a .375 H&H Magnum and he took it to Africa. Apparently, it all worked out fine and he got his game.
I have no idea what it cost to get it done.
Paul B.

[This message has been edited by Paul B (edited 08-04-2001).]