Off-Set Scope Mount for Southpaw Who Shoots with Right Eye
Forum member Roy Bertalotto did a real nice off-set scope installation on a bolt gun to help a sight-challenged shooter. Roy explains: “A friend of mine shoots left-handed and has lost the sight in his left eye. I built him a scope mount so he can still shoot left-handed, but now use his right eye.” Roy’s fabrication work is impressive and we praise his efforts to help a fellow shooter stay in the game.
Roy bolted a plate to the existing scope rail on the top centerline of the Rem 700 action. This plate extends a few inches to the right. On the outboard end of the plate, Roy fitted a second scope rail, aligned with the bore. Weaver-based rings are then clamped to the outboard (right side) auxiliary rail.
Be Careful of Canting Issues with Offset Scope Installations
We’re pleased to see that Roy developed a solution for a shooter with an optical disability, but we want to stress that this is a specialized installation that can create some problems with point of impact shift if the gun is not maintained perfectly level. With the amount of horizontal offset (between the scope’s optical axis and the bore axis) built into this rig, if the rifle is canted, point of impact can shift rather dramatically. For a southpaw who is willing to adapt his/her shooting style, it may be better, in the long run, to learn to shoot right-handed if his/her right eye is the only good eye. Likewise, if a right-handed shooter can only see well through his left eye, he may benefit from learning how to hold the stock and work the trigger with his left hand. The shooter could still work the bolt with his non-trigger hand. Changing from right-hand to left-hand shooting (or vice-versa) may require a stock swap if the stock is not ambidextrous.
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Today, I saw somewhat like that, on a european made Atzl light varmint rifle at the european br championsship.
would he have to correct windage per distance even without wind blowing for the offset? or does the scope being parallel to the bore take care of that?
i will asked that,tomorrow. The owner is a friendly, older austrian competitor. If Andreas Atzl machined that item, i will ask him for details. I will photograph it also.
I would think so. but once you are zeroed at say 100 yards, the change would be pretty small I would imagine. Say you are zeroed at 100, the scope is offset what 2″ that means that at 200 yards your rounds would be 2″ opposite from the side of your scope if you don’t rezero. At least that would make sense to me.
Hey, It’s me. RoyB the guy that built this scope mount! I’m honored that Accurate Shooter wrote an article about this Off-Set scope mount. I did this for my longtime shooting buddy, George, who through some medical problems, is losing the sight in his left eye. George is one hell of a serious shooter and I can’t stand shooting without him. I’d give him my left eye if I could figure out how. I’m right handed, I don’t use it much anyways. Let’s hope this gets George back in the game! Thanks!
I asked Andreas Atzl today, the scope mount is in the same line as the action/barrel. Matt D. says it right, it`s only 2 and a half inch offset, the distance is easy to correct with the scope, out to 300 yards. Andreas told me when you cross line of sight with line of barrel, problems become bigger at longer ranges.
I hope its understandable, english is not my native language, im from Austria.
I see this is an older thread but I’ll throw this in just in case. Due to amblyopia as a child, my right eye sees everything as “peripherally” sharp but is useless on its own. I manage ok with bolt actions but a couple of mine are semi-auto and shooting left handed, I often get a cartridge ejected in the face. Would it be impossible for a scope maker to use mirror optics or such to have the face of the scope in line with the barrel, and then do a couple 45 degree angles so that the back of the scope is in line with the left eye? Maybe a lack of sales would make the idea less than cost effective. I could get alot more fun outta my firearms with a setup like above but I’m not skilled in the machine shop for such a task. Any direction or a cost for such an item as above would really be appreciated! Thanks!
How about this – the scope mount on my old top-eject Winchester 94 is offset to the left. For a left-hander just turn the rifle around… err bad idea, forget I even mentioned it.
(I couldn’t figure out a way to start this comment out with the classic “Hold my beer….)
I have a similar problem, in that I am right-handed but shoot with my left eye due to vision issues in my right eye. I have taken a different approach to adapting my long guns. I either raise the sights / scope, or lower the comb to allow shooting right hand / left eye. I went this route because I sometimes shoot in 3-gun matches, and may need to shoot off of either shoulder depending on stage layout, barricades or other obstacles. Since the sights or scope are still centered, I can do this easily. The downside of this is that the cheek weld on the stock is less than ideal when shooting left-handed, but I find that this is an acceptable trade-off for me. YMMV, of course.
I seem to remember that the late John Amber had a similiar issue with his eyesight. He had custom stocks made with a significant cast off to achieve the same effect.