I hear brass catchers are kind of a pain, but getting hit in the face repeatedly by spent brass from the left takes most of the fun out of the range for me, even though I do wear great big wrap around safety glasses, earmuffs and a hoodie.
It must be a “chick” thing. : )
Well, you should’ve been born right handed. Who’s fault is that? HAHAHA. Just a joke. My dad is a leftie and I mess with him about that all the time.
Neither the hot brass dance nor the aversion to taking the brass in the face from the left are chick things.
I’m right handed but left eye dominant. I think I hold the distinction of being the only USAF trainee to ever shut the firing line down, not qualify with the M-16, and still be awarded Honor Graduate from AF basic training.
The M-16 is THE worst about kicking the brass into the face of the lefty shooter. After the instructors noticed my bloodied face (we were well into the session) they finally scrounged up a brass deflector. Of course, they then put us on our stomachs. It was late August. Our sleeves were rolled up. If you think hot brass glancing off your cheek is hot, drop a piece down into the crook of your elbow.
I screamed like a 10 year old school girl having a frog thrown on her. That’s when I flung my arm up to get the brass off me and the range masters shut the world down around me. The one thing that I believe saved me is that, having grown up with guns, I knew to keep the muzzle downrange despite my “injury”.
They secured my weapon and sent me away for medical attention. In 1978, the AF trainee only spent a day on the range. Qualification was not required for my career field so I was not rescheduled.
Naturally, after basic and tech training I was sent to the only type of squadron other than security and special ops that required all its members to be M-16 qualified. I loved that year in RED HORSE in Korea and did qualify while I was there. I still had to shoot a right-handed rifle from the left and I still finished looking like I mopped the barroom floor with my face, but I qualified.