Left Handed AR question

[68RR]

Only reason I did it was to suppress it. At least push most of the gasses away from my face

I totally understand! I dont really care for the gasses either, but being from a financially challenged family in the 50's, you learned to cope with what you had. I stayed away from buying "Lefty" equipment for the reason of price, and I don't want my kids ending up with a firearm thats oddball and difficult for them to use..

[Chili]

In the military it isn't like they have a whole rack of left-handed M-16s to give out to the one in 10 southpaws.

It's been a while, but we certainly didn't have left models when I was in. They did give them little plastic pieces that would fit on to better deflect the brass. The few left hand shooters I knew didn't use them, however, as they were a pita.

As for necessity.. There was one guy in my basic course that had brass fly back and get caught between his cheek and the chin strap on his helmet, and it gave him a nice burn. Other than that risk, which should be nil as a civilian (unless you enjoy wearing a Kevlar helmet), as long as you are wearing eye protection you should be fine.