Help me become a better shooter/marksman please!

[Goatguy]

I have a problem that I assume many people out there have. My left eye is my dominant eye, but I am right handed over all. Which is fine for almost all things in life, except shooting guns and playing pool.

When playing pool, I taught myself to shoot left handed so I can more easily line up my shot with my dominant left eye.

Shooting firearms however isn't proving as easy. I've shot right handed my entire life. I've always just closed my left eye and looked down the barrel or scope with my right eye. This work ok for rifle and handguns, but man, I can't hardly hit anything with a shotgun, it is just too difficult to point the gun with my right eye (both eyes have to be open in order to just the depth of the target, so closing one isn't really an option).

I've been trying to think of what to do to fix this and I've come up with two possible solutions.

1. I could learn to shoot left handed, and I have no idea how long this would tak and how much ammunition i would go through before I could even remotely feel comfortable with the butt at my left shoulder.

2. I could try and change my eye dominance. I'm not sure if its even possible, but maybe if I wore a patch over my left eye for a few months, my brain would just start using the right eye automatically. It could work... but then again... who knows?

Do any of you have a similar problem? or maybe some other ideas to help me shoot a shotgun more accurately? Thanks!

[Cornhusker]

I shoot right handed and left eyed too.
I don't know what I do different to compensate, I've shot that way all my life.
I guess I hold my head different than other people.
I'm good with a rifle, not so good with a pistol, and I just point the shotgun, not really aim it.
Lotsa help right?

[SteveD(TX)]

Lots of people with the same problem simply learn to shoot left-handed. It works quite well for at least 50%, or so I've heard. An alternative is to use shooting glasses with some opaque tape over the left lens.

Never, ever, close either of your eyes.

I would suggest you go buy a few boxes of clay pigeons and experiment a little.

[unregistered29228]

How about prescription glasses to correct the vision in the right eye? I shoot right and see better with my left eye too, but I wear glasses most of the time. Surely some of the professional target shooters have the same problem....

[blacksmithtech]

This may not be addressing your issue but for the others that are interested in the basics this site has some good info -

http://www.fredsm14stocks.com/rifle.asp?ITEM=2

Hope this helps you or anyone interested in marksmanship.

Take care -

[Concrete Cowboy]

I have the same issue. At first I wore clear eye protection glasses and put a small piece of scotch tape over where my left eye would look. Browning actually sells something to do the same. It worked well, and it’s how I learned the basics of shooting but I don’t wear eye protection in the field, only shooting trap. So I started to close my left eye. My trap numbers did not suffer and plenty of Pheasants did.
So if trap is your thing and you wear the glasses, this might help. For me it helped me evolve into shooting with one eye.

[gunsmithgirl]

I have seen custom stocks made just for this purpose. The buttstock curves out to allow you room to position your head so that your dominant eye lines up while you hold the gun right handed (or left if the situation is reverse).
While custom stocks of that kind are darn expensive, if you or someone you know is good at wood working you could make one to fit to you.
Here is a pic of the kind of stock I am referring to:

[Goatguy]

Whoa... that is quite the gun stock, haha. never seen anythign like it

[gunsmithgirl]

yeah, they are a rarity but are made specifically for people with the cross-dominance problem.

[okiemom]

I have the same problem. Dh took me out to shoot .22 when we first started dating. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I went through 100 rounds before we figured it out. I switched hands and no problems. Maybe it was because I didn't really know any better, but shooting left handed is not that hard... for me.

I also have to play pool laft handed and gripe when I have to shoot right handed. I can do both I am just not as good w/ my right.

[watcher]

Here's a trick that may help. Mount your shotgun/rifle and look at the front sight with your left eye. Then have someone put a small piece of tape (cut in a circle works the best) on the lens of your shooting glasses so it covers the front sight.

This prevents your left eye from picking up the front sight making your right eye do the work. With a little work you can get the dot big enough to cover the sight but small enough where you don't notice it.

[cchapman84]

I have the same problem, but when my dad noticed I was trying to aim with my left eye (shooting right-handed) he made me switch, and I've shot left-handed ever since, but I can also shoot right-handed. Basically, if I'm shooting a single-shot rifle or shotgun, I shoot left-handed, but with the semi-autos I shoot right-handed (I'm always afraid I'm going to end up getting hit with an empty cartridge if I shoot left-handed). Other than shooting, my left hand is completely useless (can't write with it or anything else). I would say try shooting left-handed a few times (maybe use a .22 so at least you're wasting cheap ammo!).

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

Buy a double barrel side by side. Put adjustable sights on it. Go skeet and trap shooting to sight it in. If all else fails, pull both triggers at the same time;-)

RF

[woodsrunner]

Originally Posted by gunsmithgirl

I have seen custom stocks made just for this purpose. The buttstock curves out to allow you room to position your head so that your dominant eye lines up while you hold the gun right handed (or left if the situation is reverse).
While custom stocks of that kind are darn expensive, if you or someone you know is good at wood working you could make one to fit to you.
Here is a pic of the kind of stock I am referring to:

OK, you got my interest! As the one time owner of the Manlicher that George Eastman took on safari I want to know! I see SxS barrels and a rear sight + some kind of mount for optical sights. What is it? I want it!

As long as there are interesting old guns in the world Pelenaka will never have to worry about another woman. LOL

[just_sawing]

1. left or right does not matter when shooting a shot gun if yu use something simular to the winchester method. This details taking your left hand and training to point with your finger at the target.
Take the gun in the down position then shoulder it pointing at a target. Have someone look at where you pointed and make the correction. WHen you quit trying to sight as a rifle does your eyes are able to track the target. this way there isn't a domance problem and you will miprove your timing, speed and acuratcity.

[tyusclan]

My dad and two of his brothers are (were, one uncle's dead now) right-handed and left eye dominant. They all shot left-handed.

[JJ Grandits]

I am left eye dominant but shoot right handed. By the time I became aware that there was such a thing I had been shooting right handed for so long that the idea of switching hands was out of the question. I do shoot trap regularly and do so by closing my left eye. I have no problem hitting targets. two problems people have with a shotgun is not patterning it to see point of impact. just because you look down the rib and point at a target does not mean that is the place the concentration of shot will go. Another problem is improper form. many people miss targets by not following through with there swing. Most sporting shotguns are very flat shooting and another tendency to miss targets is lifting the head in order to see if the target was hit. My average on trap is a little over 21 birds and I do pick up a couple of 25 patches a year. I would really suggest patterning your gun and working on form before trying to switch sides. Shooting a shotgun is like the perfect golf swing. If it's right, it's right. But to get it right it takes a lot of practice.

[tomjones]

Lots and lots of practice. I have the same problem, and have tried to learn to shoot lefty. In the end it just made no sense for me. Tape your glasses a bit as suggested, and shoot some rounds. Shooting, especially a shotgun, is one of those things that there is no other way to do it but to do it.

All that being said, I have days maybe once a year, especially on large geese into decoys that are very difficult. One day I am killing everything that comes into range, the next it is like there is a force field out there. I blame that on my dominance problem. and then suddenly it clears up and is fine. Seems the more I shoot the less often it happens.

Good luck.

Tom

[Ed Norman]

Originally Posted by gunsmithgirl

yeah, they are a rarity but are made specifically for people with the cross-dominance problem.

I've shot one of those. It was a drilling made for a German soldier who lost his right eye in WWI. I think it was 16X16X8mm. It felt all kinds of weird, like you were wearing the gun, but it was comfortable and lined up great. I could hit clay birds as well as I can with most shotguns, and shooting the rifle was easy.

I'm lucky that I shoot almost as well left eyed and handed as I do right eyed. This may not help, but I keep both eyes open and forget about what the unneeded eye is seeing.