Left-Handed Cross-Dominant Rifle Shooting: Advice?

[Indyfishyak]

I had been in the same boat. Hunted all my life left handed. Just a year ago at the age of 32. Put time in dry firing in the basement and now shoot predominantly right handed. But shoot equally well right or left handed. Right handed open you up for rifle selection but shooting both is being able to pull up in the tree stand from either side or if you are a clay shooter you get an advantage on side crossing shots.

 

[MrSmitty]

I Am right handed left eye dominant. Shoot lefthand long guns. Right hand/left eye hand gun. Never been a problem for me. As an aside I used to be a photographer all cameras are made for right eye/right hand.........

 

[Stang51d]

Right hand, left eye here. Hand guns, I shoot right handed with my left eye, no issues. Long guns are a little different. When I was very young, I could shoot anything right handed, but as I got older, and got bigger, it got where I couldn't get my left eye to the sights. The 10/22 was the first to be a problem. I would close my right eye and use my left, I cant close my left eye alone and my left eye is a lot beter then my right anyway.

I first started shooting 22s left handed and it was easy as there is no recoil, but the big guns were a different story. Being right handed, I have more "meat" on my right side and shooting rifles with substantial recoil from the left was a lot more like "stock-to-bone". I have gotten used to it, it is much less awkward now, but I mix some right and left hand. If I scope a rifle, I jack it up a little so I can get my left eye to it shooting right. Any AK with a folding stock, I can shoot right with my left eye, and then there is the 1903a3, the only full stocked rifle that the irons are high enough for my left eye. Everything else I have has to be left handed.

It's kind of a curse, but it's not the end of the world, and the cool thing is, when using a scoped rifle in a tree stand, I can shoot either way, giving me a 180deg range without any trouble.

 

[kludge]

I have two sons who are right handed/left eye dominant.

I discovered this early enough that no bad habits were formed. I taught them to shoot bow and rifle left handed. One is still young, but now left handed shooting is second nature for the 14 year old. He shoots pistol right handed however.

I had a conversation with Massad Ayoob last year at the NRA convention on this subject and he taught me something useful - right handed/left eyed pistol shooters can be taught to shoot pistol right handed in a Weaver stance with their chin on the right bicep. Up to that point I had been teaching them to shoot isosceles, but Weaver has some advantages... and you don't end up looking like David Caruso.

I am left handed/right eye dominant. Nobody ever taught me to shoot right handed, I just did. I also throw right and bat left... having the dominant eye facing the pitcher is a nice thing.

 

[gregkl]

I have two sons who are right handed/left eye dominant.


I had a conversation with Massad Ayoob last year at the NRA convention on this subject and he taught me something useful - right handed/left eyed pistol shooters can be taught to shoot pistol right handed in a Weaver stance with their chin on the right bicep. Up to that point I had been teaching them to shoot isosceles, but Weaver has some advantages... and you don't end up looking like David Caruso.

This sounds like what I do. I shoot pistol with what I call a modified Weaver. Sort of between isosceles and Weaver.

 

[THE BIG SITT]

Reading through this inspired me to determine my eye dominance. I am right handed with a right eye dominance. Thank Go... Jello that is the case. I am a bad enough shot as it is; I can't image being cross dominate.

 

[LongRangeBushy]

I am left handed and right eye Dominant . I shoot pistols both eyes open. However I shoot rifle / mainly benchrest type bolt actions /with optics --- right handed so my dominant eye uses the optic and this works really well for me. Sometimes I have a issue with moving my head and it seems that parallax changes a little bit on me.. However, I'm told everyone struggles a little with this and hi-power optics. Try it out I think you will like it.

 

[cop car]

I would do everything you could to shoot right handed, especially in the AR15 world, you will be much happier and have far fewer burn scars on you ha. Shooting with your dominant eye is important however. Honestly a right eye dominant left handed person would be the best for AR15s, I feel like with my stronger arm farther forward I'm in more control of the weapon, but I don't want to shoot left handed, so what you thought was a negative, is probably a positive.

 

[cbhausen]

I would do everything you could to shoot right handed, especially in the AR15 world, you will be much happier and have far fewer burn scars on you ha. Shooting with your dominant eye is important however. Honestly a right eye dominant left handed person would be the best for AR15s, I feel like with my stronger arm farther forward I'm in more control of the weapon, but I don't want to shoot left handed, so what you thought was a negative, is probably a positive.

I'm right-handed but blind in right eye since birth. I wear my pistol on my left hip and shoot it left-handed. Of course I've shoot long guns from the left shoulder since my first Daisy. I got my Rifleman patch on my first Appleseed weekend with a Ruger 10/22 although it was awkward at times. Then I got a Tavor with left-hand conversion... Problem solved!