teaching cross dominant shooters?

[tikka250]

just wondering if anyone would have any tips for teaching cross dominant shooters.
yesterday i brought a friend out to the range to just go plinking and maybe shoot some clays and found out she is cross dominant (right handed but left eye dominant). She has shot lots of pellet guns and a bit of 22 so shooting left handed she was able to hit clays with the 22 all the way out to 100 yards! (verry impressed seeing as she has never shot past 25 feet with the
pellet gun!!).
The problem came when we decided to try shooting clays with the shotgun. we took a couple shots just at standing clays just to make sure she could handle the recoil and to get used to cycling the pump. I started to realize she was having trouble getting a good cheek weld with the stock. After some slight corrections i found that because of her cross domiance shooting lefty "felt weird" and whenever she tried getting her cheek near the stock she would end up almost on top of the comb instead of against it which would result in getting punched in the face by recoil if she shot.
nevertheless after not being able to resolve the problem (sadly) she was able to hit a few standing clays and 1 flying clay and had plenty of fun throwing clays as well.
i was just wondering if anyone has any tips on correcting the cheek weld problem because she seems to quite enjoy shooting and it would be great if she could learn the right way. (not to mention be able to hit what she is shooting at)
Thanks

[ULTRAlite]

Closing the left eye is all I do... It's done me pretty well thus far. Toughest is looking through a peep sight on a bow but for guns it seemed pretty easy

If that doesn't suffice... perhaps a patch or "blinder" over the dominant (left) eye

[gunluvr]

I could be wrong, but are'nt shotgunners taught to shoot with both eyes open? She could then line up her right eye behind the sights.

[CheeseBurger]

I'm the same, right handed but very left eye dominant. It feels weird at first to shoot a shotgun left handed because of the movement involved versus a rifle where you are holding steady but with practice she should be able to find her proper cheek weld. I would say keep on with the 22 and let her practice a lot with that before going back to the shotgun. She should develop the muscle memory and hopefully it will translate over to the shotgun. Maybe the shotgun really doesn't fit her, do you or a buddy have another one she could try?

[tikka250]

thanks a lot. in response to UlTRAlite and gunluvr yes she was shooting with both eyes open and the reason for shooting leftie was not only the fact that she is cross dominant but also the fact that she cant even close her left eye completely.

In response to cheeseburger. yes i tried with a single shot cooey a remington870 super mag and a winchester sxp. she ended up with the sxp because the 870 was too heavy and the cooey kicked too much. switching it up didnt help too much although suprisingly the right handed cast of the cooey helped a bit.
i think i will set up some offhand 22 shooting so that she can get used to the feel and get the muscle memory of moving between targets and things like that.
thanks

[twofifty]

Just an idea - stick some moleskin onto the part of the stock that her cheek should be touching. This will give her a consistent reference point that she can feel, thereby correctly & consistently placing her dominant eye in line with the barrel.

[covey ridge]

Originally Posted by gunluvr

I could be wrong, but are'nt shotgunners taught to shoot with both eyes open? She could then line up her right eye behind the sights.

Yes, many shotgunners are taught and shoot with both eyes open. This is simple and straight forward if one happens to shoulder the gun on the same side as the master eye. It is not a matter of just getting the shoulder side eye behind the sight. The master is the eye is the one that reads the target and sends information to the brain to compute the shot. This information will not be accurate unless the master eye is the one over the barrel or the one looking in the exact direction of where the shot is going.

If CD is a problem the choice is to close the master eye and let the other eye feed into to the brain
or
patch or occlude the eye
or
learn to shoot by instinct (Ball players learn catch with both eyes open without sighting and it does not matter which eye is dominant. Most of us can drive down the center of a lane with both eyes open. etc.)

or learn to shoot of the other shoulder.

Suggestion 1 and 2 are a quick fix, but often depth perception is not as good as with both eyes open and information to the brain is not 100%. Shooting by instinct takes a lot of practice. If the shooter is young and new to the sport I would suggest learning to shoot off the other shoulder.

[tikka250]

Originally Posted by covey ridge

Yes, many shotgunners are taught and shoot with both eyes open. This is simple and straight forward if one happens to shoulder the gun on the same side as the master eye. It is not a matter of just getting the shoulder side eye behind the sight. The master is the eye is the one that reads the target and sends information to the brain to compute the shot. This information will not be accurate unless the master eye is the one over the barrel or the one looking in the exact direction of where the shot is going.

If CD is a problem the choice is to close the master eye and let the other eye feed into to the brain
or
patch or occlude the eye
or
learn to shoot by instinct (Ball players learn catch with both eyes open without sighting and it does not matter which eye is dominant. Most of us can drive down the center of a lane with both eyes open. etc.)

or learn to shoot of the other shoulder.

Suggestion 1 and 2 are a quick fix, but often depth perception is not as good as with both eyes open and information to the brain is not 100%. Shooting by instinct takes a lot of practice. If the shooter is young and new to the sport I would suggest learning to shoot off the other shoulder.

Thanks a lot! this is very helpful.

[gunluvr]

Originally Posted by covey ridge

Yes, many shotgunners are taught and shoot with both eyes open. This is simple and straight forward if one happens to shoulder the gun on the same side as the master eye. It is not a matter of just getting the shoulder side eye behind the sight. The master is the eye is the one that reads the target and sends information to the brain to compute the shot. This information will not be accurate unless the master eye is the one over the barrel or the one looking in the exact direction of where the shot is going.

If CD is a problem the choice is to close the master eye and let the other eye feed into to the brain
or
patch or occlude the eye
or
learn to shoot by instinct (Ball players learn catch with both eyes open without sighting and it does not matter which eye is dominant. Most of us can drive down the center of a lane with both eyes open. etc.)

or learn to shoot of the other shoulder.

Suggestion 1 and 2 are a quick fix, but often depth perception is not as good as with both eyes open and information to the brain is not 100%. Shooting by instinct takes a lot of practice. If the shooter is young and new to the sport I would suggest learning to shoot off the other shoulder.

I believe most people could be taught to shoot with either eye. If covering one eye or the other works to achieve this, then try it. Seems far easier than switching shoulders to me. Maybe a novice would have less trouble with that. It's just that you can't shoot autoloaders left handed, and pumps and leverguns have to be removed from your cheek each time to eject spent shells so you don't get hot brass in the face. Looking down the barrel with the left eye forces you to look "up" and "left" rather than straight ahead if shooting off your right shoulder. That's just wrong.

[covey ridge]

Originally Posted by gunluvr

I believe most people could be taught to shoot with either eye. If covering one eye or the other works to achieve this, then try it. Seems far easier than switching shoulders to me. Maybe a novice would have less trouble with that. It's just that you can't shoot autoloaders left handed, and pumps and leverguns have to be removed from your cheek each time to eject spent shells so you don't get hot brass in the face. Looking down the barrel with the left eye forces you to look "up" and "left" rather than straight ahead if shooting off your right shoulder. That's just wrong.

Yes, most can be taught to shoot with either eye provided the other is closed or covered. This is the quickest fix and often the only fix ever tried. It is the easiest to adjust to and in fact for some there is no adjustment as many try shooting a shot one with one eye closed and never know how could it can be to shoot with both eyes open. I have shot pump and auto shot guns and left ejecting shells have never been a problem. I have known many long time one eyed shooters and many shoot well. I also know more than a few long time left handed shooters who have switched to the left shoulder because of their master eye and for the most part they are exceptional shooters. I think they are exceptional because they did what they had to to be at their best.

If the new shooter wants to just hit a few targets simply close an eye. If the shooter really wants to excel at wing shooting and has a CD problem he/she should seek a qualified instructor who knows how to deal with CD.

[CheeseBurger]

If you are CD, I think it is easier to learn to shoot on the side you eye is dominant on and train your arm muscles to adjust rather than lose the advantage your eye has over the non-dominant one. I know it's not ideal to shoot right handed shotguns as a lefty but it can be done. I do it and have had no problems of hot brass etc.

[covey ridge]

Originally Posted by CheeseBurger

If you are CD, I think it is easier to learn to shoot on the side you eye is dominant on and train your arm muscles to adjust rather than lose the advantage your eye has over the non-dominant one. I know it's not ideal to shoot right handed shotguns as a lefty but it can be done. I do it and have had no problems of hot brass etc.

If you are young and just starting I think this is the way to go. If you have many years invested in shooting with one eye it may be difficult to retrain yourself. You may not want to do what it takes especially if you are reasonably hitting most of what you shoot at. Many lefties are shooting right handed pumps and autos and there it is no big deal. I shot a relatives left handed benelli sbe quite a bit including a 200 target sporting clays event and I did well with it.

The best reasons for shooting a gun for you eye dominance is the cast of the stock and in a very few incidents it is best to be on the opposite side of the action if there was a blow up due to a bbl obstruction

My best advice for those who have a CD problem and want to shoot better is to seek qualified instruction before you resign yourself to a life of shooting with one eye. .

[tikka250]

Originally Posted by covey ridge

If you are young and just starting I think this is the way to go. If you have many years invested in shooting with one eye it may be difficult to retrain yourself. You may not want to do what it takes especially if you are reasonably hitting most of what you shoot at. Many lefties are shooting right handed pumps and autos and there it is no big deal. I shot a relatives left handed benelli sbe quite a bit including a 200 target sporting clays event and I did well with it.

The best reasons for shooting a gun for you eye dominance is the cast of the stock and in a very few incidents it is best to be on the opposite side of the action if there was a blow up due to a bbl obstruction

My best advice for those who have a CD problem and want to shoot better is to seek qualified instruction before you resign yourself to a life of shooting with one eye. .

Awesome thanks. I think i will continue to work on helping her to shoot on the side of her dominant eye because she is still quite new to shooting and until recently has just shot pellet guns from a bench and has yet to require the "feel" for shooting offhand and at moving targets. If i can find a freind with a lighter 20gauge i think that may help because after a few shots she was getting quite tired of holding the gun up.