Help me teach a cross dominant new shooter

[Maximinus Thrax]

My wife and I love our trips to the range with our handguns. I shoot right eye and right handed and she shoots left eye right handed. For pistols, this isn't a problem since she shifts her head over enough to see the sights.

Our problem is now we are looking to build an AR and I'd like to put something along the lines of a Vortex Strikefire II on it.

Is it better for me to build an ambidextrous rifle for the two of us and for her to learn to shoot left handed or should we work to train her to shoot with her right eye?

 

[SSGSAD]

Either way, what ever is comfortable for her ..... I don't know where you are located, but I am willing to help .....

 

[Maximinus Thrax]

Either way, what ever is comfortable for her ..... I don't know where you are located, but I am willing to help .....

We're in West Lafayette.

We're both going to be at the 1500 next weekend looking to see if we can find a good deal on a Red Dot sight that she and I can both use. So far she is leaning away from the tube style and towards a reflex sight. That's yet to be determined.

 

[actaeon277]

Practice enough, either way works.
Or practice both.

I'm right handed, right eye dominant.
I also can switch over, shoot left handed, left eye.

Flexibility is nice. You might need to use the gun if injured, or shoot around a corner.

 

[natdscott]

For rifle, she needs to learn to shoot left handed, primarily.

I am assuming that she is a basic NON shooter of long guns right now though. As in: blank slate.

Eye dominance is a more powerful force than trigger finger dominance, and if she's not yet trained, then all the better.

-Nate

 

[Cerberus]

I'm right handed, right eye dominant.
I also can switch over, shoot left handed, left eye.

This ^^^ I am just slightly better with my dominate eye/hand than I am lefty.

 

[MohawkSlim]

Cross-dominance really isn't that big a deal. In reality, we should all be ambidextrous shooters anyway, especially on the long guns.

Have her shoot lefty and if she just can't seem to get it, tape over the glasses of the right lens. If that doesn't work, shoot righty. Using an AR with a red dot should be no trouble at all since both eyes should be open anyway!

If you're looking for Vortex anything you can't beat AA Optics.

 

[Maximinus Thrax]

Cross-dominance really isn't that big a deal. In reality, we should all be ambidextrous shooters anyway, especially on the long guns.

Have her shoot lefty and if she just can't seem to get it, tape over the glasses of the right lens. If that doesn't work, shoot righty. Using an AR with a red dot should be no trouble at all since both eyes should be open anyway!

If you're looking for Vortex anything you can't beat AA Optics.

I know cross dominance isn't that big of a deal but it is something I've never had to deal with as a properly constructed human being. I wanted to make sure I didn't make a jerk of myself trying to help her learn the AR and rifle fundamentals while she is dealing with a problem I've never had experience with. It sounds like I should be good to go with a few simple steps though so I'm confident she'll be able to learn to shoot right handed especially since I'm looking at Red Dot sights.

I'll keep AA in mind as I'm at the 1500 looking for more prices that (hopefully) can't be beat.

 

[Robert Richardson]

It really won't matter with a Red-Dot sight if, you use the sight correctly.

 

[Thegeek]

Force her to learn to do it right. You write based on hand dominance, you shoot based on eye dominance.

 

[Hawkeye7br]

When teaching 4H kids, they recommend teaching shooting with accordance of the dominate eye. It's easier to teach the mechanical skills of shooting with the left hand than to rewire the brain to accept weak eye information and respond instantly. We learn to play basketball, tennis, etc with our weak hand, shooting is the same thing.

 

[sloughfoot]

I am left eye dominant, shoot rifles right hand. I squint the left eye or use tape over the left lens of my shooting glasses. This is for square range shooting out to 1,000 yards with irons.

For shoot and move , I just shoot as needed since I don't need to get all slinged up. I am faster and more accurate with my left hand and eye. But I usually tend to shoot right handed.

I am 64. My Dad didn't want me to shoot left handed. I started to learn to shoot rifles when was 8. Common for my generation of kids being taught by their ex-servicemen fathers who were taught the Army way. EVERYBODY was right handed in the Army in 1950. My younger brother was allowed to shoot and be left-handed. He is a more natural and comfortable shooter.

I don't know the right answer to the OP's question.

 

[JettaKnight]

When teaching 4H kids, they recommend teaching shooting with accordance of the dominate eye. It's easier to teach the mechanical skills of shooting with the left hand than to rewire the brain to accept weak eye information and respond instantly. We learn to play basketball, tennis, etc with our weak hand, shooting is the same thing.

I found this to be true with my wife. Her mechanics was really a mess at the beginning and she was flummoxed.

I taught her to shoot left handed and her scores and confidence went way up.



YMMV

 

[gregkl]

I am left eye dominant, shoot rifles right hand. I squint the left eye or use tape over the left lens of my shooting glasses. This is for square range shooting out to 1,000 yards with irons.

For shoot and move , I just shoot as needed since I don't need to get all slinged up. I am faster and more accurate with my left hand and eye. But I usually tend to shoot right handed.

I am 64. My Dad didn't want me to shoot left handed. I started to learn to shoot rifles when was 8. Common for my generation of kids being taught by their ex-servicemen fathers who were taught the Army way. EVERYBODY was right handed in the Army in 1950. My younger brother was allowed to shoot and be left-handed. He is a more natural and comfortable shooter.

I don't know the right answer to the OP's question.

I agree. I will add that too many people who are not cross dominant try to help those that are when they really don't what that person is dealing with. Exceptions for highly trained and experienced instructors who have dealt with this time and time again. It really is sort of a handicap and not just in shooting. It goes for billiards and many other activities that require a lot of eye/hand coordination.

There are many moving parts to this. Age, degree of dominance(yes, some are somewhat cross dominant, some are extremely cross dominant). Just like some people are very one-handed and some can switch from left to right even though they are not technically ambidextrous.

I have tried everything; change my dominance. Ain't going to happen. Only God could do that. You live with what your born with. Change my handedness. Depending on age, persistence and how strong handed you are, you may be able to do this. I could not get anywhere close to being proficient shooting Trap left handed.

Like sloughfoot, I was taught by my dad to shoot at a very young age to shoot with my right eye, right handed with my left eye closed. Even when I leaned over the stock to line up my left eye, he corrected that. I am pretty sure they didn't know much about eye dominance back in WWII.

So after reading all the internet chatter about this and trying all the suggestions people had, here is what I do:

Rifle w/scope: Either close the left eye or wear shooting glasses with an opaque piece of cellophane tape over the left lens.
Shotgun: Wear the shooters with the tape over the left lens.
Pistol: I shoot with a modified Weaver stance that allows me to "cheat" and line up my left eye with the sights. I keep both eyes open. And yes, most everyone notices I am cross dominant when I shoot.

Maybe I could become better shooting left handed, but I don't have enough years left in me to learn that. What I am doing is helping me shoot better and have more fun in the present. At my age I'm not going to invest years in retraining my biology when a few pieces of tape will do the trick.

 

[rhino]

My opinion: everyone should learn to shoot from both sides. Once the results are better using one side, that's the "dominant" side for that type of gun. Then don't forget to practice some on the other side as time moves forward.

My wife and I love our trips to the range with our handguns. I shoot right eye and right handed and she shoots left eye right handed. For pistols, this isn't a problem since she shifts her head over enough to see the sights.

Our problem is now we are looking to build an AR and I'd like to put something along the lines of a Vortex Strikefire II on it.

Is it better for me to build an ambidextrous rifle for the two of us and for her to learn to shoot left handed or should we work to train her to shoot with her right eye?

 

[JettaKnight]

My opinion: everyone should learn to shoot from both sides. Once the results are better using one side, that's the "dominant" side for that type of gun. Then don't forget to practice some on the other side as time moves forward.

So, is that four positions- Left/right X dominate/recessive?

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

I am a cross dominate shooter. Was born right handed, right eyed and learned to shoot that way as a kid. Did a lot of shooting in my teens-early twenties and qualified Expert in basic training.

In my mid-twenties, I had an accident working on an A-10 and injured my right eye. Wore an eye patch for several weeks after the accident. When the patch came off, I had switched to left eye dominate. I kept on doing mechanical work and shooting with my right hand. I learned how to adapt and still shoot right handed. I tried shooting left handed, but my scores did not improve and my times slowed down.

 

[Yup!]

I just switched. I'm right eye right hand on handguns - but was right eye left hand for rifles. I just forced myself to go right/right with my AR - after about a month of handling and a few hundred rounds - It's now natural for me to pick it up right handed and not event think about it. (until I read this post)