What do you recommend for those whose dominant eye is the opposite of their dominant hand, i.e right-handed and left eye dominant.

Depending on the stock configuration, I can occasionally lean my head over enough, while maintaining a cheek weld, to fire right handed. If the stock is not long enough, I have to switch to shooting left-handed. Needless to say, accuracy suffers. Any suggestions?

I'm in a similar situation (left handed and right eye dominant). I've just learned to shoot both longarms and handguns using my right hand. Of course, most firearms are built for right-handed operation, which complicates things for you if you're left eye dominant.

As a side note, it's best to learn to fire your defensive firearms using either hand. For pistols, you may need to use the other hand if your strong-side arm is injured. For rifles, when pieing a corner, it's best to have the rifle on the side that's going around the corner first.

I am left eye dominant and right handed (normally). I also spent 5 years teaching firearms at a police academy. I quit teaching anything about eye domination, because of the trouble it caused. Forget about which eye is dominate. Look at different shooting stances find what’s comfortable for you and use the eye that is comfortable for you, it will make you a better shot and make it more fun when you practice (returning fire is never fun).

Whew...this one can be messy. I am left eye dominant and right handed. I spent twenty years in the Army, several years on a match rifle team--long story short, I shoot left-handed.

Yeah, it's a pain in the keister (many, many burns from shell casings on right arm). I've tried to shoot right-handed from time to time and the only weapon it works (for me) with is a pistol.

Yup, thats basically it. You either learn to shoot with your offhand, or get neck cramps and poor sight picture stretching over the stock. Or, you get REAL good at instinct shooting <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I trained my left eye to close while keeping my right eye open. It's not as hard as you may think!

I used to be left eye dominant right hand shooter, then I retrained myself. Unless you are handicapped and your shooting side eye is impaired, I believe anyone can retrain themselves.

I took a pair of shooting glasses and sandpapered the left eye lens to a blur. Not being able to see clearly through that eye anymore, my brain natrually seeks the clearer image.

We tried this out on our hunter ed students and were probably about 80% successful. I think it is better to blur the vision in the off eye rather than blank it as the lack of light and subsequent dilation of the pupil in that eye poses other undesirable effects.

On a tangent, we discovered that many of the kids who were nearsighted, such as my daughter, could retrain their eyes to focus at depth by wearing a cover over their eyes that had a pinhole in it. For some reason looking through that pinhole their vision goes to near perfect again.

Go figure.

I am left-eyed dominant and right-handed and have been shooting since I was a small boy. Never really thought about it being something I had to learn, but shooting rifle I shoot right handed and close my left eye.

Shooting handgun is a little different. I still use my right hand, but sometimes squench my left (dominant) eye and sight with right, and sometimes slightly angle my grip and use left eye to sight. Seem to do both and don't usually notice which way I'm doing it unless I think about it.

Whatever way you decide to do, do it enough to make it natural.

Cross dominance. Its actually not that uncommon.

When I was learning to shoot, I could barely hit the ground with a rifle right handed, but had a "knack" for pistols. Then someone spotted how I was holding a pistol, and I learned to shoot rifles and shotguns left handed. The results include the fastest transition to a secondary in a shoulder or chest holster most people have ever seen.

So I know your pain. Autoloaders and pumps will be your friends, lever actions a little less so, and you'll forever look at all the wonderful bolt guns on the rack and know that they will work but not as well for a fast follow up if needed. And I know that learning to shoot left handed sounds like a pain, but it isn't. And you'll be amazed at how your accuracy improves once you've got the reflexes down.

What you are doing right now just sounds painful and a recipie for chipped teeth and long term damage to your jaw hinge.

As for "training" yourself to be right eye dominant, you can learn to shoot with your right eye, just like you can beat a kid every time he holds a pencil in his left hand (which we used to do), but you can't actually change this. This is a hardwired at the genes neurology issue. I've seen people who were taught to shoot with their non-dominant eye and have done so for years, that when coaxed into trying their dominant eye again were faster to acquire targets, faster to recover, and more precise after a couple hundred rounds, because this is what your brain expects. And for others, such as myself, it is so strong that it is nearly impossible.

I am not an expert, but I have a blind spot in the center of my right eye due to an injury in high school. Since then I have shot rifles and shotguns left handed. My favorite hunting rifle is a left handed bolt action, and my shotgun is a pump. Pistols I still shoot right handed by simply holding the piece an inch or so to the left while sighting with my left eye. At pistol ranges I can't tell the difference. My advice is to at least give left handed shooting a try, particulary with long guns.

I have seen long guns (mainly double shotguns/rifles and drillings) made in England or Europe with offset stocks, to allow a right side hold with a left dominant eye. But unless you want to take out a second on your house, and sell your youngest daughter into lifelone servitude, that probably isn't an option for you. So I would suggest basically what the others have, either shoot with the "weak side," (as a former longtime law enforcement weapons instructor, I have always hated that term), or learn to ignore the dominant eye and shoot with the other...

I am left eye dominant and left handed. I have been shooting all types of right handed long guns all my life. Ejected brass, shells, etc is just not that big of an issue. My advice? Practice, practice, practice, shooting left handed, Peroid.
Shooting across the gun is never the answer, and it just looks stupid. Guns are not designed to be aimed this way. I only have one left handed firearm (a bolt action) and quite frankley I don't really see a big advantage.
So shoot the righty guns from the lefty position and you will be fine.

To which you've hit on the key to success my friend.

Good shooters practice a lot. There are those who have a knack, plenty of natural talent, but they lack the experience to be consistent for the most part.

If you are willing to put in the hours and the resources to develop proficiency, you will be rewarded with success. To that end, practice doesn't mean just shooting from the same position over and over. Quite the contrary, any seasoned expert will practice shooting from different positions, different sides, etc. Then the expert can take that awkward shot and reasonably expect it to go where he intended it to. Familiarity with the firearm of choice proves marksmanship; familiarity with varying techniques demonstrates the difference between having a shooting solution or walking home empty handed, or worse.

I'd like to point out that if you're planning on using a firearm for personal defense, there's a lot more to learn than just shooting. Practice should include drawing (or unslinging if we're talking about a longarm), movement, using cover, reloading, and clearing jams. Alertness and verbal disengagement skills are important, since it's better to avoid trouble in the first place. Of course, learning to make good shoot/no shoot decisions is important if you want to stay out of prison.

Shooting is an important part of defensive firearm use, but it's only one piece of the puzzle.

While not an expert, I do have a question. What do you want to use a rifle for? Is it for hunting, formal target shooting, plinking, etc., because your reason for the rifle vs a handgun will slant the answer. If it's for hunting, may I suggest a TC encore or contender, or one of the no longer made Savage strikers, or other hand cannons. I used to have a striker in .308 and used it deer hunting, until I forgot to close the muzzle brake and the noise physically hurt. I decided to sell it, but it was very accurate even at long range (with a rest.) It really comes down to what you want the rife for.

Take Care and Stay Safe.