Buying a shotgun for a right handed-left eye dominant shooter

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John T. Amber wrote an interesting article about "sinistral" shooting. He had some stocks with rather extreme cast-off to allow shooting off the right shoulder using the left eye. It was in one of the Gun Digest annuals in the 70's. Don't know what year offhand, I don't have that book anymore.
 
John T. Amber wrote an interesting article about "sinistral" shooting. He had some stocks with rather extreme cast-off to allow shooting off the right shoulder using the left eye. It was in one of the Gun Digest annuals in the 70's. Don't know what year offhand, I don't have that book anymore.
I read the article years ago. I remember thinking that recoil would be hard on a guy's cheek.
 
I might be in this boat. I've never done much left hand but I would like to try and see if I end up shooting better.

I don't have a O/U or SxS, but want one some day. Is the cast off obvious when picking one up, or is it just the way the sight is set up?
 
If you look directly down on it from the top you can usually see the cast-off, easier if you make sure it's unloaded and reverse it and look down the barrels from the muzzle, you can see the stock is bent or kicked away.
 
I agree with all of the folks who advocate shooting a shotgun with both eyes open. I was 16 when I got a job setting/pulling trap/skeet at a long forgotten place in Elkhorn, NE (Roberts' Shooting Park, part of the Roberts' Dairy: it is now the site of a community college!) in the late 60's, and was taught that concept. No matter which eye is dominant, one "points" a shotgun (as opposed to "aiming" a rifle) and with a bit of practice one will adjust to the sight picture. Back in the day I shot skeet with a Remington 870 12 gauge IC choke with a front bead and a center bead on the vent rib (in "vogue" at the time), and never used either in my sight picture because what I concerned myself with was the muzzle of the shotgun in relation to the moving target (and I admit to have never shot 25 straight in one round). Just prior to pheasant season, a lot of guys would come out to practice their "expertise" and would miss hitting 2 out of 3 clays on the skeet range. As a puller, I would stand directly behind the shooter and could see the shot cloud in relation to the target. These guys were using the bead on the target AND stopping the gun, so most missed shots were above and behind the clay (back in the day, the clays from both high and low houses had to cross a center stake 23 yards from each of the stations (at about 73 mph) except Station #8, which was basically a nearly straight oncoming shot in each direction at the same clay speed).

In my hunting experience, if the rooster did not run down the cornfield row and then fly (a fairly straight-on shot requiring little lead), then one would have to revert to getting the muzzle of the gun way out in front of the bird if a crossing shot.

My longest shot on a bird (pheasant) was when I was home on leave from the USAF in 1972 and had to borrow my Dad's Win Model 12 16 gauge 28" full choke with no vent rib and a VERY small front sight bead, near David City NE and it was stepped off at 65 paces by my Dad's hunting buddy who retrieved it along with his black Lab, Judy. Unless one is using slugs for deer/black bear, or using large shot for turkey, there is no reason to close an eye.

Sorry to be so long winded. Just a 64-year-old fart reminiscing.

Just my $.02 worth.

Jim
 
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I'm left eye/right handed. I shoot shotguns left handed. My left eye will always take over trying to pick up a moving target. I use right handed shotguns, never have had a problem with ejecting shells crossing my field of view. I do like the Mossberg 500 tang safety or Maverick 88 cross bolt at the front if the trigger guard opposed to the Ithaca or Remington cross bolt at the rear of the trigger guard. Sometimes the palm of my left hand can engage the safety when firing the remmys.
Pistols i shoot best right handed and most semiauto rifles i shoot right handed, mostly to keep hot brass out of my face
 
Hey guys, I'm fairly new to guns and shooting and am planning on purchasing my first shotgun in some time. Im for sure left eye dominant but I do everything right handed. Sorry if this question already exists answered somewhere out there.

Buy a left handed gun and learn to shoot left handed?
Or buy a right handed gun?

Please give me some suggestions for what would be best in the long run, Thanks

I have the same issue. I've never had problems shooting right-handed firearms left-handed. Only time I've ever been hit with ejected brass was once from a .50 AE Desert Eagle. I've been shooting the Rem 870 since I was about 12. I've shot several Rem 1100s and 11/87s, and a couple Benelli semi-autos without problems. I can recommend the tang safety on the Mossberg as being more ambi than the crossbolt safety on the Remington and easy to manipulate provided you don't have a pistol grip stock.

In insist on buying left-handed bolt guns but other than that, I just shoot the regular right-handed guns left-handed. Actually, it ends up being an advantage as often as not because you have your stronger and more dexterous hand supporting the weapon and running the controls. Older rifles like the AK and M1A with reciprocating charging handles on the right side end up being easier for you to run than it is for the 85% of the population that shoots right handed. You can run the pump or slide on a shotgun faster and with more authority. Yeah, cross eye dominance isn't all that bad.
 
Left eye dominate and primarily right hand shooter. The Browning BPS pump has tang safety and bottom ejection so about as truly ambidextrous as you can get in a pump shotgun. You should practice shooting on both shoulders as an earlier post mentioned more so to do with self defense needs.

For most cross dominate shooters, this is an over rated topic. For some which eye they use can make a big difference. Try shooting both sides and see after you reach a plateau in your ability if it matters. It may or may not matter. I didn't know this was a potential issue to consider until I joined this forum back in 2009.

For what it's worth, up I shoot in a trap league. Between that, sporting clays, and hunting, I shoot 50 weeks out of the year with my shotgun. I mostly shoot right handed because that was how I learned and find it more comfortable. I just squint so my right eye takes over. I hit 20/25 at trap as my average. While it won't win competitions, but most folks in the league do ore or less the same.
 
You are at a disadvantage if you do shoot on your dominate eye side. Especially on wild game but also on sporting clays. It is because the hand opposite the dominate eye points at the target naturally, and having both eyes open gives you better depth reception and target tracking. For trap where you are shooting at a called target in front of you at an expected range and position it isn't as important but it still best to shoot on the side of your dominate eye. As another poster said there are work arounds especially for people that learned wrong in the first place.
 
It is well worth the effort to learn to shoot left handed. It took me about 6 months to get up to speed.

I shot right handed guns for a number of years with no issues until I ran across an 80's vintage left handed wingmaster with a light contour barrel. I really like having a left handed gun. It just seems more natural loading etc..
 
Eye dominance is very important with shotguns. With rifles you can close that dominant left eye, but with shotguns you want both eyes open. Yes, It is a pain, but I really think that you need to get used to shouldering a shotgun on the left side.

Oh, I don't think that you need a "left handed" gun, unless you want a semi-auto that doesn't kick the shells forward. Most pump guns will work just fine in right hand ejection, and there is also the world of doubles, SxS and OU.
O/U shotguns come in left and right handed models as well. The stock curves to the left or right with cast on or cast off. Shooting the wrong one will make it tougher for you.

That why most pump and semi shotguns come with shims.
 
Hey guys, I'm fairly new to guns and shooting and am planning on purchasing my first shotgun in some time. Im for sure left eye dominant but I do everything right handed. Sorry if this question already exists answered somewhere out there.

Buy a left-handed gun and learn to shoot left handed?
Or buy a right handed gun?

Please give me some suggestions for what would be best, in the long run, Thanks
I too am right-handed but left eye dominant. I have been shooting since I was six and will be 67 in a couple of weeks. FOR ME I shoot handguns right handed and both eyes open. For shooting rifles and shotguns, however, I shoot left-handed. It is the only way that works for me and it is what I recommend for you.
 
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Had a kid in 4-H Trap wear tape over the left eye of his safety glasses, then take it off for .22 . Seemed kind of backwards to me. In his defense, he was hitting the hard lefts with the left eye covered.
 
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