Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire offset gun stock - is this a real thing?

I shoot right handed but I am left eye dominant

Some shotguns are made like this. I think a better idea is to teach yourself to shoot off the other shoulder. I knew a guy who did that and spent a whole summer relearning how to shoot. He has now won state championships in several categories.

Other guys just shoot with one eye open, or put a piece of tape over one glasses lens.

I would think the rifle in your photo would slap the cheek pretty hard when recoiling.

In a rifle, being cross dominant doesn't matter one whit. In handgunning, it does to a small degree, because you instinctively line the sights up to your dominant eye rather than the eye that matches with your hand dominance, but all that means is that you have to cock your head a little bit, and it has almost no practical consequence. Now, with most forms of sport shotgunning (particularly when flushing upland birds, or when engaged in skeet or trap shooting), it does make a big difference, because it will slow you down when you're engaged in snap shooting. The front bead needs to come right up to the correct eye without thinking. For that, being same eye/hand dominant makes for a huge advantage vs being cross dominant.

Yes, it is not rare. More often seen on shotguns IME.

spoken by someone that shoots with one eye closed.

Yes.

I would think that would resolve the issue, assuming the non dominant eye is good.

I have one

My FIL shot rifles with both eyes open, he RARELY missed. I am right handed and left eyed................... I close the dominant eye. I could probably learn, but the sight picture fluctuates between dominant and non-dominant...

PS: I have a Belgian cape gun that was built with cast off in the stick, and it fits like a dream................. for a left handed guy not so much!

I wish I had that when I was a kid playing Cowboys and Indians, good for peeking around trees and not getting capped.

I knew a skeet referee who was blinded in his master eye by a no.9 shot that bounced back after hitting a clay target. Million to one shot. He had a stock like that.

A little off subject maybe, but I bought a Beretta 391 when they came out several years ago. First gun I ever bought with an adjustable stock. I literally couldn't knock a bird down if it was stopped in midair. One day I took aim at a fence post with the gun empty, maintained my stance and closed my eyes and mounted the shotgun again. It was pointing so far left when I opened my eyes I knew something was way out of whack. I got looking at the the stock and it had came Cast On and with a right handed safety from the factory. Reversed to Cast Off for a right handed shooter and removed some drop in the stock and what a difference it made in that gun.

Might be an issue of only one good eye.
Having that happen after gaining shooting experience, offset stock might be the fix.

Yes. As said, an expensive make for those who's master eye differs from their shoulder preference. The nuns probably hit them with rulers when they tried to switch to the proper shoulder as kids. While the build corrects the master eye alignment issue it should still make for some recoil to the nose, mouth, or eyebrow if a heavy kicker is involved. Closing or patching an eye might work in the stationary target realm, but is an issue for snap shooting, shot gunning, and depth perception. Also eliminates half of ones view when out in a hunting situation which is a bit of a safety issue.

As said above, astute parents should make note and school the kid to shoot from the proper shoulder. Muscle memory can be erased if a kid is started improperly. Neural wiring is another cat indeed.

In our Hunter Ed classes, about 1/2 of the left eye dominant kids have been improperly initiated by parents. Seems most just assume and fail to check eye dominance. A neighbor was just in the other day and had started his, not known to him, left eyed daughter from the right shoulder. When he stepped her up to a 223, she ate a scope a few times and has lost interest in shooting. Handed her one of Cookie's cameras to check out and she uses her left eye to peer through the viewfinder.

Interesting I had never heard of or seen such a thing. I was lucky to be left handed but right eye dominant. My uncle and grandpa were both shooting coaches and taught me to shoot right handed before I was old enough to have much of a preference one way or the other.

As soon as I saw this I thought of Nora. A cross dominate shooter with a stock to accommodate. I'd lost track of her success as I quit shooting trap years ago, so I googled her. I guess if you look up successful trap shooter in the dictionary, her picture would be there.

Notice how she mounts the gun. And, has for millions of times.

Mount in video looks normal, but when I freeze frame, it looks like her left eye is closed when the shots break. Can't really assay the stock build. Sounds like she has done well despite.

Just asking, but at 1:33 they show her shooting with her left eye closed

seems like a good idea but I don't think I'd ever buy one. The closest I get is buying stocks without cheek relief to let me switch up if I want.