Anyone ever change their strongside hand?

[Lucky Strike]

I'm right handed (write and eat right handed) but am left eye dominant. When playing baseball in school though i was able to bat left or right handed equally well (well being a relative term).

Last time out shooting I was practicing one hand shooting with my right and left hands and then had the idea to shoot two handed but using my left hand as the strong hand which i've never done before. My groups were noticeably a little better then regular.

Now I don't know if that's just because I was taking my time more since it was something new but I'm now going to practice this each time I go shooting to see if it's a trend that holds up over time.

Just wondering if anyone else has permanently switched their strong hand. It'd be kind of annoying to have to buy a bunch of new holsters.

[joker581]

I'm right handed (write and eat right handed) but am left eye dominant. When playing baseball in school though i was able to bat left or right handed equally well (well being a relative term).

Last time out shooting I was practicing one hand shooting with my right and left hands and then had the idea to shoot two handed but using my left hand as the strong hand which i've never done before. My groups were noticeably a little better then regular.

Now I don't know if that's just because I was taking my time more since it was something new but I'm now going to practice this each time I go shooting to see if it's a trend that holds up over time.

Just wondering if anyone else has permanently switched their strong hand. It'd be kind of annoying to have to buy a bunch of new holsters.

I'm working on doing that. I can shoot well enough right handed so the switch is going to have to wait until I have more time to practice drawing left handed.

[Lucky Strike]

I'm working on doing that. I can shoot well enough right handed so the switch is going to have to wait until I have more time to practice drawing left handed.


Yeah it's the ancillary stuff that'll be interesting...shooting left handed I seem to be able to do fine but stuff like reloading and clearing malfunctions will take a while before they feel natural

[TOrrock]

One of the best shooters and instructors in the world is cross dominant.

Larry Vickers is right handed but left eye dominant. He shoots his handguns from the right hand, both eyes open, but carbines and rifles from his left side.

He seems to do pretty well......and there are some advantages to running it this way.

[SeriousStudent]

GotM4 posted that Dave Sevigny is cross eye dominant as well, I believe. From what I hear, he shoots pretty well also. ;)

I was born right eye dominant. I got dinged around a bit, and that changed.

I'm now left eye dominant, and right handed. I shoot rifles right handed, and pistols left handed. I just have learned to hold the pistol to allow my left eye to function correctly.

And as Templar have pointed out, it makes transitioning to your secondary weapon very fast.

[Detmongo]

i will switch hands when clearing a house so that i can minimize myself on coners or when using cover. if i need to be a lefty i become a lefty. i shoot a bit with my left hand so that if i have to do it for real it will become second nature for me. i also switch hands without thinking about it.

[YammyMonkey]

I switched hands & have found a few advantages over shooting ala LAV. Transitioning I like the extra control I have ditching the rifle with my support side hand while my weapon hand goes for my pistol. Now that my less dexterous/strong hand is in charge of the gun (& good at that) I have my right hand for fighting, manipulating, digging for car keys, dialing 911, etc. Claude over at the Rodgers School has noticed that cross-dominant shooters using their strong hand & eye are a bit slower in the course than those who switched. If you look at the drawstroke it is shorter if the gun stays on the same side of the body as the eye it'll end up under.

While I think that using the hand that's on the same side as your dominant eye is the most correct answer, in the end I don't think there are a lot of people out there that are willing to put the time in to change to the point that they'd be better off shooting with their dominant eye side. At the same time, there are some very talented cross-dominant shooters who are orders of magnitude better than the vast majority of shooters.

Since I've made the switch I'm glad I did, but I don't know if it was necessarily a benefit for the first few years after I made the switch. On the other hand I can now shoot pretty well with either hand. The right is lagging a little because I didn't keep up with it while I was making the transition so I have some backsliding to fix, but more than anything I like the security of knowing I can swap sides without much of an issue.

[Surf]

As mentioned by Detmongo, I too am very comfortable and change sides often enough to better suit my situation. I find that I am often more accurate with when I switch sides as I do not take as much for granted in my shooting. I tend to concentrate more and pay more close attention to the fundamentals. Same for a rifle. I will admit however that my speed, especially with my manipulations, reloads etc, are not as quick.

[blackboar]

I am right handed (I write right handed, right eye dominate). However I was born with a physical deformity in my right arm. My right arm is significantly weaker and is about 3 inches shorter than my left. As a result, I've adapted to be left hand strong side for shooting pistols. I do have to shoot cross sided and favor a weaver stance because I am right side dominate.

The funny thing is when it comes to rifles, I am still right hand dominate. So when transitioning to pistols, I just let go of my support hand (left) on my rifle while I drop the rifle to my side with my right hand and can simultaneously draw my pistol from my left side where my holster is :D.