Left eye dominant but right handed.......

[dmanflynn]

Is it worth it to try to start shooting left handed with my bolt guns and AR's if Im right handed? My right eye sucks horribly whether its shooting irons or scoped. When I transfer to the other side its like night and day, but my motor mechanics are obviously all screwed up because I'm right handed. I have a horrible time shooting with both eyes open on irons without losing my sight picture in my right eye. Is it something that just takes a lot of training to overcome or what?

[Paul45]

I have the same issue as you. I switched to left hand for rifle and bow about 25 years ago. I still shoot handguns right handed. Give it a try.

[Abraxas]

*******

[orionz06]

I am on the same boat, I work all right handed.

[tip2oo3]

I'm also in the same boat as you. It took me a while to adjust my pistol shooting to accommodate getting my left eye behind that rear sight. On a rifle sometimes I just need a half second to close my left eye to get everything to focus in my right, then i'm good to go with eyes open looking through glass. Practice and find out what works for you

[kry226]

Me too. No need to change. You can train yourself to deal with it. I actually shoot quite well right-handed with a dominant left-eye.

[HES]

This is why I am so glad that I started my kids shooting when I did. My daughter (just turned 12) too is cross eyed dominant. So I have been training her to shoot left handed. She is getting the hang of it. At first she resisted the idea, but as her marksmanship has greatly improved she saw the light and is now enjoying shooting again.

[uwe1]

Are you merely left eye dominant and your right eye is capable of 20/20 vision, or is your right eye amblyopic (lazy, capable of less than 20/20 vision)?


Is it worth it to try to start shooting left handed with my bolt guns and AR's if Im right handed? My right eye sucks horribly whether its shooting irons or scoped. When I transfer to the other side its like night and day, but my motor mechanics are obviously all screwed up because I'm right handed. I have a horrible time shooting with both eyes open on irons without losing my sight picture in my right eye. Is it something that just takes a lot of training to overcome or what?

[Belmont31R]

Im left eye dominate but right handed. Luckily neither of my eyes are messed up as Im rated better than 20/20 out of each eye. My left eye just is the dominate one.



Ive just trained myself over many years to use my right when shooting. I do shoot very well instinctively though. But maybe that has something to do with me shooting competitive trap for 5 years...

[m4fun]

I too am in a similar boat. I was raised right handed(but am left handed) and left eye dominant. I continue to train and work "right" handed. I used to do the "pistol right hand but use left eye." For the past few years been training up the right eye - vision is 20/15 thanks to Lasik.

Now check out LAV - pistol right handed, rifle left handed. First course I took with him I trying to crack that egg until I asked him. Right handed, left eye dominant(if memory serves). I believe he was utilizing left eye even though firing right handed. Now given - he can fire whatever amazingly so it might really not matter :)

Training to a method the seems to work sorta well and if it sorta works - train till you make it real! Muscle memory!

[skyugo]

i've kinda trained myself around it. my eye dominance is pretty mild though.. almost ambi eyed. shooting lots of pistol helped i think.

[MarkG]

Welcome to the club. Learn to shoot from both sides though. It comes in handy during training classes and three gun matches...

[ROCKET20_GINSU]

I am in the same boat as well. left eye dominant but right handed. I shoot long guns w/ left hand and hand guns w/ right hand. There are alot of great cross-dominant shooters out there.

GU

[uwe1]

It is my belief as an optometrist, from a theoretical standpoint (everyone is different of course), that a person can train themselves to be proficient with their non-dominant eye (as long as that eye isn't amblyopic).

For example, I am very right eye dominant, but can will myself to switch to the left if I had to. However, my right eye will always want to take over if I lose focus/concentration and I'll have to reacquire the sight picture with the non-dominant eye.

[surfinguru]

Same here. Right handed, left eye dominant. I had lasik done about 10 months ago now and have 15/15, so I'm g2g there. I just recently completed a 4 day handgun class and forced myself to use my right eye for the duration of the class. After 800+ live rounds and almost equal dry fire practice drills, I'm defaulting to the right eye now. Once in a while I catch myself trying to go left eye, but I'll stop and reset the sight picture for the right eye. At 42 and only shooting for ~3 years, I figure I still have the opportunity to "learn" to use the right eye without detriment.

edit: uwe1's post was my thought process going into the class I just took.

[BWT]

Another left eye dominant right handed shooter. (I think now that I've got the system figured out you guys are showing up in droves. :p )

I shoot pistol right handed and rifle left handed.

Honestly, some guys can close their left eye and make it work. I just found...

- It's unnatural if you're ever shooting and moving, IMO.

- It adds another step to presenting the weapon, that can be disorienting.

- You have reduced peripheral vision (from what I've heard I think it's about 30%, which in a competitive environment, and self defense environment, situational awareness is key)

That's what really drove me to make the switch, is it a PITA?

Yeah, but, you get used to it rather quickly, and it really does help you become proficient with weak and and strong hand, which is a great addition. It adds more parts to the weapon and cost, but, I feel it's worth it.

[scubadds]

Another Left eye dominant and right handed.
I shoot pistol right handed most of the time, but have considered switching to lefty with the pistol as it feels/shoots almost as well as the right hand , just not a good at controlling recoil at this point.

I shoot rifles left handed.

I have found transitioning from rifle to pistol seems easier/quicker as the rifle swings out of the way for your pistol and you can be indexing and bringing up your pistol while your left hand is still on the grip of the rifle.

[Robb Jensen]

Eye dominance varies in people.

I'm cross dominant too. Left eye, right handed.
I can shoot precision guns right handed if I'm only shooting a few rounds. If I'm going to be there for a while I'll shot these left handed.
Standard carbines with Aimpoints or low powered scopes I shoot right handed. Handguns right handed. Some of the best pistol shooters I know are cross dominant as well these include LAV, Phil Strader, Saul Kirsch, Dave Sevigny, Simon G.

I find no handicap shooting right handed at all.
Example:
My wife took these of me shooting prone at 200yds on Sunday at the Topton PA 3man 3gun match. She got 30 frames of me (our Canon 50D does 6.3 frames per second), first frame was mid air going prone, shooting prone and then last frame clearing the gun. That means that I shot 4 targets (8" steel plates) at 200yds in 4.7seconds. I shot with my scope on 4x with both eyes open.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/gotm4/3man%203gun/robbgoingproneat200yds.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/gotm4/3man%203gun/robbproneat200yds.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/gotm4/3man%203gun/robbdoneat200ydprone.jpg

[rudy99]

I'm in this same category, which makes it difficult for me to run irons on a rifle. Would it help to run either an Aimpoint or EOTech in this situation? I'm thinking with optics and both eyes open, you'd only see one red dot, as opposed to using irons, where you have two sight pictures. Any thoughts on this? I haven't had the opportunity to look through a red dot that was mounted on a rifle to see if this would work.

[YammyMonkey]

You can make it work either way. IMO, you'll see the most benefit if you use your dominant eye side. The caveat here is that you have to be dedicated to it. It'll be weird & slow work before it "feels" right but you'll probably pick up the performance relatively quickly.

You can get to a high level of skill shooting cross but I think it'll be more work long-term to maintain a high level of skill as opposed to more work up front to switch.

If you're willing to put in the work dry & live fire then switch hands. If you're just shooting for fun then do whatever.

[orionz06]

Some of the best pistol shooters I know are cross dominant as well these include LAV, Phil Strader, Saul Kirsch, Dave Sevigny, Simon G.


I think this is enough to let me rest easy and focus on just shooting.

[M4Fundi]

Just using Aimpoint solved this for me. I think its actually advantageous to be be Curse-Eye Dominant and use an Aimpoint. For some reason Eotecs don't work for me which is fine since I prefer the Aimpoint.

[M76F]

I'm left handed, right eye dominant. I've shot rifles right handed for years, not because of eye dominance but because that's how I learned to shoot as a kid.

I shoot pistols left handed because it feels much more natural to me. I have trouble shooting a pistol both eyes open. I have to close my right eye to do it. I've tried learning how for years, but never really got it down.