left dominant eye, right handed, how do you handle it?

[johnson1942]

both my children are right handed and left dominant eyed. the sixteen year old son learned to shoot left handed and is good at it. my daughter most like will have to do the same. she just spent a couple of days with a glock in college as she is majoring in criminal justice. she did well the instructors said but suggested she learn to shoot left handed this summer with my handguns. their has to be several instructors out their and good shooters with this problem and can give us several suggestion on where to go with this. she sent us pictures of her targets and she did well. thanks before hand from you all.

[NSB]

When someone is learning to shoot any gun, be it handgun, rifle, or even a bow, it's not that hard to learn to shoot it left handed even if you are right handed. Even right handed people do a lot of things with their left hands, and do them well. Think about it.....shooting a bow isn't really "right handed" when you're holding the bow with your left hand. Shooting a shotgun requires you to use the left hand to guide the gun to the target. I've shot both ways over the years and found out that I could become quite proficient in very short order simply by working at it with a little bit of effort. I truly believe that if you're starting out and you're left eye dominant, you're way ahead of the game to simply shoot left handed. One more thought on this.....if you're pitching a ball while playing baseball, what hand do you catch with? Again, the left hand. It's all perception, not reality when we tell ourselves we had to do something with a particular hand. I used to get laughed at for shooting with either hand. I use to tell my buddies "I'm amphibeous, I can do it with either hand"

[dilly]

I shoot rifles left handed and pistols right handed from my left eye. I probably would have been better off to start shooting the pistols left handed but it never happened, and the cross dominance with a pistol is really not so bad.

Also, why do they make left handed guitars but not left handed pianos? Both rely heavily on the use of both hands.

[contender1]

A more common problem than many imagine. One eye is dominant over the opposite hand.
We teach shooting here, (we have a WOT clinic this weekend,) and we see this a lot. Even my wife, who is one of the top 10 ladies for the NRA WOT program is right handed, left eye dominant. I also shoot USPSA, and work as a RO. Just finished the Area 6 match. This is to let you know I see this a lot.

It can be handled in several ways.
If you want to train your "off" eye to where your eye & hand are the same dominance, you can add scotch tape to the lens of your glasses to "blur" the image to where the other eye does the work. If a person wears glasses daily, and can do this,, you can exercise your weaker eye to where it becomes stronger.The problem with this is many folks do not wear glasses daily, OR can tolerate the time & work it takes to make this happen. But I have seen competition shooters do this just for their matches. Very common there.

Next, as noted,, you can have them learn to shoot left handed. Not too hard,, but again, it takes work to MAKE yourself only pick up a firearm with the off hand & immediately grip it using the off hand as the dominant hand. Motor memory skills again are needed to assure that under stress,,, (such as a LEO shooting situation,) so a lot of practice is necessary. Dry-firing skills can work on this method a lot.
Next,, and I've also seen very accomplished shooters do this,,, is for a person to slightly "cant" the gun to align the sights with the dominant eye. The only problems with this method arise when shooting long distance, or with heavier recoiling handguns. When canted, a long range shot, (over 100 yds generally,) the alignment isn't the same as "normal" and can have a difference in accuracy. The longer the distance,,, the more noticeable the inaccuracy will appear. And in big bore handguns,, by canting the gun, or even turning the gun to align the sights,,, places more felt recoil in the grip.

Each person has to choose which method fits their needs & work on that method.
If SD is the primary objective, for a person who only occasionally shoots & isn't going to develop motor memory skills,,, then canting or turning the gun will work.
If a person is going to shoot a lot, and spend time with things, and shoot a diverse array of handguns,,, then learning to shoot left handed is excellent.
And if competition is your foray, then the simple tape over the lens works.

[dvnv]

"I shoot rifles left handed and pistols right handed from my left eye"

This...Rifles and shotguns left handed, handguns right handed. I'll note that I started shooting handguns left handed and after a year or so tried right handed and found I shot better. I use my left eye for all.

[Harter66]

I've been cross dominant for life . I learned long guns left handed from my Dad who lost his left eye at age 7 and a combat Marine that had to learn to shoot from scratch right handed on an M1 after shooting lefty the 1st 16 shooting yrs of his life because "Marines don't shoot left side " ,circa 1944.

I've always shot hand guns right handed because it just "felt weird" to have it in my left hand .
After 30 yrs of lefty I decided I should shoot a bow and my left eye took a dive . 15/20 to 20/40 in 18 months . The vision crash actually helped with the right handed bow draw ,I wasn't able to consistently lock the draw with the left side with a recurve and forget letting off on an unfired compound .

Now I shoot rifles mostly either way if I have time . I was very surprised to find my rifle on my left shoulder after shooting a running 165# boar. The same applies to the unexpected game flush with shotgun. Must be that muscle memory stuff . I also shoot both eyes open 90% of the time as I never in my 49 7/8 yr managed to learn to wink my right eye .

Being that there are so very few left handed hand guns available I wouldn't sweat the process. Buy a cheap lefty holster and let her work it for a week she will know whether it feels right or not ,if it doesn't flow and feel right it doesn't work to force it some people are able to just switch hands and it's just a change and some may as well be using their foot. I was very lucky to be taught by such diversified teachers .

If you and she can stand it watch saving private Ryan and pay attention to the sniper/Rifleman with Tom . He's a lefty and does the reach over bolt cycle but shoots his pistol right side . There is an advantage in the field also as the rifle and pistol don't run into each other when the rifle is slung .

My mom shoots both hands for pistol equally well but is more comfortable left hand right eye .

[Dusty Bannister]

While I was learning to shoot hanguns, I shot left handed, left eye, and right handed, right eye. The reason is if you shoot cross dominant, it seemed to me that the recoil movement was different. One tended to break the wrist to the side, and that pushed the hand across the body rather than vertically. I continue to practice with both hands and both eyes, just in case one becomes injured.
Sometimes, shooting with the weak hand will make one think a little more about their shooting and they do better. Dusty

[wlkjr]

As an RO I've noticed this a lot also. But it doesn't seem to hurt some people. I had a temporary issue with my right eye a few months ago and I shot left eye dominant for a couple of matches. Didn't seem to affect my score any. I'd say whichever eye works the best just go with it.

[yovinny]

My son is right handed, left eye dominant.
With long guns, he just closes his left eye. With hand guns, he shoots a modified weaver position that places the firearm in front of his left eye.
I dont think it's a big handicap for him (or maybe all those years of me yelling FRONT SIGHT finally sunk in,,,lol) as he took top shooter in his 1200 person class at the NYC Corrections academy a few weeks ago.

[Paul D. Heppner]

My oldest daughter is cross eye dominant, right handed left eye. We just went left handed on everything. She can't "wink" her right eye. We spent a very short time with the scotch tape thing, common trap/skeet shooter crutch. In doing so I firmly established the issue. The tape was taken away quickly because it buggers up your depth perception which is important in all shooting, especially wing shooting. She now does well with her left handed Remington 1100 and her Marlin 30-30. The handgun is up in the air right now as she hasn't got her permit yet. Probably go with a semi of some sort with a mag release that can be reversed. There are some left handed bows in there too.

Some interesting cross dominance trivia: From what I understand about 10% of the male population, about 30% of the female population, and about 30% of the athlete population (male and female) is cross dominant. Having worked in an archery shop for several years I found that young kids quite often don't have a dominant eye until they are 8 or 9. Figuring out which eye works is most important in archery because the arrow needs to be brought under the eye that the brain wants to rely on. Same goes for shot gunning.

[McLintock]

I've had that problem as I've been legally blind in my right eye since birth, but right handed in most things. I never bothered to shoot a handgun with my left hand until I got into Cowboy Action Shooting, where you use two handguns for each stage. I originally shot only with the right hand, using a cross draw holster for my left side gun, but finally decided to learn to shoot with the left hand, so I could use two strong side holsters. Took a little while, but just repetition and doing it, I got pretty comfortable with it, drawing, aiming and sqeezing the trigger. I think just do it in practice until she's comfortable with it.
McLintock

[flyingmonkey35]

I have cross eyed dominant since I was 12 when I injured my right eye.

The Army taught me to shoot pistols right handed and rifles left handed.

As they stated if your hitting the target that way who cares.

Strong hand for pistol. You aim where you point so its no big deal.

Left hand for rifle for the same reason.

Sent from my draconis using Tapatalk

[str8wal]

I am right eye dominant and left handed. I just learned to shoot right handed from a young age. It's really not that difficult if you start early.

[sixshot]

I'm left eye dominant & shoot right handed & its not a problem to simply squint a bit with my left eye to see the sights. For me thats much easier than trying to learn to shoot left handed & I'm a long time competition USPSA shooter & did very well until old age tapped me on the shoulder. I never had a problem simply squinting a bit & my revolver ran just as fast as almost anyone in the country for several years. Also it would be easier to slightly move the gun to the left eye than to learn to shoot with the left hand in my opinion, I've done that lots of times & its quite easy to do & still stay fast on the trigger. Switching hands would be a last resort for me even though we did quite a bit of weak hand shooting in major matches.

Dick

[pworley1]

My son has the same problem (left handed right eye dominant). He shoots both rifle and pistol right handed. He has never had a problem.

[Bigslug]

Keep your head upright and cant the gun to the dominant eye.

[bedbugbilly]

I'm right handed and right eye dominant - but have lost the central vision in my right eye so now must must use my left eye as "dominant" so to speak. I really can't explain "how" but for me, after shooting probably 40 years and having to use my left eye for the last 10 or so years . . . you just adjust to it.

Some may disagree with me . . . but if your children are right handed and left eye dominant - for pistol . . . put an eye patch over the right eye so they have no vision out of that eye and start shooting. They'll learn.

As far as rifle . . . I now have to shoot left handed but it really isn't any issue for me whether it be a lever gun, bolt, etc. A semi auto might cause a problem depending on where it ejects the casing.

I do think that if they are young, shooting both right handed and left handed with a dominant left eye would be a good thing to practice. I not only shoot semi-auto but a lot of revolver as well - both DA (llSmith K & J frame) and SA Army style revolvers. If I am shooting one handed (right hand) I have learned to hold at the proper angle with my left eye doing all the work. Two handed - the same way.

[johnson1942]

i thanks every one for the response. when she is home for the summer in 2 wks. and the weather is better we will shoot alot with my 2, 38 special revolvers and see where it goes. ive been loading all day and will have a icecream pail full of ammo for her to burn up. i dont have any semi autos but she can learn how to hold, and feel comfortable with a hand gun.

[rbuck351]

I am right handed right eye dominant and shoot hand gun with both eyes open. If you concentrate on the target, each eye sees a gun but the brain will make the non dominant eye barely see a gun. It takes little effort to move the other gun to the target thus switching eyes. With just a bit of practice you can shoot with which ever eye you want.

[Ural Driver]

I am right handed...I shoot right handed. Handguns, long guns, shotguns and bow. Never knew I was left eye dominate until I was about 25 years old.......didn't change a thing.