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Right handed, left eye dominant?
Sidewinder315
Member Posts: 96 ✭✭
I must first say I am new to pistol shooting, I have been a rifle/shotgun hunter for many years. I am right handed, and left eye dominant. In the past I have always compensated for this by either using scopes or red dot type sites, and it has worked well enough to be a decent shooter. Having said this, this pistol shooting a whole new animal. Should I be training my self to learn to shoot left handed? Are there any tricks to being left eye dominant and shooting right handed pistols?[?]
Comments
patch your right eye or kiss your right bicep as you sight in. its called the cross over method.
ive been doing it my entire career.
no problems at all.
Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
Former NSSA All American
Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
MO, CT, VA.
http://www.easyhit.co.uk/testeyes.html
There is a world of info on Google, type in Right hand shooter left eye dominant[;)]
OK I will sure give it a try, thanks so much.
I had much the same problem but found it fairly easy to learn to shoot with both eyes open. I don't shoot compitition though, and not sure how this is viewed by others, but it works for me.
Its was sometimes a problem with rifles because most were right handed when I was young. I guess a flintlock right handed could be downright dangerous. Burn off your eyebrows!!
At least I can hammer just as bad from either hand.
If you are using a conventional two handed isoceles stance it makes zero difference since the gun is basically in the middle of your plane of sight anyway.
If you like a Weaver stance it probably HELPS to be left-eye dominant.
If you want to shoot gallery style (one handed) just do as Bobski says and turn your head to the extreme right to bring your dominant (left) eye in line with the sights. That's what I do whenever I shoot bullseye. (I also put some tape over my right shooting glasses eye lens so I can both eyes open).
It helps to have a slightly more "square" stance (ie feet slightly more parallel to the shooting line, rather than both in a straight line with the gun and target), so you don't have to rotate your head quite as severely to the right. You do have to experiment a bit with stance to find one that is comfortable, repeatable, and gives you a good view of your sights.
quote:Originally posted by Sidewinder315
OK I will sure give it a try, thanks so much.
I had much the same problem but found it fairly easy to learn to shoot with both eyes open. I don't shoot compitition though, and not sure how this is viewed by others, but it works for me.
Kinda funny, but I shoot rifles left handed, also shoot pool left handed, most everything else right handed...an oddball I guess.lol
If only that was the problem.[:D]
An old Army shooting instructor showed me an easy fix that was cheap. Take a 1 gallon milk jug the frosted plastic type and cut out the same shape in a slightly diameter of your lens of your glasses or shooting glasses. Cut a notch leaving tabs into the outside edge where it will lock onto the arm of your glasses. You then put it inside of the lense. This allows you to keep that eye open and lets light through so that you don't squint. Awkward at first but it worked well for me. Cheap and easy so you might give it a shot.
The idea is that you can keep both eyes open while shooting without getting double vision.
It also reduces fatigue and tension. Using translucent (as opposed to transparent) Scotch tape over that lens accomplishes the same thing. . .lets light in, but obscures vision of details.
I also only mask off the central area of the field of vision of my right eye, leaving the edges untaped. That way part of the peripheral field of vision is still binocular, in theory helping with orientation and balance. Only the central part (ie the part that looks at the target) is blocked off.
I teach people to deal with this by adjusting both the head and shoulder to align the entire arm with the dominant eye, not just turning and lowering the head to chase the sights.
Keeping your face pointed downrange, lower your head slightly to the right and at the same time rotate your shoulder up just a bit to move your entire arm upwards and to the left. No portion of your head should touch your bicep, but your jawbone should be closest. The key is combining slight head movement with slight shoulder rotation until sight alignment is achieved, meaning you're not looking out the corner of your eye and no gross adjustment is made that causes strain.
IMHO, everyone has slight physical differences and when shooting a handgun it's better to make minor adjustments to accommodate these than straining to achieve a textbook perfect position or trying to "re-train" your eyes. This isn't always an option.
so she shoots pistol with either hand but she likes to shoot left handed better because of the dominate eye thing
This whole deal is like asking a golfer if he breathes in? or out? when he's taking a backswing. Did that to a friend of mine one day and he couldn't "hit the broad side of a barn" that morning.[:D]
I started shooting pistols when I was a teenager. Picked it up with my right hand, shot it aiming with my left eye.
Fast forward to 1974, at the NE Georgia Police Academy in Athens, GA.
I was the smallest officer in the class, and carried the biggest pistol, a S&W Model 27, 5 inch barrel. (This was in the day an officer bought and carried his own duty weapon.) The First Place Trophy was and is mine!!
If you're like me, mostly right handed and left eye dominant, or vice versa, or 'screwed up' somewhat like that...... do whatever comes natural.
"It ain't how you hold your weapon .... It's how you shoot it!"
allot of people try to lean their heads, when just moving the gun slightly to the left will suffice, i have taught people in one day how do do this correctly, draw the weapon with your right hand as normal, keep your head and shoulders strait, now just move the gun over to your left eye, you may need to can't the gun slightly depending on your build and freedom of movement
i am not a big advocate of re training a eye to be dominate, unless the non dominate eye is stronger one of the two
also too, taping your weak eyes iris does not eliminate the need for the good eye to align with the sighting plain. if the gun is in your right hand, there is no way you can align the left eye without moving your head. patching eliminates the double vison, but alignment remains a physical requirement to move the head,(twist to the right.)
if forcing someone to switch to shooting left hand was the true answer, then guns would not have been made 'ergomatic' or with reversable safeties etc...asking a righty to switch to left, is like making a lefty shoot righthanded. the finger that does our daily work is the finger that should pull the trigger. its the most sensitive because its used the most. your brain likes it just that way.
hope this helps.
Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
Former NSSA All American
Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
MO, CT, VA.
...asking a righty to switch to left, is like making a lefty shoot righthanded. the finger that does our daily work is the finger that should pull the trigger. its the most sensitive because its used the most. your brain likes it just that way.
Back when I taught basic academy recruits I used an eye opening weak-hand exercise. I'd pop this on them after they'd got the fundamentals down, had been exposed to some weak-hand shooting and were feeling confident now that they'd seen their scores rise and start getting consistent.
I'd have them fire a basic 50 rd. standing-on-line course for score, then turn around and immediately have them shoot this same course of fire weak-handed. When this was announced you'd see that worried look appear in the eyes of even the best shooters in the class.
After shooting the course they'd all be shocked to see that their scores didn't actually drop much at all. They showed themselves that the fundamentals they'd been programming into their heads do in fact work with the other hand. Their overall confidence level now rose above where it was to begin with and they'd more quickly pick up the upcoming weak-hand cover position drills.
This exercise demonstrated to them that weak hand shooting only feels awkward. People will invariably shoot better with one hand or the other, but the most difficult part of shooting competently with the weak hand is in the head.
shooting is 99% 'in the head.' but the head calls the shots.
im not discouraging left hand practice and efficiency, but its a lot easier to turn your head 1 inch than reinventing the wheel and relearning muscle memory with the guns design.[;)]
Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
Former NSSA All American
Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
MO, CT, VA.
facts
left handed shooters with right eye dominance are the fastest to acquire a target, followed closely by right handed left eye dominate, then right handed right eye dominate, in last place left handed left eye dominate
allot of old school method of shooting is dead, weaver stance etc., this is how new world records are being made
but what do i know
shooting is 99% 'in the head.' but the head calls the shots.
im not discouraging left hand practice and efficiency, but its a lot easier to turn your head 1 inch than reinventing the wheel and relearning muscle memory with the guns design.[;)]
People demonstrating to themselves that they're capable of more than they realize is a major hurdle in learning, but they have to be forced to push out of their mental box.
This is the issue people are facing when they mention their opposite eye shooting problem. This issue first requires a mental fix. People often have it built up in their head that they MUST use the corresponding eye, but it simply isn't true with defensive type handgun shooting. I'm with you that it's a simple matter of making slight accommodations in stance and pressing on. If they then focus on always doing it in precisely this manner it magically become natural. The head calls the shots, but sometimes you have to break through preconceived barriers in order for it to work to it's potential.