[MarkM]

I am right handed but left eyed dominance. I have switched to shooting a bow left handed with good results. With long guns I have not taken the time to switch and just close my left eye. Will this matter shooting a handgun? Do I still shoot right handed but just keep both eyes open and use the left one?

Mark

 

[mchlwise]

My right eye has deteriorated with age to the point that my left is much sharper. My right has been dominant all my life, and I still sometimes feel the urge to use it to shoot, but instead use my left.

I shoot right handed, with my head turned slightly to the right, right eye closed and sighting with the left.

I've been pleased with how it's worked out so far. I think my lack of hitting what I want to has much more to do with poor technique than poor eyesight.

 

[reid36]

I have this same curse. It took some getting used to and alot of practise but i havebeen able to get pretty comfortable and pretty darn accurate shooting right-handed with my left eye (but both eyes open) it now feels unnatural to do it any other way. Just practise bringing your gun up, with both eyes open and using your left eye, attaining a good sight picture. you'll be fine.

 

[GeneticsDave]

I shoot right handed, with my head turned slightly to the right, right eye closed and sighting with the left.

This is the most common method of overcoming this conflict of dominance and is taught in many schools.

 

[NotSoSimple]

I use to think it was a curse but shooting against a family friend who is right handed, left eye dominent said otherwise. In fact I took a consultant from work shooting and he had the same 'condition' and wasnt half bad at all.

 

[apollosmith]

I'm right handed but my left eye is slightly dominant. There really are three approaches you can take:

1. Use your left, dominant eye.

You will lose some peripheral vision to your left by doing this. Some people train themselves to put their chin on or near their shoulder when aiming.

2. Close or squint your dominant eye so the right eye is used to focus.

If your left eye is dominant because your vision is much worse in your right eye, then this isn't advisable. I slightly squint when attaining the gun sites and then once things are properly in focus and aligned, I can fully open my left eye and maintain peripheral vision without the eye dominance shifting. It's taken a very long time to train my brain and body to do this.

3. Train your right eye to be dominant when aiming.

This takes a LONG time to do and it now works for me most of the time, but I still squint out of habit and to ensure that my left eye doesn't try to take over.

I think the key is to do what is most comfortable and do it enough that you know that's what your body will do in a stressful situation. In a pressured situation, I'd rather fall back on my habit of squinting than rely on my brain to sort out the gun sites appropriately.

While my left eye is slightly dominant, I have never met a person that has better eyesight than I do. I really feel blessed for this - especially because my wife is blind as a bat without glasses or contacts.

 

[Paul]

I am left handed but right eye dominant. On my rifles I learned years ago to use the correct (left) eye.

On my handguns though I use my dominant ("wrong") eye, my right eye. I basically just put my chin against my left shoulder and the sight picture with my right eye works great. For you righties put your chin against your right shoulder. Seems like way too much work to me to train myself to use my left eye. Shooting a pistol is MUCH different from a rifle so I see no problem with using different eyes depending on the situation and the gun. I say do what your body does naturally.

 

[gr8grandma]

try this one ..

http://bernardoh.wordpress.com/2007/10/ ... the-brain/

If I scroll down slowly I can make her go the opposite way.

 

[mom of 3 angels]

My husband has this. He shot a lot before someone taught him about eye dominance, then he said "That's what's going on!" Crazy. He has always shot his rifles right handed, but recently had shoulder surgery and has learned to shoot left handed which wasn't at all hard since that's his dominant eye. He also got himself a left handed holster for his handgun and is training left handed with that. Luckily his left hand is fairly capable and he's not having a problem--I'm glad I'm right/right, my left hand is useless! Our 6 year old also has this "condition", but having found out early we're just training her to shoot lefty (she also has a competent left hand). Had our 3 year old out when we were shooting the bb gun and she kept wanting to close her right eye also so I might have another one! Not an impediment if you realize what's going on.

Oh yeah, and I can get the dancing girl going either way, just have to look away and look back to get her to switch. Weird.

 

[Annie]

I am right handed and left eye dominant, and I didnt know it for a very long time, couldnt hit anything, and no amount of practice fixed it. Now that I know what it is, all I had to do was just squint my right eye slightly and I dont have any problem. I did that for a while, and now I have learned to focus with out squinting. I am glad because squinting creates a tactical disadvantage.

 

[Car Knocker]

I did that for a while, and now I have learned to focus with out squinting. I am glad because squinting creates a tactical disadvantage.

Never seemed to cause a problem for Clint Eastwood.

:ROFL:

 

[Annie]

I suppose in the event that I find myself in a Clint Eastwood shootout scenario, my left eye dominance trouble wont be an issue, nor will it matter that I have 6 bullets and 8 targets. I can just point at the nearest one, make some smart alec comment, fire twice, throw my cigar on the ground and walk away...

 

[fnfnc64]

Im left handed and very right eye dominant. Weird dumb luck for me, for some reason I shoot right handed. When I try to shoot left, I cant seem to do it. I wondered if I was really right handed and somehow just learned to write with my left, but ended up talking to a doctor who told me I was a true lefty. So I guess Im just messed up. I thow a ball right handed, use scissors ritht handed, wear my watch on my right hand (a lefty thing Im told). I eat with either hand, it doesnt matter. I cant write at all right handed............Gotta be some bad wiring there somewhere :ack:

 

[jnielsen]

For years!!!! I have always shot with my right eye and have not had any luck at all. I have taken about 3 tests that I read online and just figured out that I am LEFT eye dominant.

I can't wait to go to the range. I feel like a big Homer DOH!!!!!!!

:beat: :beat:

 

[Bflamante]

Just wear a pirate patch over your left eye. Do yard work, read a book, go for walks. All of this will cause your right eye to become more dominate over time. My left eye was so dominate as a kid I had reading problems. Now I am right eye dominate after a short time as a kid wearing a patch. That and eye patches look cool. :shades:

 

[Jeff Johnson]

... That and eye patches look cool. :shades:

Aarrrgggg!

 

[hawkwing]

I have a unique situation, because I am right handed and was right eye dominate. However, due to a surgery complication I got a small blind spot in my right eye and thus my dominance changed to my left eye, but I still shoot right handed.

 

[James]

Each time I shoot, I will shoot some with either hand, one handed. I always use the dominant eye no matter which hand the gun is in. That works fine. I don't even think about it. It just happpens.

 

[bane]

Each time I shoot, I will shoot some with either hand, one handed. I always use the dominant eye no matter which hand the gun is in. That works fine. I don't even think about it. It just happpens.

That's interesting. Back in the Navy when I was learning how to shoot nobody told me to shoot with a different eye depending on which hand you were holding the gun in. So I always shot with my dominant eye and never seemed to have a problem either. That was fine. But when I finally got to the point of going to the obstacle course that habit bit me in the butt and I failed the course. There was a point where we had to lay on the ground behind a box that was elevated on supports several inches off the ground. You had to lay on your side, positioning the weapon between the clearance of the box and the ground and shoot 2 targets positioned at ground-level (which were supposed to represent a perp's feet). This is where I found out that it DOES matter whether you shoot with your dominant eye or not. I failed miserably anytime I was lying on my left-side and shooting with my right eye. Not only did it kill my time b/c it took me forever to contort myself into a position that gave me some sort of a sight-picture but I nearly always missed. There was also a point where we had to lean out from cover and shoot a distant target one-handed. At the point where I had to lean out to the left with my left I scored horribly. Although I didn't "fail" those events I scored really badly b/c I often-times hit the "hostage" target positioned near the "terrorist" target.

After failing the course and being rejected one of the trainers came and worked with me so I could learn what I was doing wrong. That was really helpful and I found out in the process something I'd apparently missed along the way: always aiming with the dominant eye *DOES* matter... at least, in certain situations. Again, this was never noticed in my shooting while I was doing simple, standing shooting. It only became evident when doing tactical shooting while lying and while being forced to shoot one-handed from behind cover and from both directions.

I think shooting with only the dominant eye *DOES* make a difference, but it's a subtle one that isn't necessarily always noticeable.

 

[divegeek]

That was really helpful and I found out in the process something I'd apparently missed along the way: always aiming with the dominant eye *DOES* matter... at least, in certain situations. Again, this was never noticed in my shooting while I was doing simple, standing shooting. It only became evident when doing tactical shooting while lying and while being forced to shoot one-handed from behind cover and from both directions.

Was this shooting with a handgun or a rifle? It's very difficult to shoot with the opposite eye with a rifle, but it doesn't seem to matter much with handguns.