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Left Handed, Right Eye Dominant, what to do?

3K views 49 replies 36 participants last post by  southernwi 
#1 ·
Im relatively new to handguns and am struggling with the following. Im left handed and right eye dominant. Someone suggested I train shooting right handed as that will be easier in long run than training my left eye. Others have said to wear a patch over right eye and keep your strong side trained. ???

So far Im trying both left and right hand but for carry, I think I would be most comfortable with holster on left side.

Being new to this and still learning I wanted to ask here now so I can try to refrain from building any bad habits. Maybe get a blackhawk holster than can be switched to either side and see what is more comfortable and natural over time?

Appreciate any feedback on this.

Ohh, and also, Im typically target practicing at 7yds, sometimes 5 yds and rarely 10 yds. Are these normal practice distances?
 
#36 ·
YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE! I'm in the same boat. I'm very thankful that an early instructor forced me to learn to shoot 'offhanded'. After about 1000rds over about 6 range sessions, it began to feel natural.

Now I carry on my right hip, but am strongly left handed. That means I carry a knife on my left side and my natural fight stance gives me my strong arm to engage the threat while my right hand works my cover garment and firearm.

And as mentioned, the head "lean" that works for pistols doesn't work for rifles.

Make the switch and commit to it.




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#37 ·
I'm right handed, left eye dominant. Not a problem. I shoot both eyes open.
I just hold the gun a little more over <-- than over --> . Makes my natural stance more-or-less a weaver stance, not a problem.

Now a rifle with a red dot with both eyes open is a challenge...sometimes...
 
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#38 ·
I love this thread.

Camp 1: huge problem - it is necessary for you to completely change which hand you shoot with, or use some complicated contraption with tape to change your eye dominance (note: change one or the other, but not both).
Camp 2: no big deal at all - just shift your pistol over a little and turn your head a bit.

I like ghost tracker's solution the best: do what ever you need to do to make the things that come out of your gun hit the little circle. If they do, then you're doing it right.
 
#42 ·
a simple test for eye dominance.



Generally, sight at the target, with both eyes open, close one eye and see if the sights are still aligned. If they are still aligned, you just closed the non-dominant eye. If the sights are NOT aligned, you just closed your dominant eye.

I started experiencing cross dominance around the age of 55. This was due to my dominant eye getting weaker and the, normally, non dominant eye taking over. I was missing, crossing, skeet targets 3 feet or more. It does not take much to cause cross dominance, a .25 corrective lens took care of the problem.
 
#43 ·
I am cross eyed, er cross eye dominate as well. I learned to shoot pistol with Weaver stance and had all kinds of problems as youngster so I didn't shoot a lot of pistol. When I picked it back up seriously many years later I found out about cross eye dominance and the knowledge made things much better. Just knowing what was going on in the brain made it easy to fix.

I had been struggling trying to make my eyes match my stance. When I started modifying my stance to match my eyes things improved instantly. I tried Isosceles and it was better than Weaver. Then I found that a reverse Weaver/modified isosceles stance with a rolled and locked support wrist was the ticket for me. After years of practice at bringing the pistol on target with my dominate eye in this stance/grip it has become instinctive and I can now automatically line the sights up in any stance or awkward position.

So what it boiled down to for me was finding something that helped me practice more. Then I did. A lot. Now, I'm far from Carnegie Hall but I am on my way!
 
#44 ·
Here's how I've done it. Am right eye dominant, but LH. My right eye focuses on its own, roughly 90% of the time, or better. I can do it the other way, but on the instant that's how it typically focuses. Am far less capable shooting RH. I simply learned to tilt the head a bit to the left while tilting the top side of the pistol to the right. Not a lot, but enough to align the signs with the right eye. After initial adjustments, when learning marksmanship (back when), it only took awhile before it was second-nature. Nowadays, it simply happens. Fairly accurate, no thinking about it, works every time. Isn't rocket science. Basically, the eye will tend to direct the hands to where they need to be.

Of course, when switching between somewhat-slower aimed fire with one eye primary as opposed to both eyes open (triangulated stance) I find the aim's just a tad off as compared to aimed fire. But out to 10yds or so, neither is really deficient. With enough practice to know the slight variations, it just incorporates itself into the motions without a second thought.

Can't say this will work for anyone else, necessarily. But it's been working for me for ~25yrs now.
 
#45 ·
I haven't read all the replies so I don't know if it's already been suggested, but Hickok45 is cross dominant and he shoots with his dominant hand. He positions his head far over on his biceps so that his left eye is in line with the sights. He might even close his right eye, not sure.

You should check out the video where he describes how he does it and try for yourself. My dad is the same way and it works well for him.
 
#46 ·
I switched shooting hands from left to right when I was in the military. Most of our shooting was with battle rifles with iron sights. I had a hard time qualifying. I was shooting an early M-16 in full auto without a shell deflector. I had my helmet pulled down as far as possible to keep the steady stream of shell casings from hitting my forehead. The Marine instructor stopped me and checked for eye dominance. He suggested I switch to right-handed and I qualified expert every time after switching in 1969. I also started carrying and shooting side-arms right-handed. Now I can shoot handguns with either hand. When I try to shoot a long gun left-handed now, it feels really strange.
 
#48 ·
Shoot both eyes open, the dominant eye takes over. If you see double guns or double targets, referred to as ghosting, you'll have to close your non dominant eye. Not your non dominant side, your non dominant eye as has been suggested.

I'm left handed with a slight dominant left eye but shoot mainly from the right side, see no ghosting and both eyes open the slightly dominant eye takes over.
 
#49 ·
have you tried switching your eyes around???? my sister has the same problem, she learned to adapt to it. She was very successful in her military career as an MP, undercover officer, special task force team member etc. So it really is only an obstacle if you let it be.
 
#50 ·
I'm left-eye dominant and (thought I was) right-handed for shooting. When I first started to carry, I worked with both hands and much to my surprise, left-handed works out just fine for me -- not to mention my accuracy is much better now! I know not everyone would be comfortable switching hands like that, but it's definitely worth some range time to see how you do with the other hand!
 
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