I have always used my right or my left hand depending on the situation and what felt more comfortable katholic school made me write right handed so writing right handed,shooting rifles/shotgun left,pistol right fishing left... Well I can shoot rifle or shotgun just as well right handed or left handed but feel more comfortable with my right eye but with pistol I shoot right handed and it feels more comfortable but I can shoot fairly well both hands when I shoot pistol i use my right eye well actually both eyes open... any advice should I try training to do something else??? anyone else with this problem???
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Re: Eye dominance trouble...
I'm not certain I'm actually seeing a problem here.
Shooting RH has the advantage that most firearms are configured to cater to the RH shooter. So doing the bulk of your shooting RH would seem a logical approach.
However, as long as you have the capacity to shoot LH, it would also make sense to me to periodically maintain that capacity. For me, the LH capacity would only be useful if and when I was A) forced to do so in a defensive scenario, or B) required by competitive rules to shoot with the 'weak' hand.
I don't see your ambi abilities as a problem, but rather, as a useful degree of versatility.
Any confusion you may be feeling could be rather easily resolved by simply making the decision to do both as the needs and abilities arise.
Greg
I'm not certain I'm actually seeing a problem here.
Shooting RH has the advantage that most firearms are configured to cater to the RH shooter. So doing the bulk of your shooting RH would seem a logical approach.
However, as long as you have the capacity to shoot LH, it would also make sense to me to periodically maintain that capacity. For me, the LH capacity would only be useful if and when I was A) forced to do so in a defensive scenario, or B) required by competitive rules to shoot with the 'weak' hand.
I don't see your ambi abilities as a problem, but rather, as a useful degree of versatility.
Any confusion you may be feeling could be rather easily resolved by simply making the decision to do both as the needs and abilities arise.
Greg
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
+1 on it being a positive. Im split down the middle, throwing with right, eating with left, batting left, golfing right....
I went with right hand rifles on purpose because thats what my dad had to learn on. I also primarily manipulate my sidearms right handed. I have never felt this was a disadvantage in anyway, some skills like a magazine change, are actually done with my more dominant hand so it is even smoother than someone else using their left hand that is only occassionally used to scratch their ass. Needless to say usually crush people in a "weak hand" stage at almost any match. Even had an RO tried to ding me for a procedural because he did not believe me I usually ran my rifle from the right side.
A bigger problem could be with eye dominance and that can be quite varied. I pretty much match my eye to hand being used but some even vary that. It can be a bigger problem with shotguns since your relying on your eye as the rear sight but handguns or a scoped rifle will not be an issue.
+1 on it being a positive. Im split down the middle, throwing with right, eating with left, batting left, golfing right....
I went with right hand rifles on purpose because thats what my dad had to learn on. I also primarily manipulate my sidearms right handed. I have never felt this was a disadvantage in anyway, some skills like a magazine change, are actually done with my more dominant hand so it is even smoother than someone else using their left hand that is only occassionally used to scratch their ass. Needless to say usually crush people in a "weak hand" stage at almost any match. Even had an RO tried to ding me for a procedural because he did not believe me I usually ran my rifle from the right side.
A bigger problem could be with eye dominance and that can be quite varied. I pretty much match my eye to hand being used but some even vary that. It can be a bigger problem with shotguns since your relying on your eye as the rear sight but handguns or a scoped rifle will not be an issue.
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
I have noticed I can Keep a LITTLE bit of a better group shooting rifle left handed but pistol I am good with both but right handed feels so much more comfortable but the same goes rifle left handed feels more comfortable thats where I am confused I do often practice both but Its just confusiing and Im wondering If what I should switch shooting rifle right handed or shooting pistol left...
I have noticed I can Keep a LITTLE bit of a better group shooting rifle left handed but pistol I am good with both but right handed feels so much more comfortable but the same goes rifle left handed feels more comfortable thats where I am confused I do often practice both but Its just confusiing and Im wondering If what I should switch shooting rifle right handed or shooting pistol left...
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
It actually is good that you shoot with both eyes open (IMHO). It is correct though that shooting rifle with your dominent eye is more important that right or left handed.
If your right eye is dominant, I would go with right handed shooting. It is awesome that you can do either and that is a skill worth maintaining. But, for the bulk of your precision practice, I would choose one and stick with it.
It actually is good that you shoot with both eyes open (IMHO). It is correct though that shooting rifle with your dominent eye is more important that right or left handed.
If your right eye is dominant, I would go with right handed shooting. It is awesome that you can do either and that is a skill worth maintaining. But, for the bulk of your precision practice, I would choose one and stick with it.
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
Unless visual acuity is markedly different between the two eyes, I'm not totally convinced that eye dominance is as cut and dried as I keep hearing. I mean, it takes place in the brain, and not the eye. I see reports of experiments where eye dominance is retrained back and forth.
What the Marine Corps Teams do is to obscure the non-dominant image by putting frosted tape across that lens of the shooting glasses. The do this to ensure that although the non dominant eye does not have an image to focus upon, it still gets an equal amount of light.
This is also a 'brain thing', as closing or patching the non dominant eye causes the brain to trigger the other pupil to open further, and this response has its origin in the brain, It's an autonomic survival reflex that ensures that when only one eye is available, more light is processed, giving the brain more data to process than might normally be available with only one eye. This is bad, because the wider pupil loses resolution, and vision sacrifices brightness for sharpness.
Well, eye doctors do something similar with infants, when optical impairments are present. They block the image, but not the light, of the impaired eye; thus training the other eye to become dominant.
I think that we, as adults, can do the same thing.
Greg
Unless visual acuity is markedly different between the two eyes, I'm not totally convinced that eye dominance is as cut and dried as I keep hearing. I mean, it takes place in the brain, and not the eye. I see reports of experiments where eye dominance is retrained back and forth.
What the Marine Corps Teams do is to obscure the non-dominant image by putting frosted tape across that lens of the shooting glasses. The do this to ensure that although the non dominant eye does not have an image to focus upon, it still gets an equal amount of light.
This is also a 'brain thing', as closing or patching the non dominant eye causes the brain to trigger the other pupil to open further, and this response has its origin in the brain, It's an autonomic survival reflex that ensures that when only one eye is available, more light is processed, giving the brain more data to process than might normally be available with only one eye. This is bad, because the wider pupil loses resolution, and vision sacrifices brightness for sharpness.
Well, eye doctors do something similar with infants, when optical impairments are present. They block the image, but not the light, of the impaired eye; thus training the other eye to become dominant.
I think that we, as adults, can do the same thing.
Greg
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
I'm naturally left handed but right eye dominant. I started shooting rifles right handed when the eye dominance was discovered. Here's what confuses me: When I was shooting rifles left handed I shot well and used my left eye. If I handed my rifle to my Right-handed brother he would have to make adjustments to the scope to get the same results I got. I now shoot rifles right handed and pistols left handed (Because my left hand is stronger and steadier). I did an experiment recently and discovered that I also had to re-zero the scope on my rifle if I switched hands. The groups were the same, just the zero was off. Is this common?
I'm naturally left handed but right eye dominant. I started shooting rifles right handed when the eye dominance was discovered. Here's what confuses me: When I was shooting rifles left handed I shot well and used my left eye. If I handed my rifle to my Right-handed brother he would have to make adjustments to the scope to get the same results I got. I now shoot rifles right handed and pistols left handed (Because my left hand is stronger and steadier). I did an experiment recently and discovered that I also had to re-zero the scope on my rifle if I switched hands. The groups were the same, just the zero was off. Is this common?
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
probably has to do with pulling to the left or the right on shots...
probably has to do with pulling to the left or the right on shots...
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
I thought about that but my shooting discipline is pretty good. I hold-em and Squeeze-em. Trigger pull is slow and steady.
I thought about that but my shooting discipline is pretty good. I hold-em and Squeeze-em. Trigger pull is slow and steady.
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
Dry fire routine will show if there is any disturbance in your pull from left to right. If anything you non dominant hand will tend to have a better pull because it is a more focused event, you will subconsciously slow down and adhere to proper technique.
The other issue might have to do with your cheekweld. Even if you appear to have a full sight picture in the scope you could be off a bit. Unless you have all of the parallex dialed out it could easily be pushing a zero a full moa.
Dry fire routine will show if there is any disturbance in your pull from left to right. If anything you non dominant hand will tend to have a better pull because it is a more focused event, you will subconsciously slow down and adhere to proper technique.
The other issue might have to do with your cheekweld. Even if you appear to have a full sight picture in the scope you could be off a bit. Unless you have all of the parallex dialed out it could easily be pushing a zero a full moa.
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
Is there a good read about adjusting for paralax still not totally familiar with that... and also how to make sure of a proper cheek weld???
Is there a good read about adjusting for paralax still not totally familiar with that... and also how to make sure of a proper cheek weld???
Re: Eye dominance trouble...
Chriso - I myself am left eye dominant and shoot rifles and bows left handed however I shoot pistols right handed as well as bat and golf right handed, while pitching left handed. (Actually makes it easy to pitch to myself while hitting batting practice.) I also keep both eyes open which is a distinct advantage for situational awareness under duress. Most of my rifles are right handed as I find it easy to manipulate the bolt and have no problems with semi-autos as get clearance from the spent shells. Most is training with your strengths and take advantange of being ambidextrious in situations where it counts the most.
JaxOps
Chriso - I myself am left eye dominant and shoot rifles and bows left handed however I shoot pistols right handed as well as bat and golf right handed, while pitching left handed. (Actually makes it easy to pitch to myself while hitting batting practice.) I also keep both eyes open which is a distinct advantage for situational awareness under duress. Most of my rifles are right handed as I find it easy to manipulate the bolt and have no problems with semi-autos as get clearance from the spent shells. Most is training with your strengths and take advantange of being ambidextrious in situations where it counts the most.
JaxOps
