So I am right handed but I am left eye dominant. I have always shot scoped rifles using my right eye but it seems like it would be much easier and more comfortable to shoot using my left eye. All of my rifles are right handed. Any advice? Should I practice shooting left handed?
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Shooting Using Non-dominant eye
- Thread starter Jackcrow73
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For what it's worth, my brother is right hand/left eye dominant, and he shoots (long guns) left handed. Good luck with which ever way you decide to go.
I'm also right handed left eye dominant. I recommend learning to shoot both. It may take a little while so dry firing is helpful, but once you become comfortable you'll probably find yourself conveniently ambidextrous.
If you have a strong dominance, it is beneficial to use the dominant eye.
I shoot predominantly lefty for clays and rifle, but I can and do switch back and forth just because I can, but I'm a little outside of the cross-dominant norm in that I have a weak dominance and don't benefit from using the clearly dominant eye because I don't have a clearly dominant eye.
If you have a strong dominance, it is beneficial to use the dominant eye.
I shoot predominantly lefty for clays and rifle, but I can and do switch back and forth just because I can, but I'm a little outside of the cross-dominant norm in that I have a weak dominance and don't benefit from using the clearly dominant eye because I don't have a clearly dominant eye.
My wife is left handed, left eye dominate.
She shots clays left handed. For clays the BEST is to be cross dominate (left handed/right eye dominate or vice versa). That gets your strong hand pointing the shotgun, and your dominate eye down the barrel.
She shoots rifle and pistol right handed. For pistol, she shoots left eye. For rifle, she shoots right eye and just closes the left eye.
Works for her.
She shots clays left handed. For clays the BEST is to be cross dominate (left handed/right eye dominate or vice versa). That gets your strong hand pointing the shotgun, and your dominate eye down the barrel.
She shoots rifle and pistol right handed. For pistol, she shoots left eye. For rifle, she shoots right eye and just closes the left eye.
Works for her.
The dominant eye simply has better vision than the non-dominant eye and your brain interprets this as "comfort". Most good optics can "dial out" any vision advantage between eyes. I'm right handed and left eye dominant and it feels completely natural shooting righty because I train that way. It actually feels goofy to me when I shoot lefty regardless of any vision advantage.
If you're comfortable shooting right handed, then using an eye patch over your left eye, or just putting some opaque scotch tape over the left lense of your shooting glasses will cancel out the dominance issue.
Also, if you use flip up caps on your scope, just have the ocular cap open to the left to block some of the vision of the left eye. Your brain will default to your non-dominant eye as a result...
Also, if you use flip up caps on your scope, just have the ocular cap open to the left to block some of the vision of the left eye. Your brain will default to your non-dominant eye as a result...
I am right-handed and have an ever-so-slight preference towards the left eye. While this occasionally causes some issues with precision pistol work (bullseye target shooting), it's not a problem with rifle shooting - especially not with optics.
If you want to know if it'd be easier to shoot left-handed, just try it sometime at the range - doesn't cost anything more than shooting right-handed
If you want to know if it'd be easier to shoot left-handed, just try it sometime at the range - doesn't cost anything more than shooting right-handed
I'm right eye right handed but starting to have problems with vision in right eye and within the last year started to use mt left eye to shoot on occasion just to practice the transition , actually found I can still hold groups , just can't run the rifle near as quick on follow ups though !
Eye dominance is an inequality in vision between the two eyes...so fix that using the diopeter adjustment on your scope and shoot right handed. The only shooting discipline where eye dominance is important is shooting moving targets with a shotgun, because your focus is on the target instead of your sights. In that case, handicap the left eye with a small piece of scotch tape on the lens of your shooting glasses such that it is in the center of your left eye's vision.
For scoped rifles changing your entire shooting position to fix something less than a quarter turn of the ocular will solve makes no sense.
For scoped rifles changing your entire shooting position to fix something less than a quarter turn of the ocular will solve makes no sense.
I am also right handed and left eye dominate (but I write with my left hand and do everything else I do right handed). I shoot pistols right handed but long guns left handed. I shot clays for a year or 2 right handed and had a difficult time, im much happier now shooting left handed.
Right handed and left eye dominant. I shoot right handed with both eyes open. Get scope covers and have them flip off to the left to cover your left eye. You'll eventually get to the point where even if your looking through a scope that doesn't have scope covers your right eye will take over. Even my aimpoint i shoot both eyes open my right eye takes over. Anything with an actual tube i can shoot both eyes open. Open sights however i have to squint my left eye or where glasses with tape over them.
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I have tried to shoot with both eyes open looking through a scope and it is very difficult. I must have a pretty strong dominance. I also find that when I try to close my left eye to look through the scope, it will open slightly and cause me to lose my sight picture. I shoot handgun right handed and I notice that unconsciously I line up the sights with my left eye. Maybe I need a "Tactical" eye patch!!!
I am right-handed, left eye dominant and shoot F-Class precision rifle mid- and long-range comps. It does not seem to be any issue for me whatsoever, and I wouldn't even entertain the notion switching from right to left hand shooting with a long gun; just no reason to do that IMO.
Shooting pistol, on the other hand, is a whole different story for me. I have to constantly fight subconsciously switching over to my dominant (left) eye, which throws off my sight alignment and aim in a big way. Probably a lot would depend for you on how much difference there is between your right and left eyes. My left eye dominance is pretty strong and it doesn't bother me with a long gun nearly as much as I think switching to shooting left-handed would; however, it could be the other way around for you. If you know someone with a left-handed gun, you might get behind it and give it a whirl to see how it feels.
Shooting pistol, on the other hand, is a whole different story for me. I have to constantly fight subconsciously switching over to my dominant (left) eye, which throws off my sight alignment and aim in a big way. Probably a lot would depend for you on how much difference there is between your right and left eyes. My left eye dominance is pretty strong and it doesn't bother me with a long gun nearly as much as I think switching to shooting left-handed would; however, it could be the other way around for you. If you know someone with a left-handed gun, you might get behind it and give it a whirl to see how it feels.
Eye dominance doesn't relate to which eye sees better. My left eye has slightly better vision, however I'm most definitely right eye dominant.
Eye dominance is more of a brain wiring thing... Just like you can have a stringer left arm (like my wife) but still be clearly right handed and want to do things with your right hand.
I am right handed and left eye dominant. I shoot right handed but can switch to lefty very easy and shoot it just fine. Shoot both and see which works better for you. I close my non shooting eye no matter what side I am shooting.
First post on here but this topic intrigued me... I also am "cross dominate" where as my right hand, right foot, etc is my "strong" hand yet my left eye is my dominate as far as vision. I also don't necessarily agree or disagree with the theory that it is because you have better vision in one eye or the other, due to the fact that I have the same vision in both eyes. I can personally say I am not a doctor or any type so I can't back that thought process up with any science. Now as far as shooting in general goes it really depends on the application is being applied. Are we talking bench shooting, tactical, clay shooting, etc. Personally I take a more tactical approach to shooting. I believe that you should train to use both hands as well as both eyes when shooting. I naturally see better when raising my rifle left handed and to my left eye. But if you are talking about room clearance training, snap shooting, or god forbid one handed manipulation then the time should be taken to train with both hands and eyes. Just my two cents.
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I am a bit of an odd ball in the eye dominance and shooting thing. I shoot long gun right handed with my dominate eye (the right one) and I shoot hand gun left handed and use my non dominate eye (my left). I shoot both long gun and hand gun with both eyes open and have just learned to use which ever eye I want to. It is a big advantage when doing a long gun to hand gun transition, as I always have my firing hand on the grip during the transition and can draw that much faster. Also my dominate eye don't have as good vision as my non dominate. But that has been only the last 15 years.
As an optometrist, I be live you can patch your dominate eye and shoot from right side or learn to shoot from left side. It has not him to do with which eye sees the best. You have an easier time retraining muscle memory than ever changing dominance.
My 8 yr old daughter is right handed left eye dominate. She shoots with a patch my mom made her. She uses it very well, and make it very easy on her. As well as it's gone for her I'd tell you guys to try one?!? She said with it on her eyes both relax, and she can see threw the scope better??
Another left eye righthanded shooter here. I shoot rifle fine where I'm different is I shoot pistol right handed with the left eye.
It worked better for me on the open sights.
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It worked better for me on the open sights.
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Also, as a shotgun (sporting clays) instructor, I have found that many people do not have a truly dominate eye. This is more common in women. In these people, whichever eye is convenient is dominant.
For shotgun the reason the dominant eye is important is that your eye is the rear sight of the firearm. So if you are shooting right handed and are left eye dominant, then your rear sight is about 2.5" left of where it should be.
As I mentioned, my wife is left eye dominant, but can be situationally right eye dominant. This is easily demonstrated with an overhead incoming high clay target. As she tracks it, when the gun gets to a certain elevation, the muzzle jumps about 1" to the right as the right eye takes over. It is perfectly repeatable. The solution is a product called Target Dots, which work the same as the scotch tape over the center of the glasses. It removes her right eye from being able to see the muzzle and the target near the muzzle, but preserves her binocular vision for outside the muzzle area.
And while dominance is NOT specific to which eye sees better, in certain circumstance, that can affect things. When I shot clays a LOT, I starting having trouble with left to right crossing targets at eye level. My wife, looking over my shoulder, could see a muzzle jump like she had with the overhead incoming targets. So after some playing around, I decided my right eye had changed vision slightly. I went to my optometrist and told him my right eye had shifted 1/4 diopter.
He told me it was impossible for me to tell that. So he put me on the automated box and it in 6 checks, it said 3 times my vision was the same and 3 times, it had changed 1/2 diopter (the resolution of the machine). So he did the traditional exam and found......... my vision had changed 1/4 diopter. Got new right lens for my shooting glasses, and all was well.
For shotgun the reason the dominant eye is important is that your eye is the rear sight of the firearm. So if you are shooting right handed and are left eye dominant, then your rear sight is about 2.5" left of where it should be.
As I mentioned, my wife is left eye dominant, but can be situationally right eye dominant. This is easily demonstrated with an overhead incoming high clay target. As she tracks it, when the gun gets to a certain elevation, the muzzle jumps about 1" to the right as the right eye takes over. It is perfectly repeatable. The solution is a product called Target Dots, which work the same as the scotch tape over the center of the glasses. It removes her right eye from being able to see the muzzle and the target near the muzzle, but preserves her binocular vision for outside the muzzle area.
And while dominance is NOT specific to which eye sees better, in certain circumstance, that can affect things. When I shot clays a LOT, I starting having trouble with left to right crossing targets at eye level. My wife, looking over my shoulder, could see a muzzle jump like she had with the overhead incoming targets. So after some playing around, I decided my right eye had changed vision slightly. I went to my optometrist and told him my right eye had shifted 1/4 diopter.
He told me it was impossible for me to tell that. So he put me on the automated box and it in 6 checks, it said 3 times my vision was the same and 3 times, it had changed 1/2 diopter (the resolution of the machine). So he did the traditional exam and found......... my vision had changed 1/4 diopter. Got new right lens for my shooting glasses, and all was well.
My teenage son is also "cross-dominant" being right handed but left eye dominant. One issue that has always affected him is that he cannot close his left eye while holding the right open. However, he has no problem closing his right eye. For quite some time he was contorting his body, couldn't get comfortable,......all kinds of issues. After a lot of frustration and research, we discovered he was left eye dominant. Initially we tried a patch over his left eye, small tape dot on his glasses.... and this worked to an extent. But those methods really impeded him especially in hunting situations. Now have him shooting a rifle left handed with good results. There was an immediate improvement in his performance when we made the switch. He also feels much more comfortable shooting left handed now.
For the people who are cross dominate I honestly you can mentally train yourself to use whichever eye you want to in a particular situation. I used to have to make a conscience decision to do it until it became instinctive. All it take is mental training. I don't think I would recommend the patch idea as it would just reinforce laziness in using a specific eye. just make a mental effort to do it and you can.
Practice both, won't hurt. I'm right handed and like to practice left now and then, actually I shoot better left even though I'm dominant right.
