Right handed rifle, left eye dominant

The lefty I shoot with most often tends to buy right-hand guns -- especially service-type weapons as he figures he might as well be comfortable and used to shooting the guns that are commonly seen, rather than having to rely on finding a special lefty action.

Many right-handed practical long-range shooters are going to left-hand actions on their bolt guns because it is easier to operate the action without disturbing the firing grip of the right hand.

So, I'd have to say shoot whatever is most comfortable to you as their are advantages to either way.

I am RH and LH eye dominant.

My collection is mostly military surplus, so I continued that RH trend with the few new bolt actions I bought. I do have to close my dominant eye, but I only care to be good enough for plinking or fun. I suppose if I competed at some high level, I'd "do it right" and buy left-handed rifles so I could shoot with my dominant eye. But since I do indeed shoot a Mauser or Mosin now and then, I'd prefer to keep it consistent.

I do, however, stink at shotgun.

valnar, the far better bet would be to simply shoot all long-guns from your dominant shoulder. There are very few guns that are actually difficult or dangerous to shoot from the left shoulder. Almost all "right-hand" guns can be shot lefty with almost no difficulty.

My dad was left eye dominant. He used a right handed rifle. I have no idea how he did it, but he made it work.

My dad was left eye dominant. He used a right handed rifle. I have no idea how he did it, but he made it work.

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Really? It isn't hard at all! Don't you practice shooting swap-shoulder at least sometimes? It's a good skill to have.

Shooting with both eyes open can minimize the eye dominance effect. I am right handed and left eyed and have shot right handed my entire life with rifles, handguns, and shotguns and I hit what I aim at most of the time .

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Sam1911 said:

Really? It isn't hard at all! Don't you practice shooting swap-shoulder at least sometimes? It's a good skill to have.

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I will from now on!

I suppose it just never occurred to me before...

Many right-handed practical long-range shooters are going to left-hand actions on their bolt guns because it is easier to operate the action without disturbing the firing grip of the right hand.

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Yup. I prefer a southpaw action for bench work. Using your off-hand to load rounds and cycle the bolt means you don't have to rebuild your position and relocate your firing hand for each shot. Much more efficient.

For field use, however, your off hand needs to support the rifle while your shooting hand manipulates the action. So outside of shooting from mechanically supported positions, a rifle configured for your dominant hand is optimal.

As for cross eye dominance, you need to decide if it's easier to train your weak eye or your weak hand. I personally find transistioning eyes to be easier (I'm naturally right-right, but do practice right-left, left-right and left-left)

I am RH LED,
I prefer left hand bolt action rifles but can shoot right rifles off my left shoulder.

The only real problem for me using right had rifles is if the stock has an high cheek rise on the stock that prevent a good cheek weld.

Pvt Jackson in Saving Private Ryan gave an excellent display of shooting a 03 Springfield off of the left shoulder.

I am southpaw and right eyed. I just shoot fully right handed to match my eye.

I am like valnar. I am right handed, left eyed. Shoot long guns right handed right eyed. I also have a hard time with clays but can do just fine for my purposes with a rifle.

I never worried about practicing shooting a rifle left handed until a couple of years ago. I was deer hunting & the direction the deer came from I had to either stand up & move or shoot left handed. I opted to shoot left handed & got the buck. Since then I make it a point to practice firing that way some before season starts.

I'm right handed, left eye dominant, learned to shoot lefty about 8 years old when I realized my conundrum. I have always used right hand guns. Be weird for me to work a bolt left handed. Kinda like Jimmy Hendrix learning to play a right hand guitar lefty, ya just get used to it, then there's no other way. What I don't like is crossbolt safeties. I need to get a lefty safety for my 10/22. They are available, just haven't done it.

For field use, however, your off hand needs to support the rifle while your shooting hand manipulates the action.

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I just raise the gun a little and support the gun with my trigger hand while I work the bolt. Have learned to be pretty fast at this.

I'm the same-RH/LED,and have always shot rifles left handed.Although,I do shoot right handed often,and can shoot almost as well.
Pistols,I have always shot with either hand but shoot better with my LH.

I mainly buy LH rifles,but have plenty of RH models also.Unless your trying to shoot a rifle with a raised RH cheek rest,shooting RH rifles is the same as a LH,only the bolt is on the wrong side of the action.
But with practice,you can operate a RH bolt almost as fast as a LH bolt.

As a child I instinctively shot long guns left-handed until I realized my "mistake" and gave in to what I thought was the "right way". Now I just take an extra second to slowly blink my left eye for shotgun to switch my brain over or with rifles just snap my left eye shut.

I too am cross dominant. I squint my left eye just enough for my right eye to take over. This allows me to retain some peripheral vision on the left. It has worked for me for over thirty years of shooting. I sight with my left eye for handguns and my right eye for long guns. I just never felt comfortable shooting lefty. You could always try patching your left eye until your brain is retrained, which may be never.


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Many right-handed practical long-range shooters are going to left-hand actions on their bolt guns because it is easier to operate the action without disturbing the firing grip of the right hand.

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I shoot from my left shoulder and operate the right hand bolt with my right hand, being careful not to cut my left hand between thumb and forefinger.

Why would anyone want to take their shooting hand off the gun to cycle the action?

JFtheGR8 said:

You could always try patching your left eye until your brain is retrained, which may be never.

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I have to patch my left eye to shoot skeet, I use a small piece of frosted tape (Scotch Magic tape) to obscure the vision in my left eye when i am sighting down the barrel. I still have peripheral vision when picking up the targets as they leave the houses.

I have tried this with rifle and handgun and it helps me, but I have to move the tape for different shooting positions or use a large piece of tape, so I tend to not bother.

I was shooting right handed for 20 years before i had heard of eye dominance. Found out I was left eye dominate. I can shoot fine with either eye when I momentarily close one. In some respects per Internet days were better as there was less stuff to concern yourself with when learning to shoot.

In some respects per Internet days were better as there was less stuff to concern yourself with when learning to shoot.

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Or, it was better back before folks could share information about how to shoot better than they might have been able to figure out on their own after even half a lifetime of trial-and-error. I don't get the "ignorance is bliss" philosophy of shooting skill, but hear it a lot.

Even if you're "too old to learn new tricks" (or believe that, anyway) at least you can learn how not to saddle your kids and other youngsters you teach with the same handicaps you were stuck with.

My brother has the same problem. Over the years he has tried several rifles. Lever actions and pumps would seem to make more sense than bolt rifles but he just likes a bolt rifle better. He even bought a left handed bolt rifle once, but by that time was so used to a right handed gun that he quickly sold it. He has been using a right handed bolt gun from the left side for years and does not feel handicapped by it at all.

You do have to pay attenion to stock design. The high monte carlo stocks don't work well and a tang safety is easier for him. He uses an older tang safety Ruger now.

I only shoot my rifles when using optics of some kind. Eye dominance is irrelevant, when using optics.

Left handed
Left eyed
Shoot right handed.

You can trained yourself to do it. In fact I've been doing it for so long it feels weird shooting left handed.


write - left
eye - left
shoot - right
fork - left, knife - right (makes eating with a knife & fork so much smoother)
bowling - right (haven't figure that one out yet)
throw - both
bat - left
scissors - right (most scissors only work right handed)

Another RH and LH eye dominant.

I shoot all of my firearms RH.

For handgun I use my left eye.

For long guns I use my right eye. I don't have any problems shooting long guns with right eye which I suspect may be due to the longer distance of the iron sights. Scopes are easily focused to my vision. I'll let you be the judge with this recent target shot with iron sights;

http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh560/Seldomseen3/Uberti73Target080_zps5d0cb45d.jpg

There is left eye dominant and then there's right eye, for all intents, blind, which is me. I'm about 20-70 corrected right eye. Everything is fuzzy. I'm 20-15 corrected left eye. I cannot just close the left eye and shoot right eye. So, at age 8, realizing this, I sat down with my Benjamin and began to practice lefty. Before long, I was hitting stuff I didn't even see right handed. My Grandpa didn't realize the severity of the problem when he began teaching me at age 6 with my Daisy Red Rider.

The ONE firearm I own that is a left hand model is a Cabelas Hawken Hunter Carbine (Investarms, think Lyman). It's got a raised cheek piece, so the left side gun helps. It has affected my choice in shotguns. I much prefer my Mossbergs for their tang safeties and I love the Browning BPS in pump guns. I have a Winchester 1400, finally found a lefty crossbolt safety and had it installed. There are little bothersome things about shooting lefty and being a righty, but it don't stop my from shooting.