Cross hand/eye shooting

[MyRoad]

I wasn't sure where to post this on The High Road, but thought this is as good a place as any.

I'm left-handed and right-eyed. This makes normal two-handed shooting a bit akward, but doable. Oddly, off-hand shooting is easy (right hand/right eye), but the problem arises with one handed shooting with my strong hand.

Any advice for tactics, stances, things to practice? I can, at the moment, only shoot effectively with my left (weak) eye if I close my right one. That's actually how I started shooting, before I read about weak eye/strong eye, and keeping both eyes open when I shoot. I'm looking for a technique to practice that will be the most intuitive, but will allow me to smoothly transition between one and two handed shooting, moving either to my left or right.

Any thoughts?

 

[Old Fuff]

Like many others, I am right-handed, but my left eye is the dominate one. I learned years ago to slightly cant the gun and hold at about 4:30 to 5:00 rather then 6:00. So long as the sights are zeroed to reflect this it works fine. A one or two-handed hold makes no difference. I learned all of this from an instructor who was teaching a method for right-handed shooters with a dominate right eye to shoot left-handed in an emergency.

 

[Gary H]

If you are really cross dominant and want to shoot with both eyes open, then shoot with your hand that is on the same side as your dominant eye. It seems to me that it would be a bear of a time at first, but you will not change your eye dominance and shutting, or partially occluding and eye is your only way out. If you are an old guy, you might be able to improve your shooting with both eyes open and cross-dominancy by playing around with bifocal contact lenses. I'm an Optometrist and my eyes are pretty much co-dominant. At least you know which eye is in charge, but for me it is always a mystery. I've used the prescription in my bifocal contacts to help me make my shooting eye my dominant eye. In fact, I only wear contacts for shooting..This won't work at all for those under about 48 years old and is a hit and miss affair with those over 48.

 

[MyRoad]

If you are really cross dominant and want to shoot with both eyes open, then shoot with your hand that is on the same side as your dominant eye.

Interesting, but actually, I've been considering just the opposite. I'm thinking it might be easier to just shoot with my non-dominant eye. I was practicing a little dry firing, and I'm going to try it next time I go to the range. I am trying to practice me with my right (weak) hand, but I have a long way to go. I've been training myself to shoot rifles that way, because so many are are set up that way, and then I can use my stronger eye. I learned how to tie trout flies and swing a golf club (although I never actually got out on a course) right handed, because in both cases the people showing me how to do it simply could not figure out how to show me "backwards". I'm sure I can adapt.

 

[Gary H]

My wife has been shooting low and to the right and coming in last at every PPC event. We are talking two feet to the right and two down. Well, she is just 4'9" and her Jerry Miculek grips were still overly large for her. I finally figured out that she was rotating her right hand counter clockwise on the grip in order for her small hands to reach the trigger. I took a Dremel to the grip and greatly downsized it. Now, she had a good grip. This greatly improved her score. She was still last, but doing better. Still hitting to the right, but by a smaller margin. Now..I just might get kicked off the board for this one..don't do this at home. Once home, I opened her cylinder and made sure that it was empty. She checked the cylinder and then I asked her to aim at my left eye as she faced me. Sure enough she was aiming with her left eye. Next I asked her to close her left eye and her right eye perfectly aligned with my left eye. Then I asked her to open both eyes and the barrel moved to her right. Yup..she was now using her left eye. To make it worse..she might have even been closing her right eye while shooting with the right hand. EHHHH... We now have it right, but have yet to shoot. She use to be good with the shotgun and that went into the toilet..bet she is using her left eye. BTW: If you aim with the right eye..close left and then close the right eye and open the left..the gun will always move in the opposite direction.

 

[Ankeny]

There is a great thread on Brian Enos' forum at Vision Plan

 

[Navy joe]

Also a great picture of Brian Enos demonstrating his cross-dominant index in the most current Front Sight if you can find a copy.

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

Interesting, but actually, I've been considering just the opposite. I'm thinking it might be easier to just shoot with my non-dominant eye.

Trust me, it's not.

Instead of canting the gun over, i just cant my head over (pistols). The stance i end up with ia a classic weaver stance, with a cheek weld on the right arm.

 

[Sludge]

Well, I shoot with both eyes open and truthfully I use either eye when im at speed. Which ever picks up the sight alignment becomes the dominant eye. Usually this is my right eye because I am a right handed pistol shooter. However, on ocassion I have noticed after shooting a string that I had been using left eye. My head movement seems to change but not my grip angle. Maybe as my wife says im just an odd ball. As long as you have good sight picture I dont think it makes any difference.

 

[Kamicosmos]

I too seem to be a lucky co-dominate eye shooter (right-handed). I use my right almost exclusively, as it is the stronger dominance, but I have had to shoot a few pin rounds with my left eye when some powder or something got past my glasses into my right eye.

When I use my left eye, I turn my head, and press my chin into my right bicept. Put my sights where I normally do. Works pretty well.

My weak hand shooting is pretty...well weak. I'm working on it, and it's sufficient for emergency use, but I want it to be much better.

My dad and brother are ambi-dexterious. I'll have to see if they are co-dominate as well, perhaps there is a link....

 

[MyRoad]

WOW. I never realized how *completely* right-eye dominant I was. Sitting here at my desk (yeah, I should be working... D'oh!) I took a pen and held it out at about arms length, and looked straight down the length of it. No surprise, close my left eye, I'm still looking down it, close my right eye, I see the pen at an angle. Then I closed my right (dominant eye) and reangled the pen so that my left eye was looking down the length of it. When I opened my right eye but tried to retain my focus from my left (weak) eye, I had total double vision, and could not focus on the pen at all. Yikes.