Cross -eye dominate training

[brantley65]

I am right handed and strongly left eye dominate. How do go about training for.
- Self defense pistol
- self defense shotgunning & M4 copy self-defense/CQB shooting.
The M4 copy will have either an Aimpoint M2 or Eotech551. Thanks in advance.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I had the same problem as I got older -- my right (master) eye became farsighted, my left eye became nearsighted.

I started with the pistol, using a Weaver grip and tucking my chin into my shoulder -- so only the left eye could see the sights. For a long time, my target was the frame -- I just left even amounts of frame around the sights.

After a while, I was able to alter the posture so both eyes could see the target. Nowadays, I see both target and sights in crisp, clear focus -- as long as I don't think about it.

For long arms, you continue with that approach -- a patch on the dominant eye for a while may help -- until you can automatically assign dominance to the eye doing the sighting.

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

do not ignore eye dominance. that way lies certain ruin.


shoot left handed; it'll cause you fewer problems in the long run, and left handed gear and weapons aren't that hard to find.

 

[The_Antibubba]

Why is eye dominance important?

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

Eye dominance is important because of how the brain works.

Most of the time, humans have one that's dominant over the other, which the brain gives precidence to input from that eye.

if you put the sights in the field of view of the domant eye, your brain will give precidence to your sight picture.

 

[Guntalk]

I am strongly right handed, but have strong left eye dominance.

It's easy. I shoot long guns left handed, and handguns right handed.

Doug Koenig showed me a neat trick for using the left eye when shooting right handed.

Just before bringing the gun up to eye level, swivel your head about 10 to 15 degrees to the right. Then, just bring the gun up as usual. Your left eye will line up with the sights. No ducking the head, burying the chin, tilting the head, etc.

Works every time. I wish I had known that 25 years ago!

 

[F4GIB]

Tom Gresham has it just right. I've been shooting in that fashion for 30 years. After a while it becomes natural. There is even an advantage of cross-eye dominance - if your rifle jams, you just drop it to your left side and draw your handgun with your right hand. Fast with no complex drills for us.

 

[Chuck Jennings]

I had been doing the technique that Tom mentioned ever since I first picked up a pistol. All I was doing was trying to get a good sight picture and keep both my eyes opened. It wasn't until a couple years ago, when taking some formal instruction that my cross dominance was brought to my attention.

Since then, I moved my long gun shooting to my left hand, and boy did my shotgunning improve!