Right handed, Left eyed....should I change eyes?

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Zerodefect

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I shoot rifles left handed and won't ever change from that. But I use an Eotech or aimpoint on my rifles so its easy for my to transition from left to right. For scopes I can only use my left, so I avoid tactical scopes.

When I pistol shoot I carry on the right, so I shoot with my right hand and left eye.

With a combat grip and stance its a little less comfortable to move the gun over to the left a little extra. But I do ok with it. If I cover my left eye I shoot ok.

Is there any real good reason to cover my left to eventually switch to the right eye? I think my left eye has better vision and am not real good at winking the left eye to help transition to the right.

I'm probally going to try some range shooting with the left eye covered so hopefully it won't be so dominant that way I can switch eyes and hands quickly as needed.

Right now if i close my left eye, aim with my right, then open my left eye, my sightpicture slowly fades as my left starts to take over.

I should probally train so I'm not so reliant on one eye, but is there a good reason why I should try to switch over to the right eye completely? (Except for rifles)
 
I to shoot right hand left eye, I have been training to shoot with the left hand and quite suprised at the relitive ease of transition. I don't advocate just changing-up as a solution but you may want to give it a try
 
Eye dominance is a funny thing. Some folks with a marginally dominate eye can switch when needed. Others have to shoot pistols one handed, and rifles the next.

I can switch mine for short periods of time, but after that short time, my eyes do the same thing as yours. I slowly start seeing the left side of my pistol or rifle, instead of the sights or crosshairs. Scopes are the worst, however I could fire around weak side cover or concealment if need be. I'd just hope I wouldnt be there too long... Irons or reflex sights aren't so bad.

I was once told that if you cant use a scope, at all, with your right eye, you're going to have a lot of trouble switching your dominate eye.

I will cant my head to the right, cant the pistol to the left, move the pistol over a little bit, or a combination of a couple or all of those. Its become second nature, so I couldn't tell you which I do the most.

The biggest downfall, IMO, is pump shotguns. I just cant seem to get my timing right when I'm shooting them right handed. I can reload a side by side or O/U faster left handed than I can pump my 590 right handed.
 
As far as handguns

I read an article in a 1970s magazine by some handgun person who was supposed to be a prominent shooter. I remember it because I am left eye dominant and right handed and my right eye is half blind anyway. This dude said that people like me should just shoot right handed and move the gun over a bit and do the sighting with the left eye. It works for me. I am not a good shooter and have not shot much. But, I think this is a real workable answer for me with handguns. As far as long guns that is another story.
 
I'm cross dominant too & switched everything over to primarily shooting left handed. With the switch I've found it's pretty easy to practice using either side to shoot which could come in handy in a defensive situation.

I would say switch to shooting solely left handed for a while, but once you're solid with it practice shooting from both sides.
 
I was in the same boat. Luckily we caught it early and I've always shot lefty. The plus side is I'm fully ambidextrous now. Kind of nice not having a "weak" side.
 
another option is opening both eye for targeting, then if you can't see the sight, close the eye you not sighting with, if you practice, you can get to the point where you can focus on the sights with out closing an eye.

It takes practice, but you gain awareness by shooting with both eyes open.
What works for me may not work for you.
 
im like you
i hold pistol with righthand grip but shoot with left eye
long guns i hold like a lefty
 
Nice to know I'm not alone. I'm left handed, and very dominant left eyed, but...

Shoot pistols left or right with equal ease / results (one area I don't want to have a weak side)

Shoot rifles / shotguns left or right, though a bit more natural left

Shoot pool left or right, but easier left

Play golf left or right, but prefer right

Bat baseball left or right, equally

Catch right / throw left

Bowl left

Eat left or right, but prefer left

Write left

Play drums / bass / guitar right only

Type left and right equally
 
It's called shooting cross-eyed.

I teach my handgun students NOT to change eyes. Instead, bring the gun up to the dominant eye and shoot.

The reason is, your brain has been giving preference to the left eye (in your case) ever since you were born. But you're going to change that up for a few seconds at a time every once in awhile? You could, but your speed and probably accuracy would suffer.

Don't try to reprogram your brain by switching eyes when you don't need to.

Shooting cross-eyed isn't hard to do and no slower than if your hand/eye were on the same side of the body.
 
It's called shooting cross-eyed.

I teach my handgun students NOT to change eyes. Instead, bring the gun up to the dominant eye and shoot.

The reason is, your brain has been giving preference to the left eye (in your case) ever since you were born. But you're going to change that up for a few seconds at a time every once in awhile? You could, but your speed and probably accuracy would suffer.

Don't try to reprogram your brain by switching eyes when you don't need to.

Shooting cross-eyed isn't hard to do and no slower than if your hand/eye were on the same side of the body.
Click to expand...


I 100% agree with the above. Don't mess with mother nature. ;)
 
I have trained quite a few who were left eye and right handed and in most cases, they are better off shooting left handed. Even though it feels weird at first, it grows on them and after a few or a lot of trips to the range, they get it and it feels natural. Of course, it isn't always the way to go, like anything else, there are some who are better off just changing their grip to suit a left eye right hand shooting grip. I can say that out of all I have swapped to left hand shooters, they tend to be more accurate shooters than the ones that satyed right handed left eye dominant.

You should see how hard it is to train someone to shoot a bow left handed if they are righty and left eyed! Man, it's a hard road! Don that as well with a few of those I switched from right to left handed pistol shooters....
 
I'm left eye dominant and it felt more comfortable shooting right handed because that's what I did as a kid. When I started shooting again as (ahem) a mature adult, I switched to shooting left handed and got used to it quickly.
 
Thanks guys.

I can't use my right eye with scopes and rifles at all. So I'm a lefty with longarms, so far it works ok. Got a left handed ar with an eotech and with pump shotguns my right hand seems to pump ok.

So I'm going to stick with my left eye. I've been practicing drawing from the left and I'm just way smoother with my right hand. Holster feels natural on the right as well.

For aimed shooting I'm turning my head to the right and blading about 40 degrees that direction. Seems to work ok.

I need to start some more advanced pistol training classes or compete where I can spend some time on the range pointshooting. Seems like I pointshoot well with tape on my sights.
 
Moewadle, prior to cataract surgery out of the right eye that is exactly what I did with my handgun. In fact I passed the required 16 hits out of 20 fired onto that target to qualify for my carry permit with that blind right eye.

I go into a weaver, and blade my body as necessary to shift the handgun until front sight jumps into focus with target beyond. I put 19 holes of 20 on paper while blind on over half my availible vision this way.

Now that the eye has been restored to less than 20/30, I still blade body enough to bring gun over but not as much now that I shoot with both eyes open. I have always shot with both eyes open, but now have to relearn my position and shoots because I have two good eyes again.

For the shotgun? Solid right side shooting. I used to rely on a laser dot to work around the blindness problem. Not anymore.

The total billing for right eye surgery? 4500 dollars and counting. SO far insurance paid it all on three seperate providers.
 
If you're thinkng about training defensively & want to use your right hand for shooting pistols I would suggest you adopt a good fighting platform. Feet at whatever is comfortable but hips & shoulders square to the target, nose over toes, weight on the balls of your feet. While keeping your head level with the horizon just turn it to the right to line up your left eye with the sights.

Good luck.
 
My wife is cross-dominant (right handed, 'left-eyed') and does just fine by simply moving the gun over a bit.

Of course, point & shoot drills take the dominance issue out of the equation.
 
Years ago I had a firearms instructor try and force me to change all I got was a wopping headache for my trouble. It is what it is, and really not a real issue
 
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