Should I go lefty?

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rduchateau2954

rduchateau2954

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I am right handed and left eye dominant. I shoot shotguns with a redneck "magic dot" on my glasses. I shoot handguns right handed with my left eye. I have slightly better vision with my left eye. Images are sharper and colors are more vibrant through my left eye than my right.

I grew up hunting shotgun country, the swamps and thick pine forests of northern Wisconsin with a family that was happy to hit a paper plate at 75yrds.

Fast forward to the present, I have a scoped .22, a new bolt .270 and a membership at the local gun club.

As I move from shotguns and swamps to scoped rifles and more accuracy I have been wondering if maybe I should be trying lefty. I am still fairly new to accurate rifle shooting, I only have a couple of hundred rounds through the .22 and less than 100 through the .270.

What say you THR? Should I go lefty for accuracy?
 
You can probably do without the switch. I'm left-handed, and right-eye-dominant, the opposite of your situation. I have always shot long guns right-handed, and handguns left-handed, but use the right eye either way. Trying to switch, particularly with long guns, is very awkward for me, and would take so long to acclimate to that it would not be worth it, as any improved accuracy would be so long in coming.
The one time I did try to shoot my first long gun, a semi-auto .22LR rifle, the majority of the spent cases ended up in my shirt.
 
Well, I am still fairly new to accurate long guns. I was a shotgun kid, I had 5 shotguns before I even bought my first rifle which wasn't until about 6 months ago.

I dunno, I was at the range the other day and it was really the first time I seriously put in some time with my .270. It made me realize that I am really not as good of a shot as I thought I was, and I am going to need a lot more practice to get to the level of confidence that I do with a shotgun in my hand.

It's something I want to figure out now, before I really start getting the rounds down range.
 
For what it's worth, I practice non dominant hand most shooting sessions. If you're incapacitated and must defend yourself, you cannot just give up because you haven't tried it. The muscles need to know how to feel in completely non intuitive position, your eyes need to know how to see that way, and above all you need to be aware of the recoil.

About 20% of rounds shot are done lefty.
 
Cross-dominant geometry 101

Like Medwheeler, I'm a right-eyed lefty, and I also shoot long guns right-handed (to use my dominant eye) and handguns left-handed (to use my stronger hand). Though I'm trying to teach my self to keep both eyes open, I tend to fall back into closing my left eye.

I think there may be an inherent disadvantage to shooting this way. The geometry of stance, eye, target, pistol, etc. would seem to favor having a handgun and the strong eye on the same side by aligning them closer to straight.

Note the diagram (and please don't laugh at my lack of graphics skills). Both shooters' torsos are squared on the target. Shooter A is shooting lefty but using his right eye. Note the angle (A) formed by his shooting arm and the pistol. Then look at Shooter B, who is shooting lefty but using his left eye. The angle (B) formed by his arm and pistol is much straighter, as would seem natural.

Shooter A is actually reaching across his body then angling the pistol back to the target!

I realize my diagram is not only comical, but also exaggerated due to distance-to-target compression, but I think it makes the point. Cross-dominant handgun shooting makes the shooter turn the gun in his grip to bring it onto target.
 

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I had to switch hands due to a severe injury to my right hand. I've had no problems with accuracy. I even switched eyes too. A handgun is a different story. Going one handed left handed is not working out for me.
 
Im LE/RH, and have figured out that there is a slightly different stance even with a handgun when you're shooting cross-eye, and that stance was causing my accuracy to be a lot less than it could be. Switching to my weaker hand made my groups better. Personally, I'd consider your strong eye to be your strong side when shooting.
 
Sounds like you have handguns and shotguns figured out in a way that works for you, so I won't touch that.

I don't think that with scoped rifles that you will need to switch to your left side. I have far better vision in my left eye and am right/right dominant. I can focus the eyepiece on a scope so that the image is sharp and clear. I haven't tried left eye shooting with a rifle because as a righty, it just feels wrong.

The best thing to do is try it. If you note a big difference from one side to the other, there's your answer.
 
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I am right hand left eye, shoot everything right handed. Long guns I don't have any trouble shooting with my weak eye. With handguns I actually have to turn my head to the right, and usually end up placing my chin on my bicep in order to get a good sight picture.
 
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