Weakness in eye dominance?

[westernrover]

I was working on stance for handgun and being aware that I'm left-eyed (and cross) dominant, I would bring the sights up to my left eye. I noticed that I could see much better using a Weaver or Chapman type stance and if I tried Isoceles or any stance where I was standing square to the target, my vision was confused. Looking in the mirror I realized why.

When I take a stance where I turn oblique to the target, I can rotate my head on an azimuth so my dominant eye is lined up with the target, and my non-dominant eye is partially blocked by my nose! I was selecting my left eye by partially obscuring the vision of my right eye, the same way we might squint or close a dominant eye to select the other. If I face the target squarely and focus on the sight in the nearfield, I get double-vision no matter what I eye I line up with the sights.

If I use common eye-dominance tests like forming a triangle with my hands and framing a distant object, I can alternate left and right eye quickly, repeatedly, and at will while keeping both eyes open. It would seem that if I have a dominant eye, the dominance is very weak.

I can use whatever eye I bring my sights up to, but if I do not obscure the other eye some way (squinting or blocking it with the bridge of my nose), my vision switches back and forth. I don't want to practice bad habits like squinting, closing or blocking an eye. What should I practice?

 

[ATLDave]

I would much rather squint or partially close one eye than have to jack up my stance. Although the advice these days for speed-involved pistol shooting is to learn to keep both eyes open, there are many high-level shooters who learn to close the non-dominant eye (usually without a hard squint) and do very, very well. Learning to shoot 2-eyes open is nice, but it's pretty far down the list of what it takes to be effective. I wouldn't sacrifice any of the stuff higher on the list to chase it.

 

[Catpop]

I’m near sighted in my right eye and ok in my left, but I’m a right handed shooter. So I quit shooting rifles with iron sights and now shoot only handguns with my left eye! Kinda like this or this or this
But it works for me!

 

[bluejeans]

I can alternate left and right eye quickly, repeatedly, and at will while keeping both eyes open. It would seem that if I have a dominant eye, the dominance is very weak.
...
What should I practice?

Given you seem to be able to use either eye... go ahead and squint or shut your left eye and train your right to be dominant. If after a couple of months it isn’t working for you, switch back.
While it is nice to shoot with both eyes open there’s nothing wrong with squinting... it’s how you train your eyes.

A few years ago I had an accident which broke many bones on my right side so I shot left handed exclusively for over a year and at around 6 months my eye dominancy switched from right to left. Then, a year and a half later, when I started using my right hand again my eyes switched back to right eye dominant.

 

[Ironhand54]

Train yourself to use the dominant eye for all stances.
My brother is cross dominant. He is also a former Police Pistol State Champion. It can be done.

IronHand

 

[Col. Harrumph]

Man, there are so many thumb rules!!! (And dumb rules!!!)

Do what works for you, and keep at it. Do you like red wine with fish? Then ask for a bottle of red... unless you'd prefer a beer.

BTW in a serious social situation, I'm guessing it would be advantageous to have both eyes open. (IMHO)

 

[Iroquois]

My son experienced something similar when he was shooting on a skeet team last year. Both of his eyes were dominant (at his age, 13, it's not an uncommon thing). We tried shooting left handed and right handed during some of his practice rounds, ultimately he scored better shooting right handed. To solve the problem we put a piece of clear tape on his left eye shooting glass lens. This allowed him to shoot with both eyes open and track the birds. He shot this way for a couple of months, his right eye eventually became more dominant and he was able to remove the tape and still shoot with both eyes open. I'm not sure if this will help you, but good luck in getting it figured out.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

I have the same issue - I am nearsighted in my right eye (well, in both, but the right eye is more than twice as bad as the left), which results in a natural left-eye dominance that makes both-eyes-open shooting challenging for zero-magnification rifle optics. With pistols it doesn't matter as much, but I also found that some variation of Weaver or Chapman stance initially led to more natural aiming because I could use my natural eye dominance. I still shoot isosceles. The eye relief to handgun sights means that there is fairly minimal distortion between each eye and the sights, whereas trying to shoot a shouldered long gun with an optic almost requires me to squint with my left eye.

 

[Varminterror]

It’s called “non-dominant.” It’s much akin to ambidexterity. I’m non-dominant. Whichever side of my nose the target is is the eye which takes over.

Only took over 20yrs (since my first instance in their program), but the NRA FINALLY acknowledged non-dominance and how to train them, instead of telling instructors to force students into one eye or the other.