What is my dominant eye?

[Octothorpe]

I've tried a couple different techniques to determine my dominant eye and I'm still not sure.

1. Put your hands together and create a hole. Find a target in the distance and slowly move your hands towards your face. When I do this the hole in my hands ends up over my LEFT eye, indicating left eye dominance.

2. Put your thumb on a target. Close your left eye, then your right eye. When I do this, closing my left eye causes no visual movement in my thumb. Closing my right eye makes it move to the right about an inch--indicating a RIGHT eye dominance.

Am I doing something wrong here? Do I need to see an eye doctor to test this or what?

Edit: If it matters, I am right handed.

 

[RNB65]

I think technique #1 is the better way to do it. Look thru a hole and then move it towards your face to see which eye you are using.

Cross dominance is quite common. It's more of a problem with shotgunning than with handguns or rifles since shotgunning is very dynamic and involves shooting at fast moving targets. I'm left eye dominant and shoot right handed. With shotguns I use a small piece of scotch tape on the left lens of my shooting glasses to block my vision. With rifles I just aim with my right eye. With handguns I hold the gun in my right hand and reach across my body and aim with my left eye.

 

[Richbaker]

Your thumb will stay on "target" when using your dominant eye...looks like you're right-eye dominant.

 

[Octothorpe]

So I'm left... err... right... err.. left/right dominant?

 

[Steve in PA]

Yes, your cross-dominant. So is my wife and she shoots quite well.

 

[umaggb]

eye dominance

I like to use a sheet of paper. Fold in half then tear a semi circular hole about a quarter inch on the folded side and you'll wind up with a nice half inch circle. Unfold the paper, hold it at arms distance and look at some point ( a light switch, a nail any small thing across the room.) You should see what you're trying to look at. Wink your left eye and if you still see the target object you're right eye dominant. If you no longer see the target object with your left eye closed, open both eyes and repeat the process with the right eye closed. whichever eye is open when you can see the target object is the dominant eye.

really a simple test takes a lot longer to type it than to do it.

 

[Mantua]

There's a third method, similar to #2. Instead of your thumb, use your right hand to make a backwards "C". Focus on something doorknob-sized. If you close your right eye and obscure your point of focus, you're left eye dominant. And vice-versa. I thought i was cross-dominant until i was showed this.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

You may find your dominant eye and you may shoot with it. Keep in mind that many things can be done to switch to either eye and either side. Mind over matter as I always say. I shot with excellent results in the Army for 20 years. I switched over a year ago and found out that I shoot better right handed than left handed even though my body is trained to shoot left handed. Most people think that it is so important to shoot with the dominant eye and I agree if you cannot be taught to shoot with your non dominant eye. Shoot with both eyes open when using iron sights...

 

[Rexster]

When doing any of these eye dominance tests, be sure to start the test with the head and eyes neutral in relation to the object, so as not to skew the result. There is another complicating factor; I cannot remember the source, but one time I read that eye dominance may not be total. One eye will still tend to dominante, but such folks will have a difficult time using the tests to determine dominance, and will also have a more difficult time keeping both eyes open while using the sights on a firearm.

 

[Octothorpe]

Trying those other tests, it looks like I'm cross-dominant. I shoot fairly average for someone who's only every shot about 100 rounds, either right or left handed. I also use both eyes open. I'll play around with some different things when I go shooting next--left eye closed, right eye closed, etc. Thanks for the information everyone.

 

[HammerBite]

Octothorpe . . .

Judging from the results of the tests you described, neither of your eyes is dominant. A small percentage of people do not have a dominant eye. I don't know if that is a curse or a blessing.

If you were cross-dominant you would have a dominant eye and it would be on your weak-hand side, e.g., right-handed and left-eyed.

 

[Kim]

I have always been confused about this. If you are shooting a handgun with iron sights do you keep both eyes open or do you squint and use your dominate eye?

 

[go_bang]

So when I do the test where try to cover the target with my thumb I see two thumbs when I focus on the target. If I focus on the thumb I see two targets. Does this indicate that I don't have a dominent eye or what?

 

[HammerBite]

go_bang . . .

That indicates that your eyes don't focus on two distances at once.

Focus on the target. Then stick up your thumb to cover it. One of the two thumb images you see should stand out more than the other one. That is the one that counts. Whichever eye is seeing that image is your dominant eye.

 

[Kim]

I just did the test with the paper as described above and I am definately Left eye dominant. Nice to finally know. Thanks. It was obvious.

 

[stevemis]

Is dominance something you can change at will? I always get different results with the tests mentioned. I can force one result or the other, just by thinking about it. I usually shoot iron sights with both eyes open, although I've been known to close one eye from time to time.

Last time I shot, I closed my left eye (squinted) most of the range session. I had all sorts of eye and upper facial muscle spasms for a couple of days afterwards. Got to keep an "eye" on that. Note to self, don't do that anymore.

Steve

 

[Kim]

Well I googled "dominate eye shooting" and now I know why I have never been great dove hunting. I am right handed and left eye dominate. I am going to get out tomorrow and try shooting with the stock on the left and see if it helps. If not I will try the tape trick but sounds like the best thing to do is shoot with the shotgun on the left.

 

[HammerBite]

Kim . . .

Shotgun shooting is where it really starts to make a difference.

I am left-handed and right-eyed. I got into shooting via the NRA bullseye route and closing the right eye wasn't a problem for me. Obscuring the vision of my right eye with a small piece of translucent tape on my glasses worked even better. I eventually discovered that, for me, shooting with both eyes open was no problem either. The cross-dominance didn't hurt anything.

Things weren't as simple when I got interested in shotguns. You need to point with the eye that's over the gun. Closing one eye or blocking it with tape shuts down your peripheral vision on that side and really hurts your shooting. Conventional wisdom is that it is easier to learn to shoot from the other side than it is to try to change eye dominance. I spent a lot of time mounting the gun on the right side and swinging on the corners formed by the ceiling and walls. It still feels wierd to shoot from the right side, but it feels good to have clays break!