PDA

View Full Version : Left-handed, but right eye dominant – advice requested



Novice
06-21-2011, 04:54 AM
First off, I read through most of posts on the forum, and this is one of the better forums I have found so far – thanks for creating it.

I am a relatively new shooter (five years shooting experience once or twice a month). I think I can control handguns better in my dominant left-hand, but find that when I present the weapon with my right hand, it lines up very naturally with my right dominant eye. I would like to think that I am not so far ingrained in shooting left-handed, and that I might be able to train myself to shoot very well right-handed with my dominant eye because I think this would give me an advantage in a tactical situation; I can flash the sites much more readily shooting with my weak hand and dominant eye. However, if one were to forget about aiming, and only focus as a thought experiment on controlling the firearm, moving it onto target and following a target, as well as reloads, slide and magazine drops, etc., my left hand is pretty much automatic by now in a good way.

I would very much appreciate your advice on whether or not I should focus on shooting dominant arm and dominant eye, or if I should switch to dominant eye weak hand.

On an unrelated but also very important note, I had an epiphany (somewhat rare for me! :-)) – I can shoot 9 mm much faster and with more realistic confidence of hitting the target then I can with 40 and 45 caliber. What is your opinion on selling all of my autoloaders and settling on a single pistol in 9 mm (of course having duplicates of the same gun) and becoming really, really good at it? For recreational shooting I am a revolver guy, so all of my autoloaders, while shot often, hold no emotional pull for me. Sorry for the length of this post, but I will take your advice to heart. Thanks again, Mike.

ToddG
06-21-2011, 08:09 AM
Short version: use your most dextrous hand with your dominant eye and don't think about the rest.

Long version: see here (http://pistol-training.com/archives/433)

JeffJ
06-21-2011, 10:12 AM
What Todd said, I'm cross dominant (but opposite from you) - It makes absolutly no difference in a pistol, I don't even realize that I do anything different that anyone else, although occasionally another shooter will notice.

It becomes a bit more of an issue with long guns, but FWIW I used to do a decent amount of sporting clays and skeet and I shoot a shotgun off of my right shoulder (left eye dominant) with both eyes open - the only trouble I ever had was if I shot somebody's gun with one of those damn fiber optic sight on them - my left eye would grab that sight and I would basically be sighting down the wrong plane. Rifles are of course another story and I just squint my left eye a little and let the right take over (with iron sights) a scope does the work for me - the .mil guys will tell you to switch shoulders and shoot both eyes open on a rifle, but that takes a lot of commitment and I don't shoot rifles enough to make the swich YMMV

As far as the caliber thing goes, I think you'll find plenty of 9mm fans on this forum - I think the adavantages (cost, recoil, capacity) definatly outweigh the disadvantages (neglible (flame retardent suit on now) ballistic differences in modern JHP ammo). Practicing with one platform will most likely get you to a higher level faster than jumping around. Now selling all your other guns... maybe, maybe not - some people enjoy collecting, and others enjoy shooting, others enjoy both - it's really a financial decision that's up to you as far as if you want a bunch of "safe queens" or if you want to convert those to more ammo and shoot more.

JHC
06-21-2011, 10:33 AM
Timely topic for me. My younger son is a lefty and can shoot a rifle reasonably well but has had a helluva bad time with a pistol. Sunday as I was completely tapped out for more coaching advice I just said fuckit, lets try something completely different and switched him over to right hand. He is left eye dominant. And right handed his hits improved dramatically. DRAMATICALLY. I look forward to studying Todd's "long version" on the blog.

JeffJ
06-21-2011, 10:53 AM
JHC - I didn't realize that I was cross dominant until I was in college and started shooting shotguns a lot. I had done some rifle shooting growing up and always just closed my left eye - never was around anyone to tell me I was doing it wrong.

Once I discovered that I was cross dominant, it helped with a lot of different things; throwing darts, shooting pool, even doing things like woodwork, especially with hand tools and cutting to a line etc. It's something that is good to be cognizant of but, when it comes to pistols it's so easy to bring the gun up to the dominant eye that it really doens't affect much.

Novice
06-22-2011, 08:53 PM
Thanks for your advice – I'll focus on dominant eye with the dexterous hand from now on. Great article, too.

mongooseman
06-27-2011, 06:18 PM
"What is your opinion on selling all of my autoloaders and settling on a single pistol in 9 mm (of course having duplicates of the same gun) and becoming really, really good at it?"

I've jumped platforms and calibers for years with two goals in mind:to become proficient (relatively :)) with anything I pick up, and to find the magic combination of caliber and handgun. That being said, I've been shooting only one handgun for months in 9mm and I see a huge difference. Partially because I'm more structured in my practices and because I have been shooting so much. I have to qualify with a .40 caliber Glock and I have no problems making hits with it. I also shot a co-workers XDM in .45 and it was fun to slam steel targets around with the 230 grain ball. After shooting those pistols I was amazed at how easy follow up shots with the 9mm are. As soon as I take care of some bills and repairs, the plan is to get another pistol in the same caliber. Find what works best for you and stick to it.

ubervic
06-28-2011, 04:19 PM
What Todd said, I'm cross dominant (but opposite from you) - It makes absolutly no difference in a pistol, I don't even realize that I do anything different that anyone else, although occasionally another shooter will notice.

It becomes a bit more of an issue with long guns, but FWIW I used to do a decent amount of sporting clays and skeet and I shoot a shotgun off of my right shoulder (left eye dominant) with both eyes open...

I have shot clays for many years and noticed my cross-dominance issue only within the past few years (as my overall eyesight has declined a bit). I find no issue or challenge with pistol-shooting, however, perhaps because so much focus is trained on the front sight alone, and I can sight-in well with right eye/right hand.

Jason
06-29-2011, 12:24 PM
Close/squint one eye, the open one becomes dominant.

JWTORNADO
09-14-2012, 11:15 PM
I am right eye dominate yet I changed over from right pistol shooting to left hand and now I shoot max left handed. I also shoot shoot ambidextrous with rifles, but better right handed, and I am equally ambidextrous with shot guns. I learned this trait in my early thirties when my hand gun jammed on me and I had to use my Dad's gun to qualify at the range, and since i had never used his weapon I bit the bullet and went to the range to see how I would with my left hand and found that I went from 140 out of 150 to 150 out of 150 so now I am lefty and right dominate with pistols. I have premuch used the same process with rifles and shot guns all my life so it is diffucult to say if one would benefit by the change without trying it out.






First off, I read through most of posts on the forum, and this is one of the better forums I have found so far – thanks for creating it.

I am a relatively new shooter (five years shooting experience once or twice a month). I think I can control handguns better in my dominant left-hand, but find that when I present the weapon with my right hand, it lines up very naturally with my right dominant eye. I would like to think that I am not so far ingrained in shooting left-handed, and that I might be able to train myself to shoot very well right-handed with my dominant eye because I think this would give me an advantage in a tactical situation; I can flash the sites much more readily shooting with my weak hand and dominant eye. However, if one were to forget about aiming, and only focus as a thought experiment on controlling the firearm, moving it onto target and following a target, as well as reloads, slide and magazine drops, etc., my left hand is pretty much automatic by now in a good way.

I would very much appreciate your advice on whether or not I should focus on shooting dominant arm and dominant eye, or if I should switch to dominant eye weak hand.

On an unrelated but also very important note, I had an epiphany (somewhat rare for me! :-)) – I can shoot 9 mm much faster and with more realistic confidence of hitting the target then I can with 40 and 45 caliber. What is your opinion on selling all of my autoloaders and settling on a single pistol in 9 mm (of course having duplicates of the same gun) and becoming really, really good at it? For recreational shooting I am a revolver guy, so all of my autoloaders, while shot often, hold no emotional pull for me. Sorry for the length of this post, but I will take your advice to heart. Thanks again, Mike.

John Ralston
09-15-2012, 09:12 AM
Are you keeping both eyes open? If not, you should be, and then squint your right eye just a bit, as suggested. You can also put a piece of scotch tape over the right lens of your shooting glasses until you get proficient (it is like squinting without the eye strain).

superscribe
09-17-2012, 10:52 PM
Well, you could always just try to get really really good at the CAR system. :rolleyes:

Dmoody
07-03-2013, 12:12 PM
I am in a similar situation. I am left-handed, but I have been shooting right-handed all my life. Last year, I worked at a job that required me to use a hand-held scanner, which I held in my left hand. I figured that since my natural inclination was to use that hand for my scanner, why wouldn't it be the same with a handgun. Since then, I have been practicing with my left hand and it feels remarkably comfortable. It was then that I figured out that I am right-eye dominant. I've not been able to get out to the range as often as would like to test, but I think the accuracy is close. I think I just need to train with my left hand a little more. Any advice on training methods other than range-time (which would be best)? I still shoot rifles and shotguns right-handed.

I just registered on this forum today, and this is my very first post. Looking forward to talking guns with you all.

northernbird
08-08-2013, 12:57 AM
first day on this forum and first post here. great topic too.

I'm right handed but left eye dominant. I've been shooting since I was big enough to hold a rifle and since the beginning I've shot my rifle off my left shoulder. We never did alot of handgun shooting, but a 3 years ago I bought my first handgun. Although I'm fairly ambidextrous (can throw a football/baseball, golf, tennis, ping pong, basketball just as good left handed) I'm more comfortable manipulating things in my right hand. So I started and have always shot my handgun right handed. In my short experience I have to completely agree with Todd's article. its not a big deal to move the pistol an inch or two to sight with your dominant eye. In my case I found it much more natural to draw and consistently present the gun with my right hand. I shoot both eyes open with my handgun and when using open sights on the rifle and havent had any issues, other than always wondering if I should switch. I started shooting 3gun this year and I've got a few confused comments from people about shooting my rifle left handed and my pistol right.. but it works well for me. sorry for the rambling here.. but my recommendation would be to use your dominant hand because you'll be more confident in the motion and probably be more consistent. Good luck!

NETim
08-08-2013, 09:29 AM
RH/Left eye dominant. Always shot long guns from the port side. Didn't know anything about that "cross dominant" stuff growing up on the farm, but shooting LH just felt right. (Did this new fangled "cross dominant" stuff even exist back then?)

Later, as an adult, and so much more sophisticated, I reasoned I should shoot handguns LH as well. (Smarter trigger finger?)

Perhaps I outsmarted myself and steepened the learning curve as hand strength (as well as dexterity) is a major factor in handgunning, but I'm glad I did it.

It's kinda cool having the "smarter/stronger hand" available to do things like grabbing mags, opening doors, operating lights and maybe even fending off a threat if need be.

Again, maybe I've outsmarted myself, but it's working reasonably well for me.

lselinger
03-31-2014, 03:32 PM
Hi guys, first time poster but lurked around for a while. I have the same issue but for the life of me I can't seem to get on the paper without moving sights to the extreme. Maybe I'm just a horrible marksman but I shoot left handed and am right eye dominant. With rifles, especially with scopes ;-) it doesn't really matter but I do typically buy left handed bolt action rifle. For my pistols I try closing my left eye and aiming with my right eye using my left hand to fire, but I'm always a full target width off. I have a picture of what I mean I just can't post it. I've tried extending my dominant hand under my right eye (read in a different book) with no luck and it's horribly uncomfortable. I just can't seem to find my "sweet spot" for how to hold the firearm so what I see is what I hit. This is going to sound silly, but does anyone have any other advice? I'm starting to think my eyeballs or skull is messed up causing this wonkiness. And it's consistent with at least 5 pistols so I know I'm the root cause :)

jetfire
03-31-2014, 03:58 PM
Maybe this will help:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JM4K1WO8Qg

lselinger
03-31-2014, 04:17 PM
Maybe this will help:


Totally appreciate that Caleb! I think I just need a lot more practice. I've tried this technique (kind of. I was told to lower the pistol and raise it under my dominant eye). Then I overthink the angle of the firearm when my dominant arm is extended (in other words I twist my wrists and move my head around to make a good sight picture). I put 300 + rounds through my 1911 before taking a brass drift to the rear site ... now I wish I would have just left it and asked more experienced shooters ;-)

MSparks909
04-01-2014, 10:40 PM
Cross dominant shooter here as well. Self taught shooter. RH/LE dominant. Grew up shooting pistols and rifles right handed and I would either squint or close my left eye entirely. Did some eye dominance tests last year when I started getting more "into" shooting. Found out I was in fact left eye dominant. The transition in pistol shooting was quite easy; however, instead of moving the gun over, I simply turn my head slightly to line up my left eye behind the sights. This past New Year, I decided that I would only shoot rifle/shotgun left handed from now on, in order to maximize the use of my dominant eye. It's been a slow process, but my lefty long gun use is improving.

jetfire
04-02-2014, 01:33 PM
I'm not really specifically hand dominant, the only thing I can't do with either hand is write neatly; you could argue I can't write neatly period, but that's a different joke. I learned to shoot right handed because that's how everyone else shot from when I was little, and then it was a lot easier to get right handed gear when I was an adult.

sheepdog
04-03-2014, 10:41 AM
I disagree with a few things being said on here.

I'm a right handed left-eye dominant shooter (opposite of you). I started shooting guns and bows right-handed, then I switched to left-handed at the advice of my local bow shop tech, and now I practice ambidextrous. It's been an expensive ordeal selling right-handed guns, buying left-handed ones, and then selling those for ambidextrous right-handed ones, but it's finally paid off. Let me explain.

First, shooting, IMHO, is not so complex as to prohibit someone from switching.

Although I had switched to left-handed shotguns, bolt-action rifles, and bows years ago, I always remained a right-handed pistol shooter slightly turning my head to use my dominant left eye (Hickok45 and Nutnfancy do the same thing). One day, I was dry practicing with my Glock 19 left handed and I noticed that, never really practicing drawing with my "off" hand, I was much more comfortable gripping it left handed. It didn't make sense to me because 1) I was right handed, and 2) I was shooting a pistol by extending it in front of me more like the isosceles stance (which supposedly doesn't favor one side or the other).

I had asked James Yeager about this previously when working on my drawing technique. He instructs people to bring their gun up under their eye and then pressing it out forward. I told him I was left-eye dominant, but he insisted it didn't matter (that I was shooting right-handed). People compensate by turning their head slightly (to use their left eye). No biggie, so that's what I did. In other words, as most right-handed shooters do, I pressed the gun forward ever so slightly to the right side of center (as to come up under my right eye if I didn't turn my head).

For me, however, I tried doing it left-handed coming up under my left eye looking straight ahead in an isosceles stance. That is, it looks like I have my gun perfectly centered in front of me, but it's actually an inch or two towards my left (lining up under my left eye).

You would think an inch or two would make absolutely no difference in the mechanics of my hands, and maybe it doesn't, perhaps it's psychological, but all I know is that I prefer it. James Yeager also teaches people to grip their pistol with more force from their off hand. This might have something to do with it because I'm stronger in my right hand than my left, so I naturally apply more force to my right (off) hand when I'm shooting lefty. This is an advantage of cross dominance IMHO. For you, holding your pistol right handed will allow your left hand to exert more natural pressure to improve you're shooting (if James is right).

It may have been easier for me because I also had the advantage of learning to shoot lefty shotguns and rifles previously. That made it even easier, I'm sure, but not to the degree that I couldn't make it up with practice in a relatively short time.

Today I just buy right-handed shotguns and rifles because they're easier to sell and trade. I don't mind the brass flying across my face like I once did shooting long guns, and it matters much less with a pistol. My long guns always have a tang safety, however, so I can operate them comfortably from either side. I'm not claiming to be a great shooter, but I am just as good shooting right or left handed.

If you practice and you still favor your left hand, remain left-handed/right eye dominant and turn your head. For me, it just feels better shooting left handed now, but I still shoot right handed much of the time because—well—I'm right-handed...it's not hard!

The only thing that's frustrating is finding left-hand friendly firearms. Mossbergs and Brownings are great for shotguns, Savage is great for rifles, FNH is great for pistols (but they only have full-size options at the moment). I can bow hunt white tail deer for over four months a year in my state, so I switched from using a left-hand compound bow to an ambidextrous Excalibur crossbow. Once I find a set of the perfect ambi pistols, life will be good! ;)

Anyway, I hope this helps. It may not be as easy for other people as it was for me, but I absolutely encourage people to learn to shoot everything orientated with their dominant eye. If they put a modest effort and it's not comfortable, so be it, but I found the transition very easy to make. It will be even easier for you because finding right-handed equipment obviously isn't hard to do!

cclaxton
04-04-2014, 10:17 AM
I am right handed, but left eye dominant. I find it easy to do this as long as I keep my left arm straight...or mostly straight. Hold out your right arm straight in front of you and air-gun. Your right eye is more directly in alignment than your left eye. Now bring up your left hand like you are grabbing the gun (or do this with an unloaded gun). If you shoot with your right thumb locked down/horizontal along the frame of the gun, then this is more natural.

Now, the downside: When I shoot targets on my right, especially long distance targets on my right, my right eye gets engaged and I end up having sighting issues and missing center mass. Left-side targets are usually center mass shots because my left eye is more naturally engaged. So, I have to train myself to move my body and/or head when engaging right side targets, which is unnatural, especially when shooting fast. I am training myself to always use my left eye, even when engaging things to my right...takes time.

Your experience may vary depending on your own vision/brain/perception. This is just my experience.
Cody

Slavex
04-04-2014, 06:25 PM
I'm on mobile so I haven't read all the posts here just the last couple. If you are a cross dominant right handed person just bring the pistol up to the left side of center and use your left eye. You don't need to switch hands and do it, and you don't need to turn your head either.