Cross eye dominance

[mscott327]

ok, so I'm a backward cross eyed mutant. I'm left handed and right eye dominant. The matter of switching hands is out of the question. (so please don't recommend it to me). I'm probably going to take a bashing, but I was reading the Brian Enos forum about some shooters taping or obscuring the lens on their shooting glasses to help alleviate the issue with eye dominance. I started by placing a small piece of tape over the top part of my right (dominant) eye, now when I present the gun I'm looking down the sights with my left eye. I see the sights better and I don't have to adjust my head, arm, body to compensate for my cross dominance. I'm in essence teaching my left eye to take over. Basically does anyone do this? I've only practiced with dry fire drills since I haven't been able to go to the range.
Is this acceptable for training?
can I use the tape in Idpa?
am I crazy?

suggestions or thoughts?

[ToddG]

That approach is based on one of two assumptions:

1. you'll always have tape in front of your non-dom eye whenever you want to shoot, or
2. you will habituate to aligning the gun in front of the dominant eye and the need for the tape will go away.

The first is only feasible if you aren't using the gun for personal protection (or walk around with tape in front of your non-dom eye 24/7).

The second sounds good but in my experience, I've yet to meet anyone who has made the transition completely.

Candidly, as much as I like shooting with two eyes open, my suggestion for cross-dominant shooters is to close or at least squint the non-dom eye. It works well for our own SLG not to mention other world class shooters like Dave Sevigny.

[DonovanM]

I'm right handed and left eye dominant. I align the gun to my left eye. When I first started out I put tape on my non-dominant eye just to alleviate some confusion I might have. After a while it started not to make a difference whether I taped my lenses or not, and I'm not aware of any closing or squinting of my non-dom eye at present. It's a non-issue now, I have no problems with maintaining a neutral grip on my gun and my front sight tracks perfectly straight up and down.

My recommendation is to adjust your grip and arm positioning to align your sights with your dominant eye. You can learn how to shoot well with either method, but why not use the one that takes the least effort to adopt, and doesn't run the risk of causing problems if you ever have to shoot something without taped glasses on?

[mscott327]

Todd,
closing my non dominant eye (left) would be good, but it's harder to align the gun with my left hand and right eye.

[ToddG]

Todd,
closing my non dominant eye (left) would be good, but it's harder to align the gun with my left hand and right eye.

Why?

Not trying to be snarky. It's a genuine question.

If I point a gun at a target (right hand, right eye) and close my right eye, I can move the gun back into alignment in front of my left eye by moving it about 2" to the left.

[Ga Shooter]

At hte ripe old age of 39 (and shooting my whole life) I found out that I was cross eye dominate (right hand/left eye). What I was shown and now do is turn my head slightly to the right which allows the left eye to focus on the front sight. It took a little while of closing my right eye at the same time before it just became natural. Now I keep both eyes open and my left eye is in control and my gun is aligned properly(well as good as I can do).

[orionz06]

Right hand, left eye and I tilt my head slightly. The only limitation I feel I have is doing something like the wall drill and that is a focusing issue, makes me dizzy.

[JHC]

My 19 year old is a lefty in general (and a left footed soccer player) and left eye dominant. He shoots a rifle just fine lefty. But he is very weak with a pistol lefty and better shooting a pistol right handed. This doesn't seem to fit most cross dominant scenarios. I'm not over thinking it (any more than I have thus far) and we're just trying to go with what works. Any insights re that would be most welcome.

[mscott327]

Why?

Not trying to be snarky. It's a genuine question.

If I point a gun at a target (right hand, right eye) and close my right eye, I can move the gun back into alignment in front of my left eye by moving it about 2" to the left.

Todd,
I'll try closing my left (non dominant) eye and I'll move the gun over as you suggested. I'll post my finding later after my dry fire routine. It seems to easy....maybe I was over thinking it.

[mscott327]

Todd,

During my dry fire routine tonight, I tried the following three options during my wall drill from extension exercises.
1) scotch tape strip over my left (non dominant) eye. I moved the tape position several times to ensure that I had the best placement while not losing peripheral vision.
2) close or squint my left eye.
3) cant the gun for alignment
Here are my findings:
The scotch tape was probably the best solution because my non dominant eye couldn't through off my sight picture and moving the gun slightly to the right was actually easy while my left glass lens was covered with tape. Squinting or closing my left didn't feel right and I thought the squinting actually blurred my vision in my dominant eye. Canting the gun didn't make sense either since I was almost rotating the gun back and forth trying to find the right angle. Under pressure or stress canting the gun could slow me down or confuse me causing big problems during a self defense issue. I think the tape over my left eye and shifting the gun slightly to the right makes the most sense. I'll hopefully get the chance to practice live fire this weekend I'll let you know how it worked.