Shooting Dilemma

[Archimagirus]

I don’t post a ton, and try to only post on something I have relevant experience with, but I find myself needing some help.

I have been shooting over 20 years now, but for the most part it has been purely recreationally and sporadic at best due to financial situations during my adult life. I have taken a few one day, local shooting classes but have not had an serious gun school time.

Historically, I have written (poorly), thrown, batted and shot right handed. As a kid, through scouting and the archery badge, we figured out I am left eye dominant, and my parents told me as a young child, I favored my left hand, but as I grew up, I used my right hand more and more.

With that history in mind, here is my recent discovery and the thing that caused my dilemma.

I recently was fortunate enough to get to start shooting more often and took advantage the other day.

Because it had been awhile since I shot a pistol, I started with my Glock 44 just to kind of ease in. The last few times I had been shooting, I tried to spend some time shooting with my non-dominant (left) hand. As I was shooting with my left hand with the Glock 44, my groupings were tighter and I seemed to be more accurate left handed.

Assuming it was fluke, I moved on to my 9mm pistols, a Glock 17 and P2000 LEM and P30 LEM. As I shot those pistols, I fired some left handed and the same level of accuracy persisted as I had with the Glock 44.

To be honest, this has me shook. It makes me wonder if I should try to switch to shooting left handed or if there is another cause to the result/problem. Could it be because my support hand was stronger?

Any suggestions anyone has would be appreciated.

[JCN]

Why switch? Keep shooting with both. Great dilemma to have.

[Doc_Glock]

It is not unusual to see tighter groups with the non dominant hand in my experience. I think it has to do with flinch and recoil anticipation not being quite as well developed. Shoot with both.

[MickAK]

Need some more info. What do you mean by 'shooting left handed'? WHO? Two hand grip using left hand dominant?

I think it's possible you just think too much shooting with your normal grip and you 'just shoot' using your left hand. Left eye, right eye, etc. dominant really shouldn't matter with pistol shooting. See what you need to see. Being 'more accurate' with pistols is kind of a joke. If you can see good enough to make the shot you can make it. Again, more info. More accurate at speed? At slow fire? Distance?

[Archimagirus]

Need some more info. What do you mean by 'shooting left handed'? WHO? Two hand grip using left hand dominant?

I think it's possible you just think too much shooting with your normal grip and you 'just shoot' using your left hand. Left eye, right eye, etc. dominant really shouldn't matter with pistol shooting. See what you need to see. Being 'more accurate' with pistols is kind of a joke. If you can see good enough to make the shot you can make it. Again, more info. More accurate at speed? At slow fire? Distance?

Fair questions and fair points about eye dominance not mattering and accuracy with pistols being relative.

WHO and two handed grip with left dominate were both used. It was relatively slow fire, close range, I am working my way up to get faster farther. Shooting further than 20 yards has always been a challenge for me. My hope once I get some more recent trigger time is to get to one of Gabe’s training classes since he is localish it to me and to fix these deficiencies.

I think there maybe something to Doc_Glock’s comment about the flinch not being as well developed. I was getting that sense as I was shooting today.

Thanks for the comments so far.

[MickAK]

Fair questions and fair points about eye dominance not mattering and accuracy with pistols being relative.

WHO and two handed grip with left dominate were both used. It was relatively slow fire, close range, I am working my way up to get faster farther. Shooting further than 20 yards has always been a challenge for me. My hope once I get some more recent trigger time is to get to one of Gabe’s training classes since he is localish it to me and to fix these deficiencies.

I think there maybe something to Doc_Glock’s comment about the flinch not being as well developed. I was getting that sense as I was shooting today.

Thanks for the comments so far.

Shooting farther than 20 yards is a challenge for everybody, some people just like to pretend it isn't.

My advice would be to spend some time just shooting before getting to work. A lot of peoples issues seem to stem from working themselves up to grip, trigger press, sighting, and what not. Get back to what's really going on with putting that bullet where you want it to go. I think @Clusterfracks sig is great for this: 'You never really graduate from certain things'. We're all just trying to pull the trigger straight.

It's not that I don't think hand/eye dominance can't be an issue to focus on, it's just that I kinda doubt that's what's going on here.

[Pa-Pa]

Don't over think it. It may be since your left eye dominant and your parents said you used to favor your left hand. Do you shoot with both eyes open? If you shoot better left handed and your comfortable with it, maybe that's what you should do. Maybe your ambidextrous which is not a bad thing. I am far from being a shooting expert, so take all this with a grain of salt. I would think it's like a shooting stance. Don't over think it and just do what comes natural and works for you.

[Wendell]

Many years ago Massad Ayoob (I think it was) talked about the importance of practicing with both left and right hands, and recommended that we we should buy (both) left and right holsters, and practice operating from the holster (with both hands, and from both sides of our body).

[365X]

I’m the same way as you.

I’m left handed and right eyed. I write left handed. I throw left handed.
I put my fork in my left hand.

My right arm muscles are slightly bigger. My right hand and arm are at least as strong as my dominant arm.

I am much more stable shooting with my right hand. I’m a much better shot with my right hand. I can keep my right hand more stable.

Shooting isn’t hand writing. Fine motor skills aren’t needed to shoot. Also you have your dominant hand as your support hand, which tends to provide superior control for your firing platform.

You are very normal.