User Panel
Posted: 4/24/2023 1:12:04 PM EDT
I’m very right-handed and very left-eye dominant.
For years I did not know this, and my occasional attempts at hobby shooting went so poorly that it discouraged me for years from even messing with guns. I only discovered my cross-dominance about a year and a half ago. I read online different suggestions on how to train cross-dominant. The most solid advice I received was simply to train left-handed. I now exclusively shoot left-handed. This has been quite a learning curve and has been frustrating at times. I’m curious how many others have trained offhand because of cross-dominance, or if you used another technique. I’m new around here. |
|
|
[#1]
It is very common in competitive rifle shooting. Some of the top rifle shooters in the country are right-handed cross-dominant shooters shooting left-handed.
If you commit to it, it doesn’t take too long to adapt. |
|
Fundamentally the marksman aims at himself.
— D.T. Suzuki |
[#2]
Yep. I am the same but found out at an early age that I was cross eye dominant.
Since then, I've shot everything left handed. It will feel natural after a while. Practice mounting the gun 50-100 times a day to your shoulder. |
|
Originally Posted By FLAL1A:
"Pretty much the only thing that keeps me paying my taxes and not turning my house into a chickenshit particle board and stucco compound is the fact that the police occasionally kill douchebag criminals in comical ways. |
[#3]
Originally Posted By mcculver5: Yep. I am the same but found out at an early age that I was cross eye dominant. Since then, I've shot everything left handed. It will feel natural after a while. Practice mounting the gun 50-100 times a day to your shoulder. View Quote Shooting a rifle left-handed came more naturally than a pistol. I easily work rifle both left & right with ease. Pistol is a much more retarded feeling. |
|
|
[#4]
Originally Posted By hellishhorses: Shooting a rifle left-handed came more naturally than a pistol. I easily work rifle both left & right with ease. Pistol is a much more retarded feeling. View Quote Yes I agree. But shooting to my dominant eye seems to be work out best for me. Wingshooting should always be done with the dominant eye for depth perception and leading the clay/animal. |
|
Originally Posted By FLAL1A:
"Pretty much the only thing that keeps me paying my taxes and not turning my house into a chickenshit particle board and stucco compound is the fact that the police occasionally kill douchebag criminals in comical ways. |
[#6]
I just close my other eye when dominance shifts, which it does for me. An alternative is to put a piece of tape over you left lense on shooting glasses.
|
|
|
[#7]
Originally Posted By Killface: Learning to shoot a rifle left handed may be beneficial, but you can totally continue to shoot handguns right handed being cross-eye dominant. I've trained quite a few people to do so. All you have to do is line the pistol up under your dominant eye. Here's a picture I found from an article that shows how to do it, but feel free to reach out if I can help further. https://cdn.athlonoutdoors.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2019/08/cross-eye-dominant-shooting-lead.jpg View Quote Came here to post this. Often very new shooters can switch to the same hand as their dominant eye. Others, not so much. So I teach them to simply shift the gun to match their dominant eye. Try both and see what works best for each student. |
|
One well at a time, Drill Baby Drill!
If you need more than 8 rounds in a 1911 to solve your problem, you need friends with rifles. I don't need your PERMISSION in order to voice my OPINION |
[#8]
I actually tried right-hand shooting with left eye alignment. It was a miserable failure. Shooting pistols left-handed is the only accurate option I have. I got a Glock 19 and set it up left-hand mag drop and it’s becoming more natural. Pistols have certainly taken more time.
|
|
|
[#9]
Originally Posted By Killface: Learning to shoot a rifle left handed may be beneficial, but you can totally continue to shoot handguns right handed being cross-eye dominant. I've trained quite a few people to do so. All you have to do is line the pistol up under your dominant eye. Here's a picture I found from an article that shows how to do it, but feel free to reach out if I can help further. https://cdn.athlonoutdoors.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2019/08/cross-eye-dominant-shooting-lead.jpg View Quote That's how I do it. The biggest inconvenience is mag location on the belt, but I manage. |
|
|
[#11]
1st off a brief introduction, I’m right handed, right eye dominant
I’ve been shooting USPSA since the mid 80’s and have a master classification in open, limited, production and PCC. About 2 years ago I experienced pain in my right wrist and shooting made it worse. The Dr recommend PT and the rest to let it heal, rather than sit on my ass and feel sorry for myself, I bought left handed rigs and competed for over a year shooting cross dominate. 2 thing I learned, 1 shooting with my weak hand sucked, I could do it, but everything was forced, nothing felt natural. 2 shooting cross dominant wasn’t as big a deal as everyone made it out to be. I found I sights easily without consciously doing anything different, and after awhile I realized I was subconsciously bending my right elbow our slightly more than my left which moved the gun in front of my right eye. I’ve since went back to shooting right handed and the one plus of the whole experience is I no longer fear weak hand stages and find shooting weak hand only more natural |
|
|
[#12]
I'm rt eye dominate and rt handed. When I was about 20 YO rabbit hunting with some friends, I pulled the trigger without having the 12ga firmly in my rt shoulder. Shoulder was sore so I started shooting left handed using the left eye the remainder of the day and solid hit a rabbit that popped up crossing in front of me. From that day forward started shooting both sides w/shotgun.
Our dept had us qualify shooting both sides with pistol and shotguns so I practiced it a lot more. Barricade shots had to be done with the least amount of your body exposed so you had to use the outside eye to the barricade. Rt side, Rt eye... Lt side, Lt eye. When I start to miss targets shooting right side, switching to the left brings me back on target again. Closing the non-targeting eye helps me speed up target acquisition when switching hands. We use a modified Weaver stance and switching which foot is back also helps reset the mind to which side and eye is being used. At least we've practiced that way enough to make work for us. |
|
|
[#13]
I learned about my cross-dominant eye when I was a kid trying to shoot a .22 left-handed and kept missing the paper.
Switched my rifle to the right side and became a decent shooter. I wish I'd learned to shoot handguns right-handed, but alas I'm old now and still shoot them left-handed. It forces me into a Weaver stance, which I know isn't ideal. And I'm quite sure it contributes to my being a pretty mediocre pistol shooter. I'm 64, and I don't think I want to start learning the correct way. More power to you if you can pull it off. |
|
It's so annoying trying to have a Socratic argument with a psychopath.
|
[#14]
I have trained numerous cross dominant shooters of both genders. For pistol, it’s only a 7 degree angle difference. For rifle, I have had the most success by switching to the hand matching the dominant eye. It takes a while, but the investment is worth it.
|
|
|
[#15]
Right should injury in my 20s keep me away from centerfire rifles and shotguns for years.
In 2014 Coworker wanted me to shoot his AK and AR, I had never handled either. Right hand shooting hurt so I tried left, seemed ok. So I bought an AK74 followed by an AR and joined this sight. If you shoot regularly it's pretty easy to adapt. |
|
|
[#16]
Does this apply when using a red dot?
|
|
|
[#17]
Originally Posted By eddienyr: Does this apply when using a red dot? View Quote You should have both eyes open when using a red dot. I would suggest keeping the same alignment that I showed in my previous post even when using a dot. Keep that muscle memory in case you have to switch to irons. Pistols aren't all that much of a problem for cross-eye dominance. With rifles, you can move the dot way far forward. It looks silly, but works. I'm trying to convince my wife to put a dot on a pistol and give it a try. So far she's been pretty stubborn on liking what I could find pre-milled. She tried out my PSA Micro Dagger yesterday and wants to see how she likes it under recoil. I don't have the heart to tell her that she can't have it. |
|
|
[#18]
I just went red dot and never went back. I’ve been left handed for almost 40 years and right eye dominant. I’m not gonna ever naturally be right handed without constant work.
|
|
|
[#19]
|
|
Luke 11:21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own mansion, his property is safe.”
A nation without borders is not a nation at all. |
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.