I'm a bit wierd.  I write left, throw right, left foot dominant in soccer, but trained up my right.  I bat right...you get the idea.  I've been shooting for just over a year and initially thought it would be a good idea to train with both hands, just in case, and it came very easily.  I don't have a dominant eye so I'm never crossed up.  I've begun taking some train classes and will soon be taking a tactical rifle class.  I got a thought and wanted some input.  If you could shoot with both hands, would it make sense to shoot the rifle with one hand and the pistol with the other?  My thought is as you're transitioning the rifle with your left hand, you could already be drawing the pistol with your right.  Just a thought.  Just wanted to ask before I start training one way or the other.

Yeah I am with you.  Very ambidextrous.

I actually shoot the way you describe--rifle left handed and pistol right handed.  There are some advantages to it.

One thing to consider if you do not have a preference yet--my circumstances require unique gear setup.  It is difficult to carry rifle reloads on the "weak" side, etc.

In 35+ years in the field... I have never heard of or seen anyone that did not have a dominate eye!!!!

Three of the people I trained/qualified during my career (over 10 years with these coworkers) were either left handed and right eye dominate or right handed and left eye dominate.

I had to think things out at first to properly instruct... such as handgun/long gun transition.  Eventually I would just tell them "You know what you need to do and how to do it!"


Try this


Watch this

I did try that, multiple times, almost 50/50.  Regardless, I'm very comfortable with my right eye when right handed and vice versa.  I tried shooting left handed and right eyed and vice versa and they both feel weird.

I was planning on running a chest rig with center rifle reloads.  As with everything, I think this will be an experiment with gear and go with what feels right.

Ronin:  insightful video. Left eye dominant for me. But I can shoot rifle right handed / right eyed as well. Weird.

Stlb: I run a TT mini MAV with the ammo on my chest. Pistol on my right, dump in the small of my back. I hope that helps.

Completely understand. When it comes to eyes and hands I am as f'd up as a football bat. It took me a while to figure out what was best for me. So here are a few things to think about. I went rifle/shotgun left because I am a little more left eye than right. Also I found its easier to work an AR as a lefty as long as you get a rifle that compliments you (ex. I am in the military and when downrange I bumped my mag release a lot on my kit. Now I look for rifles with deep seated mag releases or like CMMG has elevated cover around the mag release. I also dont like ambi safeties so i learned to flip the safety with my knuckle instead of pulling my whole finger away from above the trigger. I shoot my pistol right handed because it feels correct. It also makes me extremely fast with transitions with a left rifle and a right pistol. And I get to weigh out my mags on both sides of my belt.

Whatever you do pick something and stick with it. I practice strong and weak side shooting but I stick with my setup. Dont want to hesitate when you NEED to make a decision on pulling the trigger. Hope that helps. (Hey my 1st post!)  I decided to stop trolling and start contributing.

I shoot similar to the way you describe, left eye dominant, right pistol, left rifle, write lefthanded, everything else right.  The biggest issue I ran into was gear placement on vests and belts.  Takes a bit more time to thoughtfully place things so there is not issues.



I recently had a left hand index finger injury that impedes my range of movement at the moment, so I'm going to try training more with right handed rifle shooting.  For carbines this should be no issue, but for precision stuff my left is still more accurate.