I am left eye dominant and right handed.

Many have suggested to me that I should learn to shoot left handed rather than my normal right handed.

Maybe it is too late to start, but I have practiced a bit lately shooting and dry firing left handed and just do not have the trigger control I do right handed. I simply do not shoot as well, especially if I add a bit of pressure to myself to quickly fire.

I think I am going to stick to shooting right handed and deal with closing my left eye at the final point of aiming on game animals. I tend to find that I track fairly well. The animal is always fairly well centered in my field of view when I close my left eye. Minor adjustments then boom.

I do find that during extended range sessions, it tends to feel unnatural keeping my left eye closed. I am considering an eye patch to keep that eye covered.

Was wondering the experiences of other with the same affliction.

I've helped a few shotgunners with this and it seems that if the shooter is new at it and just learning that it's as easy to learn LH as RH.

However if the shooter has been shooting for years it's hard to break the habit.

The choices are to close the left eye.....or to patch the left eye or to put a dot on the left eye glasses to block the sight.

There are some terribly bizarre stocks thay allow one to shoot RH and still sight with the left eye.

It seems in your case you should learn to close the left eye.

I'm the same way. I think that if you use a sight or scope it naturally focuses the right eye even if it isn't dominant. I shoot a bow instinctively right handed and I still shoot fine. Sometimes I close my lefe eye at the time of the shot but not always. I never close an eye shooting a gun. I think that changing your "handedness" is very hard. You've seen how hard it is to use a rifle left handed...now like you say add a little speed or pressure and it's nearly impossible.

I struggled with this a lot thinking I was doing it "wrong" once I was convinced by others that it will work I quit worrying about it. I've met a bow shooter online who shoots competitavely and is one of the best...he's got the dominance problem and it still works very well for him.

I say quit worrying and go hunting

the chef

I'd add that you obviously loose your depth perception when you close an eye. I'd rather retain the depth perception and learn to concentrate on my right eye.

For a beginner I'd recommend shooting with the dominate eye. However you sound like you have some experiance shooting with the weak eye. If you are satisfied with your shooting don't change.

A simple trick if you were glasses when you shoot is to put a little scotch tape on the left lens. It'll blur the vision just enough but give you some peripheral vision.

The dominance can be overcome, grab two paper towel tubes, put them to your eyes, each aiming away from each other about 15-20 degrees and practice focusing at items with your right eye. It is easier to control the eyes than the hands.

John

I only dim my left eye when shooting rather than close it all the way or squint. By just relaxing the left eye so that it's partially obscured by the eye lid, your right eye will take over.

This is a fairly common problem. I used to do a lot of competitive trap and skeet shooting and most folks that I saw with it would correct it with a small piece of frosted scotch tape (like Ohiosam mentioned) on their left lens. Position the tape so it just blocks the sights from the left eye. You'll still have your peripheral vision, and after a while you'll hardly notice the tape.

Last fall, a friends wife with left eye dominance got a real nasty scope cut around her left eye while shooting her .308 from her right shoulder.

I had a similiar expieriance. when I was in the military, I smashed my right hand (I'm a righty). when my hand was badaged, I was told I had to go to the rifle range and my Lt. was an idiot, I had to qualify anyway. I had to shoot lefty with a dominant right eye. I did it but man it was hard. Alot of practice.

I dont think there was any trick to it, I just had to keep telling myself to 1: close my right eye, and 2: trust my left eye.

Now I catch myself shooting lefty with my pistol quite a bit. Kinda nice knowing I can shoot both sides if I have to.

I had the same problem when I was a teenager. My left eye became domiant, I just learned to shoot left handed. It took alot of practice, but I was able to do it.

Several years ago I meet an older gentleman with the same problem and he had a chunk taken out of the stock of his rifle so when he shoots right handed he can sight with his left eye.

Whatever you do to best correct the problem, be sure to practice, practice and practice some more.

I saw a right-handed, left-eye dominant muzzle-loader once; don't remember where, but the stock made a jog at the wrist.

Frankly, it looked fragile.

I am blind in my right eye and am right handed. I learned to shoot left handed at Boy Scout camp almost 50 years ago..Works for me and a lot of dead critters can testify.

I'm right handed .. left eye dominant. I learned to shoot left handed .. no problemo .. although I started when I was a younger. My Dad had the same thing. One slight advantage .. being a real gun lover ... I have been saved a lot of temptation over the years on fancy right handed rifles .. Much fewer left handed ones around ..

I wonder if it runs from father-son.

My father, brother, and I are all left eye dominant/right handed.

All cousins and such are wired correctly

I am right handed left eye dominant and didn't find out untill I had my eyes examined last year. I have always shot right handed with both eyes open. It is kind of weird when I look at the pistol sights I see two targets when I look at the targets I see two pistol sights. It can be confusing but I have had to deal with it for the last 49 years. I have tried to close the left eye and only use the right but that dont work either. It dosent present a problem when using a scope I just concentrate on the cross-hairs and squeezing the trigger.

Good luck hope you find a way to make it work for you.

I'm the same, left eye dominant and right handed. I've been able to train my right eye to be dominate when shooting my bow or shot gun, but have not been able to do the same when shooting a scoped gun or handgun. I trained my right eye to dominate while shooting my bow. I would fix my pin where I wanted and then opened my other eye a little and kept doing this until I was able to find my mark without closing my left eye. I could probably do this with a rifle but I don't shoot nearly as much as I do with my bow.

I'm one of those people who didn't learn I was left eye dominant until after I'd been shooting for several years. It's never been a problem at all for me to close my left eye while shooting a rifle because that's what I've always done. As far as shooting a handgun, a slight tilt of my head allows me to use my dominant eye on the sights while shooting right handed.

I am RH, LED. I have terrible vision in my right eye.

I learned to shoot lefthanded years ago. I couldn't shoot RH with any real confidence.

If your R eye vision is good stick with RH. If you are like me and have poor R eye vision, I'd make the switch. Your left trigger finger will get the hang of it in no time.

There are a fiew things you can do. Close your left eye as I do. Lern to shoot left handed. Mount a long eye relief/low power scope scout style. Also my turkey gun uses a NO power red dot I am able to shoot with both eyes open with it with great results.

do what Walter Bell suggests and shoot as often as you can and also do snqp cap pracrtice. as he states, you can do sonmehting wrong a few time but do it 10,00o times and you will learn to do it right. I am this way but dont give a hoot. LAst time I shot sporting clays I hit 78%, it being only the3 secoind time I ever shot SC and I was using a I/C 20 gauge,m sured the other guys I shot with did better, 90+, but they are fanatica shooting fityted 12 gauges etc. I also call poo on those who shoot with scopes and insiste on keeping both eyes open for 'depth perception' The focal length oof an object through a scope is not the same as without a scope, so tell me, at 100+ yards how is one to FOCUS their eyes indepoendently on both the object through the scope and the object sans scope? It doesnt happen, most guys will say, 'i only see one object and its the one through the scope' so what the hell is the problem with closing one eye?

_BB

For about 50 years I shot right handed, with a dominant right eye. Then about six years ago I lost enough vision in my right eye to prevent me from shooting using same, even with a scope.

My solution was to use "cross-over" stocks, sometimes called dog legs. I shoot these right handed, but left eyed. They seem natural and for me work as well as normal stocks.

Most of the larger stock makers can carve a pattern and produce one quite easly. I have traveled many miles with said stocked rifles, and killed many heads of game without a problem.

Its interesting to note, that after using my left eye over the past 6 years, I have now become left eye dominant!

My youngest son is cross dominant too. He learned to shoot a handgun well enough to compete is IPSC, but was never comfortable with a rifle.

We recently got him ready to go to the sand box by running him through the County Sheriff's practical course and the rifle range.

I have an AR15 in the M4 configuration (with a permanently pinned muzzle break to yield a 16.2" barrel). Just to see what would happen, we fitted it with an Eotech Holosight. The guy had NO trouble what ever using it right handed with both eyes open ... he as able to easily pound targets at 100 and more yards and do it fast! The sight seems to take care parallax problems altogether.

I highly recommend the approach for those with this problem.

My Bro-in-Law is cross dominant and his groups shrunk notably when he swiched to his dominate eye weak hand.

I would just have him try a couple of the suggestions given here. The Holo-sight sounds like it may be a good choice. Nate

MM29,

I had the exact same problem. I am right eye dominant and had shot left handed for 28 years. Two years ago, I switched shooting (rifle) from left handed to right handed. The only advice I can give you is to just start shooting a lot. It will come - there is no magic here. The more you shoot left handed the more comfortable you will become. Also, I would urge you NOT to buy left-handed rifles. When I shot right-handed bolt-actions left handed, I was able to shoot and cycle just as fast as righties. You might consider switching the safety on rifles that have button safeties near the trigger from right to left hand though.

Good luck and get out there shooting!

Doug

I just doint see the point in going through the trouble of switching after so long to your dominant eye when, especially with hunting rifles, it doesnt make a hoot of difference. We are not talking about wing shooting, where it MAY make a slight difference, we are, for the most part, talking about measured, poaced shots, and even fast shots for rifles take several secnds. I think one must remember in order hit what you are aiming at with a rifle, one must AIM it, not POINT it like a shotgun. There is one single place of aim and one single projectile. Ficguring that shooting with your dominant eye will give you an accuracy advanbtage is, to me, silly. I think some folks try to explain the dominant eye as some mystical thing that is 'more accurate' than your 'weak' eye. Nonsense. Here is an example of this mistold tale... When selling a fellow a Berreta Silver Pigeon, he mentioned that he had switched to left handed due to his left dominant eye and that finding Beretta's with a more neutral cast was difficult. I agreed. Then he proceeds to shoulder the gun and, with the gun at his left shoulder, CLOSES his right eye. What does this mean? He hasnt a clue why he switched eyes, or hands. He belileved that his left eye would be more accurate than his right. Nada. I told him he owuld have saved himself much money and frustration, since he still closes his off eye, to keep shooting right handed. He still didnt understand, which goes to show how fokls really diont understabnd these concepts. Just my 2 cents..__BB

I'm small, so over the years when shooting with friends I got to be a pretty good pistol shot but didn't have much experience with rifles because any that I was around were too big physically. I shoot pistols right-handed and did so for years before someone I was shooting with noticed that I closed my right eye when shooting. I started playing around with it a little and when I tried to keep both eyes open, I saw almost a double image; when I closed my left eye my shots would always be about two feet off target; when I closed my right eye, no problems. When I decided I really wanted to hunt and shoot rifles, I realized that the only time I had shot a rifle that was close to my size was years ago and I could not even see anything out of the scope with my right eye so I was craning my neck over to use my left eye. Not an easy or fun way to do it. I decided that because I didn't have any real muscle memory relating to rifles to try left-handed. In the beginning I would periodically try to shoot right-handed just to double-check my decision. I have never regretted it one bit and it actually made the difference in whether or not I took up hunting/shooting rifles.

By the way, I have 20/20 vision in both eyes.