Still shoot fairly well but have always wondered if I had started out shooting left handed if it would have made any difference.

I had an eye injury at 13, to my right eye. I tried shooting right handed for a couple of years, but changed to lefty at about 15, and it works pretty well. I still shoot hand guns left handed, though. about 5 years ago, I hand a lens implant on my right eye, and regained a lot of vision....it's kind of handy now, to be able to shoot both ways!

I am right handed but left eye dominant. I used to shoot "registered birds" as a member of the ATA. I also did a lot of skeet shooting. What I found extremely helpful was to put a very light smudge on the left lens of my shooting glasses. I would somewhat shoulder the shotgun and close my right eye. Then looking only with my left eye, I would put my left index finger over the line of sight to the last bead of the shotgun. Now, very slowly move your finger back to your left eye keep the bead covered by your finger until you touch the left lens of your shooting glasses. I canot take credit for this but I cannot remember where I saw it. It was about 35 years ago.

The light smudge does not interfere with your periferal vission and it's bearely noticeable when you are not shooting. I think the smudge is enough interference when shooting that your right eye takes over. I know that I may not have explained this very well but send me a PM and maybe I can furhter describe the method.

It works for me. Good luck.

I'm left handed right eye dominant. I shoot everything right handed and always have. Just go with the best sight I say.

I am right handed and left eye dominant, since a accident when I was about 5. I shoot left handed both rifle and shotgun and I always use righthanded weapons,no problems.

I have read this thread with great interest. As far as I know, for most of my life (and I'm pushing 80) I was right handed and right eye dominant. I discovered about 5-6 years ago that I seem now to be left eye dominant. How long this has been, I don't know because I stopped shooting a shotgun at around age 65. It might be worth while for younger types to test. Just a suggestion.

I am barely left eyed/right handed. I was left handed as a kid but my dad switched me, thus the dom left eye. I have tried shooting left handed with my recurve bows and I shoot better right handed by far. With shotguns, I keep both eyes open at the start and then wink my left eye (just enough to make it weaker than the right but do not close it all the way) as I acquire the target so don;t make a mistake in the heat of things. I am no competitive shooter but usually shoot 80-85% on the infrequent sporting clay rounds I shoot so I think that's decent. I don't complain about my success on birds which is most important to me. I say if you have been shooting this way a bit keep doing it, if you switch and don't have instant success you will likely wonder if you did the right thing or not and that is not worth your time.

Also, ask yourself what you expect to achieve from this, 2-3-4-% increase, ask yourself if it's worth it.

_Baxter

Here is a suggestion that will work for some especially when target shooting. Take one of those translucent looseleaf hole repair cicles and put it over the dominent eye on your glasses and it will just barely blurr the dominent eyes strenght when both eyes are open. Have had many students who this worked for. Hope this helps.

the only problem with the 'fixes' with as take, vaseline or the circle things is that when you hunt, you wont want to use them. thats why I practice the squint on acquisition so I dont do things differently shooting clays or birds

I am right handed and right eye dominant.
I have played a lot of baseball and shot a lot of skeet. I learned to hit left handed and found that it was an easy switch for my vision and arms. Learning the foot work left handed was the most difficult.

My son is right handed and Left eyed. He has been in Yhec shooting comps since he was 13. He has won a bunch of them. He ia now a US Marine, shot Expert all through boot and SOI. He has practiced a tip for his old coach of using a (spelling alert) Kalideascope? to help "fix" his problem. He claims to be able to switch eye dominance when he is shooting....I don't know if this is the right way to do this but I know he can shoot with just about anyone.

quote:

Originally posted by Liam Slattery:
I am right handed and left eye dominant, since a accident when I was about 5. I shoot left handed both rifle and shotgun and I always use righthanded weapons,no problems.

Same, minus the accident.

My son is very left eye dominant and right handed. I started him shooting left handed at 4 so its worked pretty well for him.

Its a tough issue for an adult to switch though, I can't shoot with my off hands hardly at all.

Just yesterday I got an email from one of the top sporting clays instructors that he's working on patenting something to "solve" this problem. I have no idea what it is but he's the real deal and I don't know of any frivolous products he's been involved with in the past so maybe this will really help some people.

I posted earlier that about 5-6 years ago I discovered that I was left eye dominant - or so I thought. Just to update - I took an eye test a few days ago to renew a driver's license. It seems that both eyes are now equal (20/25). Maybe what everyone should do is to consult an eye doctor before deciding what eye is "dominant". It apparently does change from year to year.

I am left eye and right handed. Does cost me some grouse but I can shoot fine at turkeys and deer left handed if needed. I dont notice much interference when shooting clays. Occasionally I know I missed because of the eye domination.

My son is the same way and is only 6 yrs old. I started to teach him to shoot left handed but a lefty buddy of mine told me not too. He said that when shooting rifles for accuracy he had a lot of trouble shooting left handed because his heart beat is more amplified on the left shoulder. Made sense to me. I will try to teach my son to shoot both ways.

Would be nice to be able to shoot a shotgun left handed and a rifle right handed.

I shoot all handguns right handed (hold) and use the left eye.

There is alot more right handed firearm options.

God Bless, Louis

For what it's worth, what about dipping the opposite eyelid? ( used to do it in trap shooting -even before I found out that my right eye was no longer dominant (and not knowing why I did it) and it did work for me -at least enough to keep me from embarrassing myself.Just a suggestion.

What is dipping the eyelid? Pardon my ignorance.

God Bless, Louis

Dipping the eyelid or winking at the bird as it is sometimes called, is where a shooter with opposing hand/eye dominance shuts their dominant eye as they start to mount the gun.

i was always taught to shoot both eyes open but at 21 my left eye started to take over.

An instructor taught me to shut the eye just as I started the mount, explaining at that point you no longer require binocular vision as your brain has already worked things out.

My shooting improved dramatically and I went on to win several competitions.

youngoutdoors

You are never ignorant by asking a question. I simply meant that perhaps very lightly winking the eyelid on the other eye might help. I guess it's something like giving a gentle wink to a pretty girl!

I am left eye dominant and right handed, found out at the trap range when I was 12. My coach noticed that I was no longer improving and performed a simple eye dominance test. It was suggested that I switch. I did, and continued to improve my average. I couldn't imagine shooting with a drooping eye, vasaline on a lense, closed left eye, etc. You need both eyes for depth perception. Critical for success. Switch and you will be surprised at how your shooting will improve. It will take a short time to loose the right handed muscle memory and be able to shoot left handed. I couldn't imagine the handicap trying to shoot international skeet or trap and even more so, live pigeons, box or hand thrown, with the off eye. Rifles, less of an issue, but, who only shoots rifles?

Gerrypeters375,
Thanks for the info; I'll try it. I am never afraid to try new techniques or ask questions. I had rather know than go on wondering.

Just about anything you want to know in the outdoors is available here from someone on the AR forums. Gotta love it.

God Bless, Louis

Right handed and left eye dominant. Shoot long guns left handed and handguns right handed. Just turn my body a bit with the pistols.

Taught myself to shoot left handed when I was about six or seven because I kept looking at the side of the BB gun. Not good.

I can shoot long guns right handed relatively well if I need to but it is a strain.

Left handed shooting of pistols is very easy though.
Greg

quote:

He claims to be able to switch eye dominance when he is shooting....I don't know if this is the right way to do this but I know he can shoot with just about anyone.

I think I get close to this because my eyes are so stinking close, dominance-wise. That's why I just squint right at the last moments of the swing. Given that I can;t ever recall having to adjust my swing as my eye closes, this tells me I am using my right eye (even with generally left eye dominant while not shooting). I honestly think this all has more to do with muscle memory than eye dominance. That's why trick shooters can o what they do without even mounting the shotgun at all, once they know what it 'feels' like to hit the bird, they record that in muscle memory and the more thy do it, the more it;s set.

Of course everyone is different but I think, as I said above, if your gain is only a few percentages, the work it takes to switch just may simply not be worth the trouble. A shotgun cast for a rightly isn't going to work with a lefty so if you are OK with swapping out your guns, or finding neutral cast guns, then compensating your physical shooting style to accomodate a right handed gun is more detrimental )in my opinion) than the half-squint with a good fittin gun.

My .02

quote:

Originally posted by bluefin:
Still shoot fairly well but have always wondered if I had started out shooting left handed if it would have made any difference.

It probably would have made all the difference in the world.

If switching now is out of the question (requires re-learning), the only really successful way to improve and eliminate the problem is to use some kind of Magic Dot on the glasses of the dominant left eye.

Closing an eye is out of the question as depth perception is lost.