cross dominance (eye/hand)

[WadePatton]

A shooter friend just discovered that he is right-eye dominant, but he is left handed.  He has left and right handed rifles-so he's going to experiment at the range next time.  But as he is on crutches yet from injury, we like to chew the fat over the situation.

I'm always on the lookout for it.  I have another pal with a young son who is left-eye dominant, but holding play guns right-handed.  He'll likely be taught to shoot left-handed.

Any of y'all "crossed up"?  and how did you sort things out?  Switch hands or eyes? or creep over the comb?

[smokinbuck]

Wade,
I am right handed but shoot left due to the loss of my right eye. Until I got some LH rifles I shot right hand using my left eye. I rigged a couple of mirrors on one of my rifles and went for it. They act like a horizontal periscope. Got it sighted in and it was pretty accurate. I am away but can send a couple of pics in a few days.
Mark

[Long Ears]

It's not really an issue with a rifle as long as you have good vision in the sight eye. A shotgun is a different animal however. I don't have a dominate eye or center eye dominate. I have shot sporting clays for several years and have taken classes from some of the best shooters in the USA. I've found if you don't want to close an eye to put a small smudge of chap stick on the lens of your shooting glasses. As your eye rotates into the line of the smudge your brain takes over and makes the other eye dominate. There are lots of shooting articles on this subject. Bob

[jamesthomas]

 I'm right handed but shoot lefty because I can't close my left eye an keep my right eye open. I was bitten in the corner of my left eye by a dog when I was 12. The dog tore a strip of meat from the corner of my eye half-way down my cheek. (I was a pirate with the eye patch for a week at school ) Pistols are no problem, but I can't adjust the sights on a rifle enough to shoot right handed an use my left eye. I do shoot shotguns right handed. You just have to adjust to it. But rifles are a whole different matter.

[Naphtali]

When I learned to shoot a shotgun right-handed, being left-handed caused me to shoot behind moving targets. I successfully and inexpensively solved the problem as follows.

1. Hold the shotgun as I would track and shoot, my partner put a tiny dry marker dot at my left eye's point of focus.

2. Replaced the dot with a 1/4 x 1/4 inch piece of translucent tape. I can see through the small piece of tape, but the view is partially obscured or "softened."

3. Shoot right-handed. What occurs is eye dominance - that is, seeing the target clearly and easily - changes from dominant left-eye to previously non-dominant right eye.

4. After a brief shake out to acquire muscle memory, problem solved.
***
5. When not shooting, remove the tape and you are back to your old self.

6. And were you to find this unsatisfactory, restoring your vision is a 30-second job.

Hope this helps.

[Jerry V Lape]

I have three kids/grandkids cross dominant.  Because shotguns are important to us, I started them all shooting on the same side as their dominant eye.  Now that is natural for them.  Another grand daughter just decided she wants to be an archer - like in the movie Hunger Games.  She is also cross dominant so I have got her starting shooting a left handed bow as it will matter to her there as well.  Find out young or old, it only takes a little practice at the range and dry firing to get them accustomed to the dominate side.

Jerry

[Paddlefoot]

Two of my kids are left eye dominant  right handers. in small bore we had them shoot left handed as the thinking was that it was easier to deal with the mechanics of the gun than the vision and position needs to see the sights. That might not be true with a muzzle loader, especially a flinter. I like the chapstick and tape tricks and think they might work well. I taught myself to use my weak eye for combat pistol shooting so now Im pretty much ambi with a handgun.

[T*O*F]

A cross-over gun I built for a female target shooter many years ago.  Right handed, left eyed.

[750k2]

2. Replaced the dot with a 1/4 x 1/4 inch piece of translucent tape. I can see through the small piece of tape, but the view is partially obscured or "softened."

Chap stick dot on your shooting glasses - also lets you shoot with both eyes open

[moleeyes36]

TOF, you might be pleased to know that the cross-over gun you built works very well for the lady.  I shoot regularly with her and her husband and she has won a lot of matches with it, including the state level.  She usually shoots in the men's division and cleans their clocks shooting that gun.

Mole Eyes 

[T*O*F]

TOF, you might be pleased to know that the cross-over gun you built works very well for the lady.  I shoot regularly with her and her husband and she has won a lot of matches with it, including the state level.  She usually shoots in the men's division and cleans their clocks shooting that gun.

Mole Eyes 

That does please me.  I know she could only shoot pistol before I built it for her.  I'd lost track of them.  It was quite a journey to build it and get it to fit properly.

[LH]

for a right handed shooter who is left eye dominant,  shoot right handed and put a blinder over your left eye.

[Daryl]

Or simply close the eye. I am cross or switch dominance to some extent, that is, I shoot right handed, but if I keep both eyes open, my left will take over dominance, then switch back to right eye dominance, which means I'm looking down the sights, very weakly though, then I'm looking at the side of the rifle, then the sights again, then the side of the rife again.  The inability to shoot both eyes (due to the eyes switching Dominance)open except for with a shotgun had been with me since I was a kid. I simply close the left eye when shooting right handed, and the right eye when shooting left handed. Both eyes are open when shooting birds as I don't see the barrel, only the bird.

[necchi]

I have three kids/grandkids cross dominant.  Because shotguns are important to us, I started them all shooting on the same side as their dominant eye.  Now that is natural for them.  Another grand daughter just decided she wants to be an archer - like in the movie Hunger Games.  She is also cross dominant so I have got her starting shooting a left handed bow as it will matter to her there as well.  Find out young or old, it only takes a little practice at the range and dry firing to get them accustomed to the dominate side.

Jerry

By far the best is to use the dominate eye, tricks and adjustments just don't make sense,, The eye is direct wired to the brain, and the brain does the work.
Use the dominate eye and everything is natural.
Shoot left hand long guns or bows if you have a left dominate eye.
Hand gun doesn't matter.

[James Rogers]

I have three kids/grandkids cross dominant.  Because shotguns are important to us, I started them all shooting on the same side as their dominant eye.  Now that is natural for them.  Another grand daughter just decided she wants to be an archer - like in the movie Hunger Games.  She is also cross dominant so I have got her starting shooting a left handed bow as it will matter to her there as well.  Find out young or old, it only takes a little practice at the range and dry firing to get them accustomed to the dominate side.

Jerry

By far the best is to use the dominate eye, tricks and adjustments just don't make sense,, The eye is direct wired to the brain, and the brain does the work.
Use the dominate eye and everything is natural.
Shoot left hand long guns or bows if you have a left dominate eye.
Hand gun doesn't matter.

Agreed! This is THE best option if no physical problems prohibit it. There is a learning hump to overcome in the beginning but once thru the pass the results will always trump gimmicks and fixes

[Robert Wolfe]

I am right handed and left eye dominant. For shooting a rifle it does not matter as you close that eye anyway. It caused me fits, however, learning how to shoot a shotgun til I realized what was going on. Now when I shoot a shotgun I squint or close my left eye and all's well. I don't have the peripheral vision a two eyed shooter has but I do OK.

[WadePatton]

Yes I agree with the shoot to the dominant eye, let the hands catch up.  But i'm not C/D. 

My pal's issue is that his "best" and "most favorite" guns are left-handed.  Personally I don't know how he made it to forty-odd years without sorting this out.  More skinnin' than shootin' i reckon.

The good news is that now he can stop feeling limited by the locks offered in left-hand variations.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

It seems that more of us are cross dominant than I would have thought.  I am left handed, and right eyed.  My father must have recognized this when I was very young, because he got me started on both the bow, and the rifle, shooting from my right shoulder.  For me it is an advantage especially with a heavy rifle, since my left side is the stronger and more coordinated, so holding a heavy rifle is not a problem, and my right eye does the aiming work just fine.  It's pretty strange watching me shoot a pistol, though, as I hold it in my left hand and lay my head over my left shoulder to align my right eye and the sights.  I shoot a bow right handed, and have done it so long, that in spite of my left side being dominant and stronger, I draw heavy bows easily with my right. 

[Daryl]

If you think Taylor's use of his left handed handgun, right eyed shooting is a detriment, think again. The "1st place Win Notches" carved into the grip of  his Remington .45 Colt will attest to that.  The grip lacks only 1 st. place notch in about 9 or 10 years from Hefley Creek handgun matches.
He's Ok with a rifle, too.

[blackbruin]

I write right handed (forced) eat lefthanded, switch hitter at baseball, and shoot left handed. It was forced to shoot right handed at first, but a bloody nose and whacked up cheek, I took it upon myself to shoot the right handed guns left handed when nobody was looking.  My father finally realized he had no "win" in this war. It's easier to use the dominant eye and learn the "hand" than retrain your eyes in my opinion.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

I don't think it makes much of a difference with rifle. I'm left eye and shoot right. When I was young it really messed up my shot-gun shooting when you have both eyes open, and when I was into archery I shot my bow left handed. but now after cateract surgery I seem to have lost my left eye dominance.