The left-hand discussion thread reminded me of a question related to "handness", but I didn't want to hi-jack the thread. I am strongly left-handed and also strongly left-eye dominant. I currently shoot my pistols left-handed, but have always thought that a pistol felt much more natural in my right hand.

My question: For those of you who shoot on the side opposite of your dominant eye, what are the challenges, drawbacks, or inconveniences would I face in changing over? Note: I am just an adequate pistol shooter currently, so it isn't as if I would be sacrificing much talent if I switched!

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Originally posted by Southern Rebel:
The left-hand discussion thread reminded me of a question related to "handness", but I didn't want to hi-jack the thread. I am strongly left-handed and also strongly left-eye dominant. I currently shoot my pistols left-handed, but have always thought that a pistol felt much more natural in my right hand.

My question: For those of you who shoot on the side opposite of your dominant eye, what are the challenges, drawbacks, or inconveniences would I face in changing over? Note: I am just an adequate pistol shooter currently, so it isn't as if I would be sacrificing much talent if I switched!

I am left handed, right eye is very dominant. I shoot pistols with the right hand, never had a problem. (But I am not in law enforcement or competition). My brother is right handed, left eye dominant. He shoots left handed, is quite a skilled hunter.

This has been an issue for me.
When I shot competitive rifle, a long time ago, I used an eye-blocker (for the left eye) which attached to the rifle.

When I hunt with a rifle I use a scope.
For shotgun, I've learned to shoot with both eyes open.

I'm right handed (left is useless to the point of being vestigial) and slightly left eye dominant.
I compete in IPSC (USPSA) and for years tried to keep both eyes open, but could never solve the "ghost image" of my sights. These days, for targets under 4 metres I can shoot with both eyes open, but for far shots and steel I squint my left eye slightly to make sure my right takes over.
I'm also dabbling with red dot optics, and in that case, both eyes remain open.

Can't say it ever held me back much, any points I ever dropped came from other factors.

Right handed, left eye. No issues that I'm aware of. I don't think it's limiting me in any way.

I use left eye for handguns, right eye for long guns. Actually, this did pose some challenges for long gun irons - I've had to play with placement of the front and rears a bit to mitigate double vision. But scope / RDS are not an issue. And not aware of any issues I'm having with handgun - can still shoot both eyes open (probably because irons on handguns are relatively close together vs long gun).

Most of the long gun instructors I've heard weigh on in this suggest that if you're strongly cross-dominant, you shoot with the handedness that matches your eye dominance. With handguns, I've mostly heard people suggest shooting to match your handedness AND eye dominance, just by moving the pistol over a bit.

One other possibility that I've seen a number of clays instructors (interestingly, ONLY clays instructors) recommend for people who have trouble with eye dominance and shooting with both eyes open is to put a strip of clear tape or a smear of chapstick across the off-side lens of the shooting glasses. The bit of blurriness on the off-side view makes the brain focus on the sharp view of the on-side eye, while still giving you the peripheral vision and depth perception of two eyes, unlike closing your off-eye or using a blinder.

When my youngest son was in kindergarden, I was at one of these kidde birthday parties where the subject of mixed eye dominance came up. A young mother was telling me that they had just recently found out their son was left handed. I shared that my son was right handed but left eyed. She looked puzzled. About that time her husband (a Russian immigrant) came up. The conversation went something like this:

Mother: Ivan, Mr Fenris was just telling me that his son is right handed but left eyed.
Father: Gee, that's too bad. [In thick Russian accent]
Mother: What possible difference does it make?
Father: Oh, you know, for shooting guns.
Mother: [Look of shock and horror]



Edit to add: Against common advice, he prefers to shoot right handed but left eyed. With pistols, he shifts his grip to the left a couple inches. With rifles, he turns his head a little to the right. It works for him.

Right handed/left eye dominant for me. I've never found it to be much of a challenge, far from an expert shooter however. I shoot both handguns and rifles right handed. If I'm using anything over a 4x on optics I'll often close my left eye, seems to help a bit. Other than that they are both open.

We test for cross dominance with all our students. It is simple to overcome if you know what is going on-many do not know they are cross dominant until we show them. It's as simple as having the dominant eye in a straight line with the dominant hand so that the eye, rear sight, front sight, and target are all in a straight line. Some shooters compensate by holding the gun over the couple of inches to get things lined up with the dominant eye, some turn their head to bring their dominant eye around, and some close the dominant eye to force the non-dominant eye on the dominant hand side to do the sighting; and some are able to leave both eyes open (in theory the best solution). I have also seen shooters change hands, although I think those rare individuals were already ambidextrous. Red dot sights can help as well, given the fact that you are focusing on the target rather than the sights.

Also with clay target shooting we sometimes put tape on the shooter's glasses on the dominant eye side, in the center point where he would be focusing on the bead, so he can keep both eyes open for peripheral vision but force the shooting hand side to do the work.

I'm Left eye dominant, but physically right handed...

I shoot a rifle left handed, which is VERY natural to me because I have greater fine dexterity with my left hand. I have always shot a rifle lefty, even when that rifle was a stick I picked up off the ground as a young warrior/boy playing in the neighborhood war games.

I shoot a pistol right handed, from a bladed stance, which moves the gun over towards my dominant left eye. I cock my head ever so slightly to get sight picture and it works, naturally for me. I also always shot a 'stick pistol' the same way as far back as I can remember. I never had to think about it, I just did it, and still do...

My wife is left-eye dominant and shoots handguns right handed, no problems.
For shotgun work, she shoots left handed. With a pump, this actually works out better because her strong hand works the pump, less chance for short stroking. She has attended a bit of defensive shotgun training and really works them well.

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For those of you who shoot on the side opposite of your dominant eye, what are the challenges, drawbacks, or inconveniences would I face in changing over?

I was Rt eye/rt hand dominant for decades. A retinal problem developed in Rt eye which produced 20/400 in Rt eye for a couple years.

As I was doing the cowboy action matches, I figured out a way to TRAIN to use Left eye/either hand for my cowboy single action pistols.

Medical treatment helped return my Rt eye to now 20/40 so I can shoot steel matches & miss equally well with either hand/eye focus.

Add cataract surgery & I feel blessed to be able to see as well as I do. Red dot definitely helps.

I am right handed and strongly left eyed. Pistols aren't the problem. With two handed holds, you just move the gun over to the strong eye.

With one handed holds (like for bullseye), you could use eyeshades or dots that block your non-shooting eye, but many, if not most bullseye shooters use those anyway.

That is what I do with a shotgun - I just block my dominant eye by putting a tape dot on my shooting glasses.

I am left-handed, right eye dominant. I'm a switch hitter.
With handgun shooting, I found that there is an advantage: I hold the right hand more loosely, grip with the left hand (which is stronger anyway) more tightly, so trigger finger is on the less tense hand. In theory, that should make me a better shooter. In theory. Anyway, that's what Bruce taught me, so I'm sticking to it.

Left handed ... Right eye dominate
Long guns, I just close my right eye and left does the work. Always has.
Pistols, two handed, center of body, both eyes open, left on the trigger. Am well aware of but don't even focus on the iron sites much. Pistol pointing instinct is very pretty much accurate. And the magic happens. Don't shoot pistols one handed, probably maybe I should try it. Wasn't ever trained to shoot one handed. Pretty sure I'd adapt one way or another. Might even learn some new skilz ... shoot

I’m mostly ambidextrous doing many more things right handed than left. That said I shoot right handed and I’m left eye dominant. For pistols it’s a matter of getting my left eye over the sights. For shotgunning and rifle shooting I had to train my right eye to become dominant. Once I get my right eye over the barrel, I have to do a long blink on my left eye or put a piece of scotch tape in the center of my left eyeglass lens. Once my right eye is on the barrel it stays.

I have tried to shoot left handed and it doesn’t feel normal.

My boy is left eye right hand....he shoots pistol fine cause he dips his head over and uses his left eye. For rifles I have taugh him to shoot left handed because he can’t tip his head over a stock...but last time we went to the range he started shooting my 10-22 right handed with the right eye...I didn’t force him or even mention it..he just did it on his own...he’s 12 now...so we will see



When I was an instructor I made sure everyone figured out which eye was dominate...some sailors we taught lefty and some we left alone as they couldn’t adapt to shooting lefty...

But we always made rifle shooters shoot whichever eye was dominate.

I’m right handed and left eye dominant to the extreme secondary to an eye injury many many years ago....I have zero vision in my right eye. I have no problems shooting pistol right handed, even did ok competing IDPA and currently outshoot half the regional SWAT team guys I run with as their medic. Long guns obviously I have to shoot lefty....that took me many years to adjust to after my injury but I have become a successful hunter and taken countless deer over the years.

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Originally posted by nhracecraft:
I'm Left eye dominant, but physically right handed...

I shoot a rifle left handed, which is VERY natural to me because I have greater fine dexterity with my left hand. I have always shot a rifle lefty, even when that rifle was a stick I picked up off the ground as a young warrior/boy playing in the neighborhood war games.

I shoot a pistol right handed, from a bladed stance, which moves the gun over towards my dominant left eye. I cock my head ever so slightly to get sight picture and it works, naturally for me. I also always shot a 'stick pistol' the same way as far back as I can remember. I never had to think about it, I just did it, and still do...

Me too!

Like me many of us are cross eyed dominant. But the OP is not cross eyed dominant. I think your challenges would only be getting used to shooting righty. I can tell you that when I try to shoot lefty it simply doesn’t work. It has never felt comfortable. I’m sure you could get used to it if you tried. But you would have to rework your grip and probably do a lot of training. Someone noted above that rifle instructors will tell you to shoot with your dominant eye and not your dominant hand. That never worked for me. Lucky for me red dots solve the issue because both eyes are open and I can see the red dot with my right eye no problem question,

I’m still practicing with both eyes open. One night while practicing I may have had an epiphany. With both eyes open I suddenly saw the sites clear as day and did not feel like I was struggling to use one guy. It seemed very natural. Unfortunately I have not mastered that yet. I’m willing to bet if you practice with both eyes open you can continue to shoot lefty. Just do it dry firing at home.