Right handed Left eye dominant question

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  • outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,819
    Eye dominance is not an absolute thing: people with a very strong dominance in one eye typically don’t even need to close or occlude their non-dominant eye. Those people would be ill-served by closing their dominant eye. People who often see double images have very low dominance.

    You can kind of test this: if you hold your thumb out and defocus enough to see two images, you eventually see one thumb start to waver and disappear first. So for me, the thumb on the left disappears eventually, which corespondent to a weaker right eye.

    Here’s an article that explains better from Norman Wong. Before Norm retired, precision shooters used to fly into San Francisco just to get a prescription from him:

    https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2017/10/1/five-easy-steps-to-determine-your-dominant-eye/
    There are days when my dominant eye fights with the other. Pretty much shoot everything with both open. Scoped rifle, red dot, handgun, bow. I find that less taxing. If I'm having trouble on something longish range for instance, I will close my weak eye, but otherwise, both eyes open.
     

    TLL

    God Bless America
    Jan 6, 2011
    1,082
    Virginia
    Right handed and left eye dominant. Learned to shoot as a kid. Long guns left handed but handguns right handed. Shooting long guns right handed doesn't feel natural.

    Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk
     

    Mark75H

    MD Wear&Carry Instructor
    Industry Partner
    MDS Supporter
    Sep 25, 2011
    17,174
    Outside the Gates
    Being able to focus on the front sight is much more important

    Some people have stronger eye dominance than others. I have zero dominance, if I do the eye dominance test 10 or 20 times it always comes out 50/50. If the OP's friend cannot shoot right handed at all, I would worry about changing; if they have success right handed/right eye, don't worry, just shoot. I would be much more concerned about being able to focus on the front sight of a long gun than which eye was being used, DUH! And if using a scope, its completely moot.

    OK, so I have no particular eye dominance, am right handed and shoot all long guns right handed; I will naturally pick up a handgun right handed, but my better half will be the first to point out that I am dramatically better with a handgun in my left hand.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,884
    Not always ! The Dominant eye isn't always the the one with best acuity , or longest w/o fatigue .

    Handguns are no big deal to shoot cross dominant .

    An absolute beginner , starting with clean slate , probably is better off shooting the shoulder that matches the eye . At that point shooting is unfamiliar to either hand/ shoulder , and the initial learning curve is similar .

    Meanwhile in the * Do as I Say, etc * department : I am cross dominant , but sucuessfully adapted to shooting long guns dominate hand/ shoulder , such that all the adaptations are subconscious , and switching now would be starting over from less than zero .

    ( Ironically , with handguns where it matters little , I have always made a point to maintain proficiency with either hand . )
     

    Mdiesel

    Member
    Sep 21, 2018
    74
    Right handed and left eye dominant. Learned to shoot as a kid. Long guns left handed but handguns right handed. Shooting long guns right handed doesn't feel natural.

    Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

    Same
     

    photoracer

    Competition Shooter
    Oct 22, 2010
    3,318
    West Virginia
    The best solution, based on Olympic and other high end shooters is to switch hands. 80% of LH people are right eye dominant while only 20% of RH people are left eye dominant. I suppose a weird application of the 20/80 rule. Anyway I grew up as a RE dominant LH shooter exactly like my father who was such a great shooter in 1939 they made him a shooting instructor right out of boot camp. Anyway after I took up the shooting sports in my early 60's it dawned on my that I tilted my head slightly when I shot pistols LH (I shot rifles RH like my father so that was Ok). Around 4 years after starting I realized I was getting a touch of arthritis in my hands, worse on the left. So I studied the issue and found that a number of high shooters changed to their eye-dominant side and got better than their old way. So in 2012 I made the choice to go cold turkey RH shooting all the time. Took me about 6 months of serious practice and at the end of that I was shooting the pistol better than I had before now right-handed. These days I hardly know what to do shooting LH except for the fact that in weak/strong hand shooting I shoot the same speed now with both hands. So I am pretty sure if I could make the change at 65 anyone can if they put the effort. Hardest part was having to spend the money for RH holsters.
     

    sxs

    Senior Member
    MDS Supporter
    Nov 20, 2009
    3,378
    Anne Arundel County, MD
    Not always ! The Dominant eye isn't always the the one with best acuity , or longest w/o fatigue .

    Handguns are no big deal to shoot cross dominant .

    An absolute beginner , starting with clean slate , probably is better off shooting the shoulder that matches the eye . At that point shooting is unfamiliar to either hand/ shoulder , and the initial learning curve is similar .

    Meanwhile in the * Do as I Say, etc * department : I am cross dominant , but sucuessfully adapted to shooting long guns dominate hand/ shoulder , such that all the adaptations are subconscious , and switching now would be starting over from less than zero .

    ( Ironically , with handguns where it matters little , I have always made a point to maintain proficiency with either hand . )

    You're contention about absolute beginners is exactly my belief as well. I have also personally witnessed people with cross dominance shoot rifles well and sometimes shooting handguns very well. I think shotgun clays and shooting flying birds with shotguns is the weakest link. For small game, the shotgun can be almost aimed at rather than pointed at. However, for targets on the move, both eyes open are a distinct advantage. Use of 2 eyes allows better estimates of distance and velocity so you can lead or swing through better plus gives you an eye that is not over the sight plane to help see a target that is "blotted" by the barrels/sight plane.
     

    Johnconlee

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 8, 2019
    1,149
    Mechanicsville
    If he is a brand new shooter then I suggest learn to shoot with the dominant eye side. If the cross dominant shooting habits are well under way then it's probably best to just keep going with what works. I didn't know what eye dominance was for the first 10 years I was shooting. I learned when I went to 4h rifle instructor training that I am cross dominant, left eye dominant and right handed. Since then I have tried switching, I can shoot better on a bench using my left hand both eyes open but holding the gun and reloading is still very awkward when using my dominant eye side. I often switch back and forth just for fun at the range. I have seen kids get quite frustrated with this issue. Sometimes it's best to just shoot cross dominant and close or use a cover over the dominant eye. The eye cover really helps with eye fatigue when shooting for long periods.
     

    Mack C-85

    R.I.P.
    Jan 22, 2014
    6,522
    Littlestown, PA
    Not a big deal with rifles or pistols since you have front and rear sights to keep you straight.

    Big deal on shotguns where your eye is your rear sight!!!

    New shooter will be best served by switching sides.

    Set in ways shooter, there are many ways to blur the dominant eye, so the eye on the side your shooting from takes over.

    And when all else fails, close the dominant eye. Not that big of a deal for trap and skeet, but can be a problem for Sporting Clays, Live game, and Five Stand, as it messes with your depth perception.

    My Dad is naturally left handed, but is right eye dominant. He shot left handed all his life. He has tried lots of ways to shoot with his cross dominance, what worked for him is...sets up both eyes open, calls pull, then as he tracks the target he closes his right eye right before he pulls the trigger. He has ran 169 straight over two days in Trap, has multiple straights in Skeet, but is a D class Clays shooter.

    For what it's worth I'm an NRA Shotgun (and Rifle) and NSCA Level I Instructor.

    Sent from my LG-G710 using Tapatalk
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    1) Rifle, close the off side eye.

    2) Handgun, you can either close the dominant eye, or just slide the pistol over to the dominant eye.

    3) Shotgun, shoot based on your dominant eye. Your eye is your rear sight, and it is critical to use your dominant eye. I used to teach sporting clays and switched several people from their dominant hand to their dominant eye. Every one of them, while fumbling with things like loading, shot their best round ever.
     

    Sampson

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 24, 2013
    1,640
    White Marsh
    Originally Posted by bibitor View Post
    I'm right handed and left eye dominant and for me it matters a great deal. I shoot long guns and bows left handed, but handguns I shoot right handed. YMMV

    Originally Posted by bigmanindc View Post
    What about using a scope on a long gun or a crossbow do you go left handed?

    Both left handed, my left eye is significantly stronger than my right. I'm able to compensate with handguns by head and arm position, and right hand draw is much easier for me.

    I shoot just like Bibitor describes his style and for the same reason. Left eye is dominant because it is much stronger than the right. I can shoot a rifle right-hand if necessary but it isn't as comfortable. This situation has caused me to be more ambidextrous than most people.
     

    bpm32

    Active Member
    Nov 26, 2010
    675
    Not always ! The Dominant eye isn't always the the one with best acuity , or longest w/o fatigue .

    Handguns are no big deal to shoot cross dominant .

    An absolute beginner , starting with clean slate , probably is better off shooting the shoulder that matches the eye . At that point shooting is unfamiliar to either hand/ shoulder , and the initial learning curve is similar .

    Meanwhile in the * Do as I Say, etc * department : I am cross dominant , but sucuessfully adapted to shooting long guns dominate hand/ shoulder , such that all the adaptations are subconscious , and switching now would be starting over from less than zero .

    ( Ironically , with handguns where it matters little , I have always made a point to maintain proficiency with either hand . )

    Yeah, and I suspect eye dominance isn’t as innate as handedness. I remember reading something by Grant Cunningham, the Colt revolver gunsmith. He claimed that his eye dominance had changed from years of leaving a jeweler’s loupe over his dominant eye. Doing that, you end up looking up from the bench a lot and the “unlouped” eye takes over.
     

    dist1646

    Ultimate Member
    May 1, 2012
    8,760
    Eldersburg
    With a few exceptions, it is best to shoot from the dominant side. Once a bad habit is learned, it is hard to unlearn it. Most of the world is oriented toward right handers and so many just learn to adapt. The best way I can describe it is that it is like shooting a service rifle vs a match rifle. You adapt to the service rifle, you make the match rifle fit you.
     

    mac1_131

    MSI Executive Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 31, 2009
    3,280
    The best solution, based on Olympic and other high end shooters is to switch hands. 80% of LH people are right eye dominant while only 20% of RH people are left eye dominant. I suppose a weird application of the 20/80 rule. Anyway I grew up as a RE dominant LH shooter exactly like my father who was such a great shooter in 1939 they made him a shooting instructor right out of boot camp. Anyway after I took up the shooting sports in my early 60's it dawned on my that I tilted my head slightly when I shot pistols LH (I shot rifles RH like my father so that was Ok). Around 4 years after starting I realized I was getting a touch of arthritis in my hands, worse on the left. So I studied the issue and found that a number of high shooters changed to their eye-dominant side and got better than their old way. So in 2012 I made the choice to go cold turkey RH shooting all the time. Took me about 6 months of serious practice and at the end of that I was shooting the pistol better than I had before now right-handed. These days I hardly know what to do shooting LH except for the fact that in weak/strong hand shooting I shoot the same speed now with both hands. So I am pretty sure if I could make the change at 65 anyone can if they put the effort. Hardest part was having to spend the money for RH holsters.
    Shoot I thought I was special being left handed and right eye dominant.

    I shoot right handed but had to learn how to write right handed to keep my data book. That was the hardest part.

    Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk
     

    Blacksmith101

    Grumpy Old Man
    Jun 22, 2012
    22,165
    Time to learn about eyes. It is said that the higher the level of competition the fewer cross dominant shooters there are and when you get to the Olympics there are no cross dominate shooters.

    Shooting Sports USA Expert Forum on Eye Dominance:
    https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nra/ssusa_201108/index.php#/p/20

    Dr. Norman Wong Articles as posted to the Bullseye List (plus*):
    https://starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html

    U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, Pistol Marksmanship Training Guide - Properties of the Human Eye Relevant to Sight Alignment:
    https://archive.org/details/firearm...tol-marksmanship-training-g/page/n78/mode/1up

    USMC Pistol Marksmanship - MCRP 3-01 B
    https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/MCRP 3-01B Pistol Marksmanship.pdf
     

    photoracer

    Competition Shooter
    Oct 22, 2010
    3,318
    West Virginia
    I switched to RH in other sports earlier on. Golf in 1980, archery 1974, bowling with either hand 1973. Still only write LH except for the period during which I fractured my left wrist in an AMA race at Loudon in 1975 when I had to develop a RH signature for my bank.

    Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
     

    Tungsten

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 1, 2012
    7,232
    Elkridge, Leftistan
    Eye dominance is not an absolute thing: people with a very strong dominance in one eye typically don’t even need to close or occlude their non-dominant eye. Those people would be ill-served by closing their dominant eye. People who often see double images have very low dominance.

    You can kind of test this: if you hold your thumb out and defocus enough to see two images, you eventually see one thumb start to waver and disappear first. So for me, the thumb on the left disappears eventually, which corespondent to a weaker right eye.

    Here’s an article that explains better from Norman Wong. Before Norm retired, precision shooters used to fly into San Francisco just to get a prescription from him:

    https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2017/10/1/five-easy-steps-to-determine-your-dominant-eye/

    Thank you for that post. I just tried it and the thumb on the right is more defined while the one on the left is blurry. What I found intriguing is that by keeping my thumb out at arms length, if I then close one eye and then open it (while keeping the other one open the entire time) I can make either image in focus. I wonder if this could be an effective technique for retraining your dominance to the other eye.
     

    mdbassplayer

    Member
    Feb 1, 2017
    54
    I am right handed and left eye dominant. I have the added complication of a compound astigmatism in my left (dominant) eye. So I have basically come down to shooting rifles left handed if I am using red dots where I keep both eyes open. Pistols are right handed but aim is through left eye. If I am using a scoped rifle I tend to shoot right handed because I get a clearer picture with my right eye. So similar to some other cross dominant shooters for the most part.
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    One other consideration is for action long gun sports, if you are cross dominant, to shoot with the dominant eye. This puts your dominant hand on the fore end to drive and point the gun.

    With hand gun, I would suspect that using the dominant hand would be an advantage for the draw, but likely can be trained to be just as good.

    I have found that many women do not have a truly dominant eye. I have changed how I do the test, to better catch this.

    I have the person stand about 8 feet away. I close my non-dominant eye, and have them point at my open eye. What I will see is the fingertip in line with the dominant eye. I have to point alternatively with each hand. I find many women, and some men, show their right hand fingertip aligned with their right eye, and their left fingertip aligned with their left eye. And a very few, neither fingertip aligns with neither eye.
     

    jstersh

    Member
    Sep 29, 2020
    2
    I’m LE/RH and have found that a holographic sight helps on my rifle. It’s much, much easier for me to close my right eye than my left, so I’ve always just moved the pistol over to my left eye. Holo sights help altogether though!
     

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