Where's all My Cross Dominant People at?

[Ricky_Bobby 130]

I figured I'd ask if there are other CD people on this board like me out there because as I practice shooting over time I will say it does get better, when I first discovered I was cross dominant (left handed shooter with right dominant eye) and a southpaw it was like worst of both worlds LOL - I started shooting in my mid 20's and even though I practice holding my firearms righty and bringing up to shoulder, etc, to "switch it up" and keep both sides of my body fluid, its still not as natural feeling as holding with my dominant arm.

 

However, I'm learning to shoot better with both eyes open, especially long guns as those are the worst for cross dominance - and I've been practicing with my handguns as well and it does feel more natural to not close one eye - when I first started shooting I'd cock my head over and close my left eye - I may be a bit less accurate currently with both eyes open but its getting easier to ignore the left eye or at least let it naturally bring my focus into view- pretty sure soon enough I'll be just as accurate as when I focused on my targets when I closed my non-dominant eye.

 

So if anyone like me out there, what do you do to accomodate your cross dominance and how do you deal with it handgun vs. long gun shooting, etc.  Higher visibility front sights also help in my case.

 

 

 

[Screwball 483]

When I was younger, I noticed myself rolling my head over a rifle/shotgun, using my left eye. Maybe I caught it young enough, because I started closing my left eye, and after some time with getting used to it, the right eye started picking up. Currently, if I draw with both eyes open, the right lines up behind the sights.

 

Hearing people talk about it always left me scratching my head, because it wasn't a hard thing to adapt to.

[Ricky_Bobby 130]

^This is the kind of feedback I'm looking for - retraining your eye dominance is definitely something I'd look to do if I could - I'm pushing 30 and like I said I was late to shooting, didn't really start until my early/mid 20's, but if its something that can be done I would do it - I notice its much easier for me to keep both eyes open currently and with handguns I tend to hold across the plane of my body more and line up the sight with my right eye while holding with my left hand - however with long guns its always something I wondered if I could re-train as far as eye dominance goes or at least get them both almost equally dominant

 

However I'm perfectly fine living with it for sure -

[Rob0115 1,105]

I'm CD and its fine.

[mikeyjones 88]

I'm not exactly CD but my left eye likes to take control occasionally so I'm working on shooting while keeping it open. But in the meantime I just put tape or close my left eye.

 

With long guns I have no issues.

 

Sent from my Z812 using Tapatalk

[fatty 241]

I'm cross eye dominant too.  Shoot rifles as a lefty and shoot pistols as a righty.  I just learned to shoot with both eyes open and it's worked fine.

[Khamil10 5]

My approach varies, and is still evolving. For shotgun (my main pursuit), it's both eyes open with a small square of scotch tape that prevents my left (dominant) eye from seeing the end of the barrel and forces my brain to cue off my right eye. Works like a charm.

 

For rifle and pistol, I close my left eye and shoot righty, which I've done since I was a kid, and it works ok, though I'm starting to experiment with the tape approach here, too, to preserve peripheral vision. With no tape and both eyes open, especially with pistol, I can't hit squat. Gotta shut off that left eye. 

[MidwestPX 172]

Hi, my name is Ty. And I'm cross-dominant.

[CageFighter 236]

Im CD, see lefty & shoot rifle/pistol righty!   

[Rob0115 1,105]

Hi, my name is Ty. And I'm cross-dominant.

I was thinking the same thing when I wrote it 

[checko 180]

I'm righty and left eye dominant. I never knew until my nra first steps class in my late 20's. Prior to that I would aim long guns and pistols with my right eye. I now use my left eye while shooting handguns by just adjusting my hands over a couple of inches to my left eye. Really not an issue. Long guns stay on my right eye and I try to leave both eyes open at all times, scope or rds. The only time I close my eye is when I have iron sights for some reason. I honestly have no issues with my cross eye on long guns. I think it's cause I was so used to it prior to knowing.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[jeff47 30]

I used to be right handed, and right eye dominant when I used to shoot as a kid. Later on I had LASIK and when I got back into shooting noticed I was now left eye dominant. I continue to shoot right handed (particularly for long guns as you mentioned) because getting left handed guns is a PITA and I can compensate with a red dot optic. Both of my kids are right eye dominant (ones a lefty) so I'm teaching them to shoot right handed from the start.

[Smokin .50 1,907]

I must be a real weirdo, as I don't have an eye dominance at all.  I can switch sides and shoot with either hand, or BOTH at once, if need-be.  For rifles, I practice from both shoulders.  Using a scattergun I fumble a bit chasing flying clay birds, but I can still smack a few.  Good shooting starts with proper foot position regardless of which side you shoot from.

[sp005 2]

I am in the club, shoot right handed left eye dominant. Noticed my eye doctor of 20 years had some hunting photos up at my last appointment. I asked him about it and he gave me a quick test to validate. I now work on shooting with both eyes open. Left eye has always just felt natural, that I didn't even think it was odd until a few years back.

[mipafox 438]

Left hand right eye. I shoot rifles right handed - sort of. Handguns left handed with right eye closed to prevent interference. Not ideal, but it works best for me. Subguns left handed, both eyes open with red dot or reflex.

[Old Glock guy 1,127]

I am left eye, right arm, left leg dominant.  How's that for odd?

 

I closed my right eye when I started shooting, but quickly switched to both eyes open, although my near vision is not great, so I need to squint just a bit to see my front sight.  I shoot rifles and shotguns right handed, with both eyes open as well.  It was a bit difficult at first, but with some practice, it has gotten to feeling pretty comfortable.  I have probably made some accommodations, such as tilting my head (?), but they are so subtle that I am not consciously aware of them.

[Budasac 13]

I have a weird situation in that I'm quasi ambidextrous. I'm can't really say which side is dominant since I use each for different tasks. For example: I write lefty but throw a ball with my right arm. I didn't start shooting till my late 30s and found that I naturally picked up a pistol with my right hand but, shooting lefty doesn't feel awkward to me at all. I'm right eye dominant but if I shoot lefty I use my left eye. I'm definitely more accurate with the right eye but, then again, I shoot righty 90% of the time.

[10X 3,296]

I'm right handed, left eye dominant.   

 

For precision pistol and precision rifle events (Bullseye or international pistol events, 3-position rifle, high power rifle, sporting rifle) I shoot right handed, using my right eye, with my left eye obscured with a translucent blinder (could be scotch tape, or a flip down translucent blinder on the glasses).

 

For action pistol events, I shoot with both eyes open, neither eye obscured.   The handgun sights will naturally align with my left eye--I don't have to think about it.   

 

This has worked well for me in competition over the years.  I've not had occasion to try action rifle events, so I'm not sure how I'd approach that.

 

I haven't yet found a solution that works for me in trap shooting.   It's very helpful to shoot with both eyes open in trap, especially for doubles, but it doesn't work well if you are cross dominant.  I wasn't improving while shooting right handed with my right eye only, so two years ago, I switched to shooting trap left handed, with both eyes open.     Maybe I'm to old to make the switch--my left hand scores have only just come up to where my right hand scores used to be, and they've leveled off there.   And the scores aren't very good...I'm debating whether I should go back to shooting right handed, with my right eye only.

 

And in case you are wondering why the translucent blinder is a good idea if you aren't using both eyes, it's because it allows light to reach both eyes, even though you are only sighting with one.   The eyes are used to working as a pair; if you close one, or obscure it with an opaque blinder, the eye in the dark will start to dilate...and in turn the eye you are using to aim will also dilate, even though it shouldn't, because it is already exposed to ambient light.  So your vision in your aiming eye won't be as acute as it should be.

 

There are a couple of threads on this board about eye doctors who understand the needs of shooters.   If you wear prescription eyewear, I encourage you to find one. If you want to have shooting glasses made for pistol shooting, take in your pistol slide (only) and hold it up at the distance it would normally be from your eye while the doc switches lenses in the phoropter until you find the lens that makes the front sight razor sharp.  Also bring in a dot sight, if you use one, and work with the astigmatism correction until the dot is perfectly circular, and sharp.   It makes a big difference in your scores!

[Indianajonze 379]

i suppose by reading this thread that being cross eye dominant is bad or a disadvantage in some way? i don't think i understand. hold gun with right hand, line gun up under left eye, look through left eye or line up gun in center and keep both eyes open. what's the issue?

[mipafox 438]

I am left eye, right arm, left leg dominant. How's that for odd?

 

I'm middle leg dominant.

[Schrödinger's cat 87]

Im left handed but right eye dominant. I'm a beginner shooter so every time I shoot I hope I'm not training myself bad habits. I'm not sure how I want to shoot my long guns.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot 358]

Right handed, left eye dominant.

 

Bullseye pistol left-handed

Rifle and trap shotgun left-handed

Action pistol right-handed with a 45 degree cant.  Almost gangsta style.  I call it the "half homie"

 

IIRC, Larry Vickers is actually cross dom.  If you watch him, I think he shoots AR left-handed but pistol right-handed with a cant to align the sights to his left eye.

 

Interesting article from Massad Ayoob from Sept 2007 Guns Magazine on this subject:

 

The cross-dominant eyes: corrections are easy.

 

Sally Bartoo is an enthusiastic bull's-eye shooter and firearms instructor, who happens to be cross-dominant. That is, she is right handed but her master eye is her left one. She learned to shoot left-handed and has won many awards at Camp Perry on down. After she trained with me, she shoots dominant hand for CCW and IDPA.

She still has a strong interest in the topic, though, and recently forwarded some interesting material. A study of 5,546 subjects from 40 years ago determined almost a third were "cross-dom." 28.6 percent had left eye and right hand preference, while 3.9 percent had right eye and left hand preference. The citation was "Rengstorff, 1967." The same study found 91.5 percent of those surveyed were right-handed, 7.7 percent southpaws, and 1.1 percent ambidextrous.

Having been teaching the handgun for some 35 years, I'd have to say those figures from four decades ago sound about right. No mention was made in the posting of gender or racial breakdown, but I've noticed more African-Americans than Caucasians are cross-dominant, far more females than males are cross-dominant and half or somewhat more than half of black females I've encountered are too.

Switching to the non-dominant hand is an old tradition. You see it more among lefties, because they're used to living in a right-handed world and because so many of the guns and holsters are readily available in "righty format only." The fact is, though, technique can be easily altered to correct this problem.

One-Hand Shooting

The turning of the head on the axis of the neck to bring left eye in line with extended right hand, or vice versa, is awkward. The first to recognize this and correct it was Bill McMillan, shooting for the US Marine Corps team in the late 1950s. McMillan figured out if he simply canted the pistol somewhere from 15 to 45 degrees inboard, adjusting the sights to compensate where necessary, the iron sights of the pistol in his right hand aligned perfectly with his left eye. In 1960 he went Gold for his country and his team in international competition, and the technique was proven.

One of his contemporaries, on the practical pistol side, was Ray Chapman, who would become the first world champion of the combat handgun. Ray wasn't cross-dominant, but he found a 15 to 45 degree cant of the pistol put the skeleto-muscular support structure of the human arm into a more propitious alignment and strengthened the hand. He recommended it even for same eye/hand dominant shooters, and it is taught today as technique of choice for one-handed self-defense shooting at the Chapman Academy Ray founded and at Thunder Ranch.

It is less popular today with cross-dominant bull's-eye shooters, because the game has gone to red dot sights for the most part, which are higher over the bore axis than iron sights and require significantly more adjustment to compensate for the changed angle between line of sight and line of bore.

Two-Hand Shooting

The Nichols Technique is simply applying the 15 to 45 degree inboard tilt of the handgun toward the opposite eye, while holding the firearm in both hands. It was popularized by Larry Nichols, the famously practical and innovative rangemaster of the Burbank, California, PD.

In cross-dominant use of the classic Weaver Stance, drop your head sideways toward your gun arm's shoulder. Jack Weaver's stance, with the body bladed somewhat and both elbows bent, brings the gun strongly toward the dominant eye side, and you need this much head movement to correct. It will bring your left eye in line with gun in right hand or vice versa, but the dropping of the head buries the danger scan more than I like. The non-dominant eye has a great view of your own gun arm but a poor view of the danger scene.

The Chapman Stance, the most popular and probably the most efficient of the many "modified Weaver stances," is much easier to correct for cross-dominance. In Ray's stance, the gun arm is locked straight out, and the bent forward arm pulls in tight. This squares the chest a little more, and the gun isn't so much over on the strong side. Indexing the chin to the bicep of the shooting arm perfectly aligns the opposite eye with the gun arm in the Chapman stance, and keeps the head erect. You don't lose any danger scan, you just move the field of vision a few degrees to one side.

 

The Isosceles Stance squares the front of the torso to the target or threat, and both arms are locked straight out, forming an Isosceles triangle vis-a-vis the trunk of the body. This is the most adaptable stance for the cross-dominant shooter, in my experience. The gun and its sights end up at body center anyway, and it's no harder for the left eye to find the sights than the right eye.

Easier For Handgunners

Correction for cross-dominance is much more difficult for the rifle or shotgun, and there, I actually do recommend the right-handed gunner shoot from the left shoulder if left eye dominant. However, such "mirror image shooting" is also much easier with long guns than with handguns, which are much more dependent on hand dexterity and therefore almost cry out for the dominant hand to take the master grip upon them.

Give the above techniques a try. Even if you're not cross-dominant, someone you know is ... and you will be, if you ever have to shoot weak handed. Finally, don't worry, you're in good company. Such great modern champions as Dave Sevigny and Tom Yost are cross-dominant, and it hasn't kept them out of the winner's circle.

BY THE NUMBERS

28.6 percent: The number of people determined to be right-handed but left-eye dominant.

3.9 percent: The number of people determined to be left-handed but right-eye dominant.

91.5 percent: The number of people determined to be right-handed.

7.7 percent: The number of people determined to be left-handed.

1.1 percent: The number of people determined to be ambidextrous, who probably don t need to read Ayoob's column this month.

[mipafox 438]

 

One-Hand Shooting

 

The turning of the head on the axis of the neck to bring left eye in line with extended right hand, or vice versa, is awkward. The first to recognize this and correct it was Bill McMillan, shooting for the US Marine Corps team in the late 1950s. McMillan figured out if he simply canted the pistol somewhere from 15 to 45 degrees inboard, adjusting the sights to compensate where necessary, the iron sights of the pistol in his right hand aligned perfectly with his left eye. In 1960 he went Gold for his country and his team in international competition, and the technique was proven.

 

One of his contemporaries, on the practical pistol side, was Ray Chapman, who would become the first world champion of the combat handgun. Ray wasn't cross-dominant, but he found a 15 to 45 degree cant of the pistol put the skeleto-muscular support structure of the human arm into a more propitious alignment and strengthened the hand. He recommended it even for same eye/hand dominant shooters, and it is taught today as technique of choice for one-handed self-defense shooting at the Chapman Academy Ray founded and at Thunder Ranch.

 

It is less popular today with cross-dominant bull's-eye shooters, because the game has gone to red dot sights for the most part, which are higher over the bore axis than iron sights and require significantly more adjustment to compensate for the changed angle between line of sight and line of bore.

 

 

I appreciate this reminder. I have been thinking about going one handed, since I am almost there anyway. And sometimes lose grip with support hand while shooting. An instructor recommended canting the handgun and shooting one handed almost ten years ago. Think I am going to play with it a bit.

 

And that parrot still freaks me out.

[djg0770 481]

I must be a real weirdo,

 

Is any comment REALLY necessary??

[Spartiati 63]

I'm right handed, left eye dominant.   

 

For precision pistol and precision rifle events (Bullseye or international pistol events, 3-position rifle, high power rifle, sporting rifle) I shoot right handed, using my right eye, with my left eye obscured with a translucent blinder (could be scotch tape, or a flip down translucent blinder on the glasses).

 

For action pistol events, I shoot with both eyes open, neither eye obscured.   The handgun sights will naturally align with my left eye--I don't have to think about it.   

 

This has worked well for me in competition over the years.  I've not had occasion to try action rifle events, so I'm not sure how I'd approach that.

 

I haven't yet found a solution that works for me in trap shooting.   It's very helpful to shoot with both eyes open in trap, especially for doubles, but it doesn't work well if you are cross dominant.  I wasn't improving while shooting right handed with my right eye only, so two years ago, I switched to shooting trap left handed, with both eyes open.     Maybe I'm to old to make the switch--my left hand scores have only just come up to where my right hand scores used to be, and they've leveled off there.   And the scores aren't very good...I'm debating whether I should go back to shooting right handed, with my right eye only.

 

And in case you are wondering why the translucent blinder is a good idea if you aren't using both eyes, it's because it allows light to reach both eyes, even though you are only sighting with one.   The eyes are used to working as a pair; if you close one, or obscure it with an opaque blinder, the eye in the dark will start to dilate...and in turn the eye you are using to aim will also dilate, even though it shouldn't, because it is already exposed to ambient light.  So your vision in your aiming eye won't be as acute as it should be.

 

There are a couple of threads on this board about eye doctors who understand the needs of shooters.   If you wear prescription eyewear, I encourage you to find one. If you want to have shooting glasses made for pistol shooting, take in your pistol slide (only) and hold it up at the distance it would normally be from your eye while the doc switches lenses in the phoropter until you find the lens that makes the front sight razor sharp.  Also bring in a dot sight, if you use one, and work with the astigmatism correction until the dot is perfectly circular, and sharp.   It makes a big difference in your scores!

For shotgun I had the same issue. I now use a champion sight (I think that's what it is called). It's a tube that sticks on the end of barrel. The fiber is in the tube so that only the eye behind the barrel can see it. This eliminates seeing two sights when shooting with both eyes open. Worked wonders for me.

[45Frank 32]

I have always been right handed and left eye dominant and really never shot very well, so in my 20's I changed to shooting lefty, even bought a few left hand bolt action rifles. I eventually figured it out.

Then in my mid 40's had a pacemaker/defibrillator installed on the left side. So had to go back shooting righty and it was a disaster, I couldn't hit a thing. The eye dr suggested an eye patch over the left eye to make the right dominant. It took some time but I shoot pretty well now.

Good Luck.

[Ricky_Bobby 130]

^^Nice!  I know that the eye does have muscles so the way I see it is you can get your other eye "in shape" so to speak - will definitely try out strengthening my left eye that way, if I can make it a bit stronger should make for better both eye open shooting as well.

[DDT1345 10]

^^Nice! I know that the eye does have muscles so the way I see it is you can get your other eye "in shape" so to speak - will definitely try out strengthening my left eye that way, if I can make it a bit stronger should make for better both eye open shooting as well.

I don't think it has much to do with muscles. I believe it is all about how your brain wired itself to your eyes when you were young and that would be difficult or impossible to change.

 

I'm not a doctor. [emoji3]

[Handyman 5,682]

My approach varies, and is still evolving. For shotgun (my main pursuit), it's both eyes open with a small square of scotch tape that prevents my left (dominant) eye from seeing the end of the barrel and forces my brain to cue off my right eye. Works like a charm.

 

I tried this but I had a hell of a time keeping the tape stuck to my eyeball. What's the secret?

[Schrödinger's cat 87]

Glasses ?