Right Handed, Shooting Lefty

[alec.mc 180]

I am right handed, but i must be semi tarted cause I cant for the life of me close my left eye by itself.

 

Which is a problem for me shooting rifles, it's much easier for me to look down the sights off a rifle using my left eye, left shoulder.

 

Is this common practice for people with my issue? Or am I asking for a world of hurt with mods and accessories to accommodate shooting lefty

 

[Turboprop21 12]

That was my first reaction a while back too. And while I thought it was comfortable it was not. I fixed that by practicing my stance as if I was holding a handgun in my hands. I mean like constant repetitions until it became natural without hesitation.

 

You'll be surprised how practicing with just your hands works, not to mention I feel it's harder to find southpaw accommodated weapons.

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

You state that you are right-handed, but the more important question is, "Are you also right eye dominant?"

 

To check for eye dominance do the following: With both eyes open point to an object with your index finger. Now close (or cover) your left eye - is your finger still pointing at the object, or did it seem to move? If it is still on the obect you are right-eye dominant. Confirm by covering or closing your right eye. You finger should no longer be on the object.

 

There is no problem with shooting with both eyes open. For some it is the preferred method. IN CQB it allows you to have your peripheral vision and makes it easirt to track moving targets.

 

Good luck.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

[alec.mc 180]

You state that you are right-handed, but the more important question is, "Are you also right eye dominant?"

 

To check for eye dominance do the following: With both eyes open point to an object with your index finger. Now close (or cover) your left eye - is your finger still pointing at the object, or did it seem to move? If it is still on the obect you are right-eye dominant. Confirm by covering or closing your right eye. You finger should no longer be on the object.

 

There is no problem with shooting with both eyes open. For some it is the preferred method. IN CQB it allows you to have your peripheral vision and makes it easirt to track moving targets.

 

Good luck.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

 

 

The object stays more center with my left eye, with my right eye open the object shifts farther away...this makes me left eye dominant?

 

Also, with both eyes open i have a terrible time trying to adjust, it gives me bad double vision and i really cant fixate on anything.

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

The object stays more center with my left eye, with my right eye open the object shifts farther away...this makes me left eye dominant?

 

 

Yes it does, and that can present a problem shooting a rifle. With a handgun, people just tend to lay their head over their arm and shoot right-handed with their left eye. With a long gun, it's pretty tough. Other people with the same problem, hopefully, will tell you how they cope.

 

For plinking or close quarters, a red dot type sight mounted on a long arm may be easier for you to manage with both eyes open, as long as it is mounted with some long eye relief. Have no idea how to help you for precision shooting. I would assume that you would need a rifle stock with a very low comb so that you could tilt your head over and have your left eye align with the scope. Maybe you need to become ambidextrous - handguns shot right-handed and longarms shot left-handed .

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

[savageshooter 10]

Right handed, left eye dominant here. Can we change eye dominance? It seems that yes, we can. To make it more frustrating, my eyes are so bad that the front sight is a blur, even with progressive lenses.

 

What I did, and continue to do is practice closing my left eye only. With practice it will happen. With a lot of practice, I've also become a pretty good left handed shooter. My range session routine is shooting right handed, left hand support. Right handed one hand. Switch to left strong/right support, and left one handed. Shooting lefty will give you a greater respect for what natural southpaws go through with regard to hot brass being ejected straight into your face at times. Eye protection will help with that of course.

 

Shooting with both eyes open is ideal, and I do practice that technique also, but probably not as much as I should.

[Dewhitewolf 8]

I'm right handed, left eye dominant as well. When taking NRA based courses, the instructor insisted that I shoot on the side of the dominant eye (meaning that I awkwardly hold the gun with left hand). This is because of the natural alignment that is supposed to give you the advantage of better accuracy.

 

However, being that I am not ever going to be in a bulls eye competition, I do not personally subscribe to that philosophy. I work with what comes natural. When I shoot at targets, I always shoot right handed. Sometimes with both eyes open, sometimes I very quickly shut my left eye. In both cases, my grouping is fine.

 

In fact, when I took my pistol course at Front Sight (Nevada), they did not take an official stance on eye dominance. When addressing the issue of cross dominance, they simply encouraged us to align our arms and head (while on target) to get the so-called natural dominant line up. Whichever way I tried it, I never missed my target and my grouping was close.