How to Shoot if You're Cross Eye Dominant

[Sota 1,191]

I spend time every couple of range sessions, practicing shooting non-standard arrangements.  Being as i'm left handed/left-eyed I'll do the other 3 combos for a couple mags, just so I'm familiar with how it works, just in case I ever have to.

I had a woman I took shooting for the first time that, due to how she had her contacts set up (dominant/right eye was reading, weak/left eye was distance, which i didn't know was "thing" people did), had her deliberately shoot cross dominant (she's right-handed), and her aim improved immediately.  I've never understood why people make such a big deal out cross dominance for shooting.

[Smokin .50 1,907]

On 3/3/2018 at 5:07 PM, High Exposure said:

Everyone makes such a big deal about it like it’s voodoo or something.

Eye dominance issues are pretty easy -

• Shoot handguns with your dominant hand

• Shoot long guns with your dominant eye

Just know that it is OK to shoot handguns righty and long guns lefty and vice-versa.

Yes, you absolutely can train your other eye to take over - but it takes a lot of time. That time translates into a lot of ammo and, bottom line, that is expensive.

It is faster and more efficient to train your weak hand to match the proficiency of your strong hand than it is to get your non dominant eye to take over for your dominant eye 100%.

It is a much faster solution, and more cost effective, to work the repetitions on your weak hand than your weak eye. 

^^^^^THIS^^^^^

And to all:

I'll also add that gun handling practice drills don't always require ammo.  Often snap caps are very useful when learning to control where gun is pointed when the sear actually "breaks" for the gun to discharge.  Folks that are learning weak-hand technique when using both hands often find they're not as accurate doing it "cold" as they are when "warmed-up" using snap caps at home prior to a match.  This saves on ammo expense.  Making sure the sights are aligned at the point of ignition is key to higher scoring no matter what your personal situation is.  Practicing live-fire trigger pull with eye dominance issues can teach you which hand to use as your strong hand & which to use as your "steering hand".  It's all part of "the work-around process" of self-enlightenment (as HE wrote above), as side-by-side comparisons can be ascertained in real time.

And now for some cheap self-promotion, lol:  FWIW the hand gun league that I'm the Match Director of (Police Practical Competition--PPC for short) at Old Bridge employs barricade work with both strong-hand with support & weak-hand with support.  Kneeling, sitting, standing positions, as well as using cover.  Cross-eye dominance issues abound, especially with women (they are more prone to it genetically I believe), and we take special care in finding solutions / work-arounds for it that most shooters seem to like.  Like any league event at the club, it's open to the public.  The non-member price to shoot is just $35 for 2 full relays with 60 rounds fired in each relay.  2nd Friday of every month (THIS Friday March 9th!) at our indoor range at 95 Maple Street in Old Bridge, NJ  08857.  Here's the website w/ complete club calendar:  http://www.obrpc.org .

Rosey