Ok so I used the search function but didnt quite find what I was looking for. I am Right handed and left eye dominant, my whole experience of shooting long guns I've always shouldered them on my right shoulder and closed my left eye (which im comfortable with and will probably continue to do). However being new to handguns I have decided to try and train myself to shoot left handed in order to be able to keep both eyes open and not have to tilt my head over my right arm. So far so good my left eye falls in line with the sights pretty easily

 

... theres only two issues.

 

#1 my stance, after years of martial arts I have been trained to keep my left foot forward. While shooting at shoreshot Phil was telling me to put my right foot forward. This just doesnt feel natural at all to me. Is stance more important then which hand I hold the gun in should I just switch back to my right hand in order to have a more natural stance?

 

#2 I notice another habit or natural reaction of mine is to always reach to pick my gun with my right hand first .... my only concern with this is if I were to have to use my gun in a self defense situation (God forbid it would ever come to that, and yes I'm aware the odds of it happening are very slim) I fear I would grab the gun in my right hand out of reaction and be shooting from a who new angle/stance because I have been training around my eye dominance.

 

has anyone else ran into similar issues and which do you feel is more important ... hand/eye alignment or stance?

As for stance, you should be squared to your target, without either foot forward. The only recommendation I have for overcoming the tendency to grab the gun with your right hand is lots and lots and lots of rounds downrange. Eventually you will get to the point where when stressed, you will grab the gun with your left hand.

I am the reverse. Left handed and right eye dominnt. This is a litle easier bcause the world is right handed and at least the stances looks like everyone else.

 

But what i want relate to you is the following. I have been using right hand techique for throwing a baseball, batting, tennis and shooting all my life. Every round I ever shot, rifle or pistol, has been right handed. However I write and play guitar lefty.

I took a night firing class with Gun For Hire and they turned of the lights and started yelling as an added stressor.

I picked up the pistol with my left hand. I have never done that before, not once, ever.

 

<edit> not only that but I shot 3 rounds before I even realized it.

 

I think you are best off with the stance and hand you were born with. If after 30 years of shooting rghty I defaulted to left under a tiny amount of stress, I have doubts that you could shoot enough to make left handed a new habit.

 

Granted, you could be a better man at it than I, but I thought that info might help.

My wife is cross eye dominant and it's only a slight issue. I don't think turning your head a little is that big of a disadvantage.

Shooting right handed with a right handed weaver stance, and using your left eye, only takes a slight turn of the wrist. Stick with it.

I am a lefty with right eye dominance. I shoot with my left eye closed (I am not recommending that to anyone, it's just how I shoot pistol). I realized that I would be at a huge disadvantage with most rifles, so them I just learned to shoot righty. It actually feels more natural than lefty at this point. With an isosceles stance, it's almost not noticeable. With a Weaver stance, it just requires you to turn your head a little.

What technique are you using - weaver or isosceles? With isosceles foot positioning does not matter. I shoot lefty. When I have time to set up, I will have my right foot very slightly forward. But I have seen videos of my self shooting matches, and my feet are every which way at any given time.

 

I am right handed and left I dominant. Like another poster in this thread I have always shot lefty. It is unnatural for me to handle firearms any other way. So regardless of stress I will pick up the gun left handed. However I have shot this way since I was about 6 or 7. For anyone not shooting off their weak side since early childhood, I would not propose this as a solution to cross eye dominance. It is easier to learn to shift your gun slightly and use your dominant eye.

I am strongly right handed and was right eye dominant but developed a non-correctible problem in my right eye and became left eye dominant. I taught myself to shoot rifle and shotgun lefty because I had no choice and it is now quite comfortable. I still shoot pistol right handed and just turn or cock my head a bit more. I use a modified isoceles stance and it seems to work quite well.

I've been teaching basic classes for years and this issue comes up fairly frequently. You can position yourself lots of ways to force this to work and you may even force it to work well for you so if that's the case go with it.

My suggestion for my students is this.

Learn the isocelies stance, feet sholder width apart, square to the target, sholders square to the target, gun in left hand with right hand supporting. When you get comfortable with that then you can incorperate movemet into shooting. Isocelies is nice because you need to make a triangle with your arms and chest, the feet don't matter as much. Weaver stance (similar to boxer stance) puts your body out of alignment.

My next reccomendation is lots of dry fire paying attention to your stance, grip, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control and follow through.

In most of the people I have instructed to shoot with the dominant eye, the scores have improved draumatically.

I'd also suggest you try shooting dominant eye with your rifle and see if you do better.

Thanks guys, I guess the problem is that with my martial arts background I've always been more used to shooting using a weaver stance because it feels more natural to me. I will try and get used to shooting using a isosceles stance and see if that helps ... I really feel less strain on my eye shooting lefty now that I have become comfortable finding the sights with my left eye.

I too have this issue of cross dominance. While some of the experts claim that it's better to shoot with the side of the dominant eye, I personally have found that my shooting is better NOT following that advice.

 

I can understand the point of shooting that way for target bullseye, or hunting, but for defensive purposes I don't like training against what comes naturally. Therefore I train primarily with my dominant hand. Sometimes I just close my left eye, sometimes I just use a slightly modified weaver stance, where my arms are slightly to the left and my head is slightly to the right, giving me that ideal lineup.

 

Traditional instructors repeatedly tell me "that's not the way to do it," (referring to either method I use), but it's not their life that's on the line. For that matter, it's also not their gun, ammo, or targets. I'll do it my way, and my accuracy and grouping are actually better than if I do it their way.

 

Okay, I'm done with my rant now. Peace.