[sherpa]

I incorrectly posted this earlier at the Poll area. Mods, pls move as appropriate.



Wish to solicit some advise. I'm right-handed, but left-eye dominant. I shoot with both eyes open and sometimes have difficulty in aligning the sights using my left-dominant eye.



Difficulty comes when I raise the piece along my vertical index (standing isosceles). Upon raising it, I have to perform an extra step of raising my right elbow a bit to align it to my left eye, and somewhat doesn't feel natural. (I guess more practice may help make this natural). Any suggestions to help me focus? I'm thinking of training my right eye to be the dominant one too, still practicing. There may be other suggestions too that may speed up the process of getting it right sooner

. Thanks.

 

[koumiss45]

I feel your pain....same here.

 

[rollback88]

I too would be interested in some ideas on this.



--jcd

 

[toocool]

I'm right handed and left-eye dominant too. I just sight with my right eye...I don't have any problem with it. But I may be unique...I had lasik surgery a couple of years ago, and had my dominant left eye made for distance, and my right eye for close-up (reading, etc.) It's called "monovision" and it allows me to see distance and up close without the necessity of "cheater" glasses to read. It's amazing that the brain can figure out what it needs, and the two different visions are not distracting in the least. I see 20/20 with my left eye, and approx. 20/40 with my right, but when I focus on my sights with my right eye, the sight picture is actually clearer than if I try with my left eye. It seems my arm length puts the gun at just the right distance for my right eye to be able to focus.

 

[sherpa]

....But I may be unique...I had lasik surgery a couple of years ago, and had my dominant left eye made for distance, and my right eye for close-up (reading, etc.) .....

Yeah, I guess yours is a unique case. I read somewhere that suggested raising the right elbow a bit, but I'm still practicing so that it becomes normal when I raise my arms. Right now, my muscle memory hasn't fully registered this yet, so I would still raise at the center of my index, and then only realize that I still have to adjust my sight by raising my right elbow.



Maybe there are other options.

 

[coltman1985]

I just move the gun over to the left a little. I don't raise my elbow, same stance just moved an inch to the left. After some practice drawing and placing a good sight picture on target it will just happen naturally!!

 

[utarch00]

I am the same way. I had an Instructor tell me to stand and aim normal for right/right then cant the pistol to the left to line up the sights with my left eye. It works.

 

[DukieDog]

I do it completely wrong, but it works for me. (^_^)



I shoot a Weaver stance, but instead of my head being straight, I drive the right side of my chin just under the right bicep. This perfectly aligns my left eye but still allows me to keep my right open.



I've been shooting this way for years. As a result, I try not to do any 'show and tell' type instruction for pistol.



Don't recommend the position as you have to 'unlock' to really look around.



Still, it does work, and it works quite nicely for me.

 

[tigs40cal]

Turn head slightly to the right and pull right arm into body a little. There right arm acts like a rifel stock. MY chin also touches my bicept slightly which gives a contact point to go to every time. It will take some practice but it works. :wink:

 

[Bowie Tactical]

I am the same way. So are a few nationaly known shooters and instructors including one that is a former delta operater. DO NOT change your stance or arms. Just drop your head forward and slightly to the right. I set my right cheek on my right bicept and that drops my left eye behind the sights.

This will creat a slight head turn to the right also. This keeps the right eye out of the way and keeps you from the need to close it and losing some of your peripheral vision.



CHECK 360 David Bowie

 

[bbbdvan81]

i usually close one eye for a second to see the front sight, then i open both eyes. i had an instructor tell me to shoot left handed, but it felt weird. when i shoot long guns, i shoot left handed. it is weird when i try to shoot right handed. i am right handed by the way. why do people consider left eye dominant a hinderance?

 

[FieroCDSP]

Same problem here, but I've found a few ways to deal with it. My main issue, foremost, was my prescription. I got new glasses and though my left eye is still dominant, my vison in my right eye is no longer sub-par with my glasses on.



Next, I shot left eye closed for a while, and still do to some extent with rifles, as my left eye kept taking over. The need for input from the right eye to be used to shoot has adjusted my mind to accepting input effectively from either eye. I can switch between eye dominance almost at will, though my left eye tries to take over sometimes.

I counter this (and this might help if you try it) by squinting the left eye to reduce the information from it, and letting my right eye re-establish the sights. This prevents the blind spot associated with closing the eye, yet tells the mind the items in the right picture are more important.



Overall, if you're going to shoot right-eye, you'll have to let your brain figure out that you want to through practice.

 

[Fallschirmjäger]

I do it completely wrong, but it works for me. (^_^)



I shoot a Weaver stance, but instead of my head being straight, I drive the right side of my chin just under the right bicep. This perfectly aligns my left eye but still allows me to keep my right open.



I've been shooting this way for years. As a result, I try not to do any 'show and tell' type instruction for pistol.



Don't recommend the position as you have to 'unlock' to really look around.



Still, it does work, and it works quite nicely for me.

This is almost exactly the same way I do it. Of course, I'm so messed up crossbody-wise that I shoot pistol left-handed and rifle right. Makes transitioning easy, but messes up the whole dump pouch thing.

 

[g8rforester]

My eyes are cross-dominant also. I am far too right-handed to even want to learn how to shoot with my left.



I generally just squint my left eye as was suggested above. It works most of the time, but sometimes I have to just close it.

 

[JBP55]

Left eye dominant,right handed,neck problems. I use left eye when shooting off-hand and right eye when shooting with right hand or both hands.

 

[Fabius]

Massad Ayoob has an article on this topic in the September issue of "Guns Magazine", complete with pictures showing how to adjust for cross eye dominance from different shooting stances (Weaver, Chapman and Isosceles). If you use an Isosceles stance with your torso squared, then the pistol should be centerline and either eye can find the sights.



I'm not cross eye dominant, but when I shoot weak hand I cant the gun slightly to my strong side to line up the sights with my dominant eye.

 

[sherpa]

Great suggestions here. Similar to what I'm doing, I guess I just have to keep practicing, training my muscle memory to automatically align with my left-dominant eye as I raise the piece. I'll also try adjusting my vertical index to facilitate this process so it would hopefully normally raise in line with my left eye. Being able to raise it to the correct alignment would help reduce the time from sight to firing, which is what I want to achieve.



Thanks again to all!

 

[marc]

I just move the gun over to the left a little. I don't raise my elbow, same stance just moved an inch to the left. After some practice drawing and placing a good sight picture on target it will just happen naturally!!

+1

 

[2bigfeet]

I shoot a rifle left handed, write left handed. Everything else is right handed... throwing, batting, hammer etc. I shoot a pistol right handed and was left eye dominate because of shooting the rifle. I guess you'd say... freak.



Once I started competition though I decided to retrain to use my right eye. Really didn't take that long once I decided to do it. I set up a target in the basement and put on my IDPA setup. Starting off slowly I would close my left eye as I draw and sight up with my right eye. It felt very awkward at first and my sights and target were less in focus than using my left eye. I think its just a natural response because your brain wants that left eye. Keep it up... over and over and over. Eventually it becomes automatic as you retrain your brain and burn in new synapse. My right eye became as focused as my left. The key here while retraining is to close or squint your left eye as you draw, if you don't your left eye will take over confusing you as to where to line up the gun. Once you get the left eye squint down (on draw) and sight up using your right becomes automatic you can then start to open both eyes after your right eye is on target. Took a couple of weeks of real shooting at the range (couple times each week) for the process to cement. Very natural now. No flinching, no blinking either. It worked for me and has improved my combat shooting greatly.



By the way I still shoot a rifle left handed but have found I can shoot it right handed as good as lefty now. Its just re-training. Just as you trained yourself left eye the first time.

 

[YukonGlocker]

I am the same way. So are a few nationaly known shooters and instructors including one that is a former delta operater. DO NOT change your stance or arms. Just drop your head forward and slightly to the right. I set my right cheek on my right bicept and that drops my left eye behind the sights.

This will creat a slight head turn to the right also. This keeps the right eye out of the way and keeps you from the need to close it and losing some of your peripheral vision.



CHECK 360 David Bowie

Very good advice. This is the method that I use also.