Newbie question

10rita · Post by **10rita** » Mon Aug 13, 2012 7:35 pm

Just getting into air pistol at 10 meters. I'm right handed but my master eye is my left eye. I shoot smallbore rifle lefthanded.

Is there any problem with holding the pistol in my right hand and sighting with my left master eye? The alternative would be to hold with my left hand and sight with my left eye, but my left hand is not as strong as my right.

Any comments will be appreciated. Thank you!

Bill

Muffo · Post by **Muffo** » Mon Aug 13, 2012 7:49 pm

Many People do it, me for one, there is some disadvantage. you want to avoid bending your wrist so what many people do is have a grip made/ alter an existing grip that is offset so when you raise your arm the sights line up. then the problem is you never get your hand fully under the pistol. how bad is your right eye?

RandomShotz · Post by **RandomShotz** » Mon Aug 13, 2012 7:56 pm

viewtopic.php?t=35425

Welcome to TargetTalk. As a newbie, you will have a lot of questions that have been covered and quite a few that you don't even know to ask yet. The forum has a fairly good search function - make it your friend.

Roger

Brian M · Post by **Brian M** » Mon Aug 13, 2012 8:18 pm

Can and Should may have different answers depending on who you are.

A coach I worked with originally shot cross-dominant (left eye, right hand). He decided to switch to left handed, and after a short "getting used to it" period of time his scores surpassed everything he could do right handed.

Only one story, and he's not an elite level shooter, but he shot better and was happier with his shooting by staying same-side dominant. For a NEW shooter, starting out, I'd never put them in a cross-dominant situation unless it was an extreme case (they only had 1 hand).

The funny thing is that from a scientific standpoint, the non-dominant hand tends to be more "feel" based while the dominant hand tends to be more "strength" based. Not much call for strength in AP shooting, but there's a large desire for feel/fine control.

evolution · Post by **evolution** » Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:01 am

There are grips (eg Rink) that come with angle to better suit your situation. Look at their web site. I also read that it is possible to switch dominent eye, by training (basically patching the dominent eye for a long period). They say the brain can be trained to switch.

paw080 · Post by **paw080** » Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:19 pm

10rita wrote:Just getting into air pistol at 10 meters. I'm right handed but my master eye is my left eye. I shoot smallbore rifle lefthanded.

Is there any problem with holding the pistol in my right hand and sighting with my left master eye? The alternative would be to hold with my left hand and sight with my left eye, but my left hand is not as strong as my right.

Any comments will be appreciated. Thank you!

Bill

Hi Bill, You'll be just fine shooting cross-dominant. There are many, many
cross dominant pistol shooters; some are even World Cup champions.
There are several ways to adapt to cross-dominance. One way is to adjust your
grip for rotation, if your pistol has rotation adjustability. If not, then you can
order aftermarket grips with the rotation built in.
Another strategy is to stand more face on to the target. I've done both grip rotation
and used a more square stance; both ways work. Currently, I have grips with
built in rotation which allows a stance that is not so square to the target.

All my NRA Bullseye pistols do not have rotation built into the grip so my stance
is more forward facing(Gold Cup 45acp and High Standard Trophy).

My last bit of advice is don't let anyone try to tell you to change your eye dominance.
You'll need both eyes open when shooting your air pistol.

Tony

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