TargetTalk

Cutting to the chase: I'm left-eye dominant, shoot rifle lefty style pretty well. Pistol is another matter entirely. I'm talking one hand shooting. I bought lefty grips for my Tau and I'm trying to train myself to shoot that way. Very slow progress. I'm looking for advice here...should I revert to right handed or not to give up trying left handed. Your turn...and thank you.

There are quite a few cross-dominant pistol shooters. In a recent thorough eye check-up my doctor told me I'm slightly cross-competitive, meaning my left eye is trying to grab some of the focus from my dominant right eye, so wearing a frosted cover on the left side of my shooting glasses is a good thing. But if you're left dominant just modify your stance (and glasses if you wear them) such that you can sight with the left eye while holding with the right hand.

I agree with Gerard. Let nature take its course - you are right handed and have a dominant left eye.

Learning to shoot left handed simply because you are left eye dominant makes little sense. Your stance and grip are much more easily modified to let you shoot right handed and with the left eye. If you absolutely must have symmetry, train to use your right eye to sight with.

I used to plink RH with my left eye, but it turned out not to be contralateral eye dominance. I was developing cataracts (at an unusually early age) and the one in my right eye was more intrusive. A few years after the surgery I started to shoot more seriously and found that I now have right eye dominance.

I realize one anecdote is limited data, but it may be that eye dominance is more mutable than you think. Using an occluder on you left eye might be more effective than modifying your grip and stance. If you are like most righty's, you haven't developed a lot of dexterity in your left hand, so training to use that may be the most difficult option.

BTW, I understand some shooters just hang a Post-It note on their glasses to occlude their off-eye. Cheap and easy.

Roger

I tend to suggest trying shooting RH R eye, using a blinder over the non shooting eye first. If that really doesn't work then try the cross eye / hand shooting and if not then try switching to shooting LH. I really don't think there's one right answer as the degree of dominance varies and some people can more readily accomodate switching to LH shooting than others.

Rob.

I really don't think there's one right answer as the degree of dominance varies and some people can more readily accomodate switching to LH shooting than others.

That's it exactly.
My left eye is dominant + superior to my right, and I am unwilling to train my left hand to shoot. The grip can easily be modified so that the sights align with the left eye.

I know good shooters who have successfully swopped to right hand, right eye (non-dominant) with a blinder.

Greetings,

I am left eye dominant and right handed. I managed to shoot well enough to be relatively successful.

I reached a 575 in Center Fire Pistol (ISU/UIT)

In conventional NRA Bullseye, I fired a 2605 and 2607.

You will find that the windage will be much different if you shoot a pistol sighted for right eye right hand. I suspect this is due to the wrist being at an angle and the recoil taking advantage of it.

Cheers,

Dave

I know Rink makes grips for exactly this situation with a 7 degree offsett built into them. I know because I had a set of these grips for my Pardini SP and shot all winter with them. I put the Pardini away for a while and when I picked it up again it felt very strange. Researched it on the Rink grip website and there it was. I shoot right handed but also am right eye dominant.

The offset is designed to let you have a natural right hand grip but it brings the sights in front of your left eye.

I just sold the grips but you could put out a call here for some or order from Rink.

I think it is the best approach to get the shooting equipment that fits the equipment you were born with.

Just to save you time, here is the link to the right page...

http://www.formgriffe.de/en/shpSR.php?p1=255&p2=369



Dave

I think a female Bulgarian shooter "Antoaneta Boneva" is also left eye dominant. Just watch her shoot on youtube in the Issf channel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzprVSD2mIQ Use this link, you might learn something.

Unless your vision is such that it is vastly inferior to your left eye and can't be corrected, I would try to use the right eye/right hand witha blinder on your dominant eye. When shooting cross dominant the head is put into a more extreme position and musculoskeletal issues CAN arise. But there is no reason that success can't be had in either case.

In my modest experience I am left handed and left eye dominant. But, since I switched to shooting after many years of archery, where southpaws hold the bow with the right hand, I immediately found natural to hold the pistol with my right hand.
On a more important example: Roberto Di Donna happens to be left eye dominant and right handed.

Andrea

Take a hot needle, poke it in your left eye, and voila! you are right eye dominant.

A less painful method is closing the left eye.

In tactical shooting they like you to keep both eyes open for situational awareness, but in target shooting, just closing the dominant eye is fine. It's not like your right eye is inadequate, so once you override the dominant eye, it's all good.

Art

Shooting stance of Roberto Di Donna & Antoaneta Boneva.

ShootingSight wrote:... just closing the dominant eye is fine...

??????????in which universe?

I have resisted the temptation to comment on most of ShootingSight's opinions on pistol shooting - but this latest is just too much.

Who's been sitting here closing each eye to see what happens as they read this thread?
;-)

I'm a right handed firer with a dominant left eye and both eyes open with a blinder over the left has worked no worries.

The OP has said that he has a left-handed grip but feels like it is taking too long to learn. This is not surprising. As a righty growing up in a family of southpaws I learned that the world is designed for right handers; there was no need for me to develop significant dexterity with the left hand. Lefties must live in a right handed world, so they are obliged to develop a measure of ambidexterity.

So, karats, the first question is, how long have you been shooting LH? While we are on the subject, how long have you been shooting handguns in general? And what do you mean by "slow progress"? I know my own progress might be termed "slow" by anyone with actual talent. Is the problem a matter of physical coordination, or are you just having the same problems developing trigger control that any would-be pistoleer has? In some ways, learning to shoot 10 m AP is like learning to walk. If you watch a child's first steps you can see the intense concentration on his face as he figures how to shift his weight, lift the off foot, put it out in front, etc., etc. It takes a while before physiological aspects of shooting AP become totally subconscious for any new shooter. That will probably be exacerbated by having to develop fine motor control in the left hand.

If you really feel that you won't make satisfactory progress shooting LH, buy a RH grip (or borrow a RH AP if possible) and have a go with the suggestions offered, i.e., occlude the left eye (which I would try first as it is probably the easiest) or adjust your posture to bring the left eye in line with the sights.


BTW, I was looking at the pic of Antoaneta Boneva, and my elbow don't bend like that! She obviously has a built-in offset that facilitates the use of the contralateral eye.

Roger

RandomShotz wrote:BTW, I was looking at the pic of Antoaneta Boneva, and my elbow don't bend like that! She obviously has a built-in offset that facilitates the use of the contralateral eye.

Many women have elbows that bend backwards like that. It is far less common in men.

I was once told by a (female) physioterrorist that it was to make it easier for women to carry shopping bags passed their wider hips. I couldn't possibly comment ;-)

I'll bet both of those shooters in the pictures have grips modified to assist in bringing the pistol in front of the left eye - that's why Rink makes em! Not sure of the other brands but they probably do too!

I also think a simple blinder over the left eye and working on right eye focus would probably work fine.