Shooting with dominant eye?

T

tiny68

Member
Question - How many of you shoot with your dominant eye? I am left-handed and I grew up shooting everything (rifle, pistol, shotgun) left handed. I was always left-eye dominant. When I was in my early to mid-20s I had a series of eye inflections in my left-eye that required that I keep that eye dilated for months at a time. With my vision blurred in the left-eye, I automatically switched over to right-eye dominant. Over the next couple of years I learned to shoot every thing right-handed. 15 years latter I was shooting trap this week and noticed if I tried to shoot with both eyes open that when shooting right-handed my left eye tried to focus on the beads and not my right. I switched over to left-handed and shoot that way and actually did much better, even though my vision is weaker in my left eye.

So does it make any difference if you shoot with your dominant eye?

How many left-handed people shot right-handed? (or reversed)

Just curious. Thanks, tiny
 
As I am preparing to restart skeet and trap shooting, I am dealing with cross dominance, where when I shoot right handed, the left eye vision comes into play, trying to center the rib between eyes.

I have heard that the hi-viz front sight might be a help in maintaining proper eye dominance.

longshooter
 
It probably makes a difference. I am a natural lefty but shoot everything right handed because I'm right eye dominant.
 
shooting shotguns with both eyes open it will make a big difference but If you close one eye while shooting through your scope the open eye will Become your "dominant eye". Thats just the way I look at it I could be wrong though
 
I have shot from the bench closing my dominant eye, and it is not that simple. Over an extended session, it becomes a distraction for me, causing fatigue, and interferes with concentration. For one or two shots it is not a problem.
 
Tiny,

I am and always have been left eye dominant but have always shot right handed using my right eye (except for open sight pistol which I shoot right handed but sight with my left eye). For trap shooting I have to wear an eye patch or opaque lens over my left eye. I can shoot open sight rifle as with trap or if I use an aperture disk on my right lens.

For target shooting with high power scopes I shoot with both eyes open and find no problem with sighting using the non-dominate (lower acuity) right eye. In fact this works better for me as I seem to see flag/condition changes better than if I try the reverse.
 
Longshooter...A Hi-Viz front sight will not help an eye dominance problem when shotgun shooting...in fact the front sight of a shotgun is a distraction and should not be in focus..!!...
I am cross eye dominant and can tell you that you will need to practice acquiring the clay target with both eyes open then close your non shooting eye as you get ready to pull the trigger..I had to develope my shotgunning skills with the same problem..In trap singles you may get by with a dot of tape on your left lense of your shooting glasses, but in trap doubles you will need both eyes open an use your periferal to find the second target...make sure you don't get caught up in the various colored lense hype for shotgunners...A polarized lense with just a light tint for bright days and clear lenses for overcast days...

Good Luck
 
I am left handed and right eye dominant. I shoot pistol left handed and cover my right eye when sighting. Fortunately(I think) I shoot long guns right handed and use my dominant eye for that. However as I'm getting near 70 I think I going to need some kind of radar system to find the target in the future.
 
Eyes

Back when I used to shoot Pistol Competition, (long ago in a galaxy far away), I learned to shoot with both eys open. It took some getting used too, but it became quite natural.

I also shoot Benchrest with both eyes open. It just seems like the natural thing to do..........jackie
 
Eye dominance is important.

Not many people know that Hall of Fame shooter Don Geraci is a natural left- hander. I assume that he shoots right handed because of eye dominance. He told me that he started shooting BR right handed and has seen no reason to change. Good shooting.... James
 
At the ripe old age of 12, my son started shooting archery. He is right handed but left eye dominate. He had to wear a patch over his left eye since he could not close it. He wanted a decent bow the next year. I told him I would buy him a new bow but it would be left handed. He didn't like the idea but agreed. He now shoots everything left handed with both eyes open and he has told me many times over the years, how glad he is that I made him switch. I personaly would just as leave stand on one leg to shoot as to shoot with one eye open. Kenny
 
tiny68 said:
Question - How many of you shoot with your dominant eye? Thanks, tiny
Click to expand...

I'm left handed and left eye dominant. I shoot long guns right handed and pistols left handed. I sometimes close my left eye when shooting with a scope, but leave it open if I want to see a wider field down-range, like wind flags. FWIW, if I stare long enough and really try, I can switch back and forth between left and right dominant sight pictures. It would be pretty cool to be able to control this, and I think it might be possible. When shooting a shotgun with both eyes open, I usually see the right dominant sight picture first, but then the left dominant picture, or double vision, comes and goes. Since I don't shoot shotguns much, I almost always close my left to make sure I have the correct picture. I have sometimes used a bit of scotch tape on the right lens of my shooting glasses when shooting pistols, just to eliminate distractions.

Cheers,
Keith
 
right handed, left eye dominant.

shoot pistols right, shotguns and rifles left...

only recently started buying left hand rifles!

mike in co
 
My damn brother is nearly ambidextrous, nearly no dominant eye, so he shoots pistol right handed & rifle left handed, used a shovel right handed & a broom left handed, etc.

He was a hairdresser & used to switch the clippers from hand to hand.
 
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