cross dominant

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I'm RH dominant but left eye dominant. I was just messing around with my BB gun and got curious. Would it be Okay to hold RH but aim with my Left eye? I can't really see what it would hurt with a handgun. Have you ever heard of anyone shooting this way?

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This is very common, and should pose no problem at all. I am also cross-dominant, and it has not affected my ability to hit a target when and where I want. I have been training to draw a bead with my right (non-dominant) eye though, just so I don't have to push so far over with my right arm to aim with the left eye. Right now, I can easily and quickly get a good sight picture with either eye, though I'm sure someone will reccomend that I pick an eye and stick with it.
In the end, there's nothing wrong with being/shooting cross-dominant, so just go with what works for you!

Edit to add...

Trying to shoot a long gun cross-dominantly, however, can have some rather painful consequences:quirky

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You should be fine as long as you don't need your monocle.

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I'm cross-dominant as well, and for me it's easier to shoot with both eyes open, with pretty much the same method as Kevin's. I also practice with both left & right hands, so if in a pinch I won't be handicapped by being forced to shoot off-hand.

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I'm cross-dominant as well. I shoot with my right hand while aiming with my left eye. It works for me!

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Okay, thanks guys. I'll probably shoot in all sorts of configurations just as "last ditch preparedness" righty, lefty, cross right-handed, cross left-handed. Why not? More fun to be hadat the range

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Bookman wrote:

I'm cross-dominant as well. I shoot with my right hand while aiming with my left eye. It works for me!

Click to expand...

Ditto. Of course, this doesn't work with rifles, so all the pictures of me in Afghanistan show holding my M16 in my left hand but my M9 is on my right thigh. It took about a week of carrying and shooting the M16 left-handed before it felt "normal"--it was very uncomfortable for the first few days.

I've tried to learn to shoot with both eyes open, but my left eye is apparently very dominant, and I doubt that in a stressful situation I could concentrate enough to sort out the double image.

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What? Do you have some other eye problems? Are you shooting a pistol with both eyes open? Shooting with the other eye is ok for pistol but not normally needed if you are shooting with one eye. For rifle you close your non shooting eye so it doesn't matter which is dominate. For shotgun where you normally shoot with both eyes open there are several workarounds. Close one eye and shootlike a rifle. Buy a special sight adaptor. Wear glasses and put a spotof tape on the lens of the non shooting eye. Buy a left handed gun and shoot left handed. Practice and shoot well.

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Or, just use the double tap to hit both targets
If you need to aim at your knecap to hit the target in front of you,
then do so. It is memory training you want to do with the practicing.
As long as you practice then it doesn't matter about
dominant eye. Unless you are in sevear whiteout conditions. This
should negate a confrontation issue in itself though.

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When I firsr learned to play guitar, I was tiold that fretting with your thumb was sacriledge. Then I heard Django Reinhardt playing his sacriledge, and it sounded pretty good to me. If it sounds good, it is good; and if it is in the ten ring it ain't a flyer. Thumb-fret or crosseye, what counts is gittin' it done.

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I've always shot with one closed (left one). I've never been able to figure out this whole dominant eye deal. As long as the front and rear sights are lined up, what difference does it make which eye you are looking out of? Of course, maybe that's why I can't hit a barn from the inside with ghost ring sights.

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My right eye used to be dominant, but then it stopped..........

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Personally I train to shoot with both eyes open, no matter what I am shooting, handgun, rifle, shotgun, bow, darts... It takes some practice, but my shooting has improved because of it... I was watching a new shooter at the range not long ago with a handgun. he was right handed, but sighting with his left eye. he didn't even realize he was doing it until I pointed it out. He had had no (as in zero) firearms training prior to this so didn't have any preconcieved notions of 'right' way and 'wrong' way habits that we all bicker about! Once I determined that he was truly left eye dominant while being right handed I told him to continue how he was comfortable.

Simple test to determine dominance:
With both eyes open;
Point at something apx 20 feet away.
Hold your finger/pointer steady and close one eye, then the other.
If you are 'right' eye dominant than when you close your left eye, your finger will still be pointing at the object; and when you close your right eye your finger will 'move' and be pointing apx a foot to the right of the object.
and visa versa...

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I am right handed and right eyed, but I target shoot with both hands, individually and together, and I use both eyes, again, individually and together. So basically, I believe in practicing every which way, that way if you get in a fight and something bad happens, you can shoot with your non dominate side. I practice this way with each and every gun I own that I consider to be on standby for defensive use. It is a skill well worth having.

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There can be more going on here than just "dominance" of one eye over the other. When I first started shooting handguns, I always shot with one eye closed because I couldn't use the sights properly otherwise. When taking some serious self defense/firearms training (40+ hours and a couple thousand rounds over two weekends, including night shooting well into the evenings) instructors tried to get me to shoot with both eyes open. Focusing on the front sight like everybody teaches, I see two targets, of course, and two rear sights, superimposed so as to obscure the notch in the rear sight. No way could I get what most people apparently take for granted as a normal sight picture. Instructors had me do some tests and concluded neither eye appeared to be particularly dominant. Saw an eye doctor later, who is also a competitive shooter. She did her own tests and concluded that between dominance issues and strong astigmatism, I would probably never be able to use iron sights normally with both eyes open. Her recommendation to me was this: Forget both eyes open. You can't "train" your eyes or brain to correct this any more than you can train yourself to be 6'2" instead of 5'9". Your eyes don't work the way many other people's eyes do. Close one eye to use the iron sights or get a laser or other optical sight for the handgun.

I opted for laser sights and have CT Laser Grips mounted on 3 of my own SIG's and my wife's Springfield Armory XD-40. Couldn't be happier. Put the dot on the target and shoot. Keep both eyes open and focus on the target, not the sights. Way better than trying to line up iron sights under the stress of a gunfight. Dramatically improves ability to hit the target. Police and SWAT teams are increasingly using laser sights for exactly this reason, and their eyes probably work just fine. And I'm seeing lots of photos of Aimpoints and other optics mounted on military rifles deployed in Iraq and other dangerous places.

I do include laser-off practice, with one eye closed, but decided not to sweat or agonize over the issue. Use the laser and go from there.

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I have the same problem - RH / left-eye dominant.

With a handgun, I shoot with both eyes open but I've learned to slightly cock my head to the right and down (so my chin rests on my right bicep),to line my left eyeup behind the sights. I still see two images of my hands / gun when focusing on the front sight while covering the fuzzy target in the background, but I've learned that it's the image to the right that is the one on target.This techniquedrives some of friends nuts,but I've become veryproficient with that presentation.It feels completely natural to me.

With long guns I close my left eye when using open sights. I can do both eyes open with a scope, but I still get a better sight picture with my left eye closed.

Find a technique that works for you and stick with it, despite what all the *experts* might have to say. Being cross-dominant took a long time for me to overcome because I wasted so much time listening to the advice of those who didn't share my problem.

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There is a DVD called "shooting missology" that I think everyone can benifit from in some way, regardless of how long you have been shooting.

check it out

http://www.tacticalresponsegear.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3179


P.S.

Not to dirty up the forum, but I think it works...

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I'm also right-handed, left-eye dominant. I shoot a pistol right handed aiming with my left eye. Sometimes I'll close my right sometimes not. I can shoot left-handed too but one-handed I can't shoot as good as my right. Maybe if I practiced it a lot more...

I shoot rifles left-handed, unless it's not practical for the rifle. My left eye is 20/20 but my right is something much worse so I don't have much choice.

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keeping one eye shut is fine when you are standing on a square range shooting at paper. When it comes to a gun fight, that can get you killed. You will get tunnel vision, you will shake from fear and adrenaline and you probably wont phisically be able to keep that eye closed.

Train like you fight, and you will fight as you have trained. Factor in the lowest common denominators guys: YouwillNOT get in to some "stance" (weaver, isosceles, etc) when theyou get into a gun fight;you need to learn to stand naturally and fire at will, but accurately.

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I, too, am right handed with a dominant left eye. I shoot with both eyes open while shooting a pistol, but close dominant left eye while shooting a rifle or shotgun. I am now working on shooting left handed with both. When practicing left handed with a rifle, I shoot with both eyes open like you are suppose to.Never hurts to be ambidextrous in some areas.