eye dominance
Suppose you are righthanded, well sort of. You have been taught to shoot righthanded, but you shoot pool lefthanded because you are self taught. You are good with a pool cue and fairly good with a pistol. As in always on target up and down, but not left to right. With pool que you have all directions dead on.
Then, you do the 'eye test' and find that you are left eye dominate no matter the distance to object or object size. You are a lousy shot with a rifle and have to close the wrong eye and can't shoot with both eyes open. Now what do you do? Stay ambidexterous (?), but move to the left hand with the hand gun? Use grips with no thumb rest? Continue to shoot righthanded but sight left handed with both eyes open? Avoid all long arms?
Suggestions? Powers that be and have experience, speak up too please.
thanks again,
spiny
Then, you do the 'eye test' and find that you are left eye dominate no matter the distance to object or object size. You are a lousy shot with a rifle and have to close the wrong eye and can't shoot with both eyes open. Now what do you do? Stay ambidexterous (?), but move to the left hand with the hand gun? Use grips with no thumb rest? Continue to shoot righthanded but sight left handed with both eyes open? Avoid all long arms?
Suggestions? Powers that be and have experience, speak up too please.
thanks again,
spiny
0
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what is your eye test consist of? The one I use is holding both hands out on front of you creating a circle and then slowly bringing your hands back towards your face,the circle should pull your hands towards your dominent eye. I shoot with both eyes opened when shooting a pistol even with a dominent right eye.
God,Guns,and Guts0 -
Pappy1600
That is the test. Also, you can use a paper towel core. It invaribly goes to the left eye. If I force the opening to the right eye, I have a moment of NO vision and then a major shift to get it in focus for the right eye.
To shoot right handed with left dominance, cocks the pistol at a funny angle. I want to know if this will affect my accuracy? Is the pistol short enough not to matter, or should I shift to the left hand. Actually, my left hand is stronger. I work with my hands all day. The right hand is great for detail, accuracy stuff, by my left hand is more reliable and much stronger! Maybe from having to do all the hard work over the years.
My Dad was a 'leftie', forced to the right hand. He taught me to shoot and eat and .....
I can see how using the wrong hand would really affect aiming a rifle.
What about a pistol?
thanks,
spiny0 -
If you have a strong left eye and strong hand lefty you should shoot with your left hand,I was taught to shoot weak hand and strong hand with a pistol and it does affect my shooting a bit but not much.All depends on what you feel most comfortable with I guess,I would try both and see how you feel,also try shooting with both eys opened,your main point of focus should be on the front sight not the target,the target should be a bit of a blur,the whole purpose of pistol shooting is sight alignment and trigger control.
God,Guns,and Guts0 -
Pappy
Will do and thanks. Folks tend to think you are hamming when you make such a major change.
When dry firing, I find the left more 'settled' and solid - visually for sure. Just leary I guess.
spiny0 -
I am righthanded but near blind in my right eye. I shoot pool and long guns lefthanded and handguns righthanded. Everything else I do righthanded. I have never had a problem shooting handguns righthanded while sighting with my left eye. Many ball players are switch hitters. But I've never heard of a switch shooter. You might want to try it.
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Old? First you forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to pull your zipper up; then you forget to pull your zipper down.0 -
OK
Switch shooter sounds like the solution. Input noted and appreciated.
Pappy - I will watch the sights. Always taught to "point and shoot" - if you press the trigger halfway through the exhale, you will hit your target. NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH and DON"T WAIT FOR THE PERFECT MOMENT - IT WILL BE GONE!
Love the quote WUN...!
spiny0 -
I'm right handed left eye dominent.Shoot a rifle lefty and shoot a handgun right handed out of my left eye.
ATF0 -
I am right handed but shoot rifle or shotgun left. When I shoot a handgun I shoot right hand but cross over to use my left eye. On my bow; being I can't draw left hand because of lack of strenght in left arm; I shoot with a patch over my left eye so I can use the peep sight. The big thing is does it fill comfortable or not. What may not look wrong to someone else may fill good to you. If you can hit the target who cares what hand you are using. Try it both ways. Al 0 -
hmmm,,never heard of that hand test. I was taught the finger test. Goes like this:
hold one hand out at arms length in front of your nose with index finger sraight up. Focus BEYOND the finger.Slowly bring finger toward nose(like drunk test),when approx 2-3 inches in front of nose close one eye , then open and switch to other eye closed. One of them will show your finger right in front of your nose, the other will show it off center. Strong eye shows in front.
I'm right handed, shoot either way,both eyes open,,slightly better shot left handed. Strong left eye.
what are you doing?! Shooting for windage? Turn the gun upright!0 -
The NRA Instructor's guide for their basic pistol course says that you should always use your dominate eye for shooting. It sounds like you are doing that already. I know one classified Master bullseye shooter that is right handed, left eye dominate. He shoots right handed using his right eye. He says he "trained" his non-dominate eye for one-handed pistol shooting. As far as long guns go, the NRA basic shotgun course says if you are left eye dominate, use your left shoulder. Conclusion: I would try shooting lefty and give it a little time to see if you get comfortable with it. If not, try "teaching" you right eye. Also, you can use an occluder over your left eye so that you only see with your right eye. Of course, this is not a good idea for defensive shooting :-)
If you were in your car traveling at the speed of light and you turned on your headlights, what happens? What about the brake lights?0 -
Don't feel bad- I too am predominatly " left-eyed " even though I shoot most often with my right hand. As far as pistol shooting goes, I've actually never had a problem doing it that way. With a rifle, though, I do have to use my right eye.
The reason I use my left eye most of the time is because the vision in my left eye is much better! But try shooting left-handed. Are you any good at it? I'm OK with it, but I do much better with the right hand. If you've already built up the skills with your current combination, perhaps it is better to stick with that. However, if you find your technique isn't working, you might try something else.
" God is in His Heaven, All is Right in the World. "0 -
After my previous post a couple of questions came to mind. What arm do you use to throw a ball? If someone were to toss a tennis ball to you, what hand would most likely use to catch it? If you play any other sports like tennis, baseball, etc., do you play righty or lefty. Since you shoot pool left handed, you may just be left handed. Just some thoughts.
If you were in your car traveling at the speed of light and you turned on your headlights, what happens? What about the brake lights?0
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