Comments on: Cross-Dominance: The Non-Issue

By: John

John — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:38:23 +0000

It is a non-issue with most pistol shooting. It is a potential problem with long guns.

By: Bryan Wilson

Bryan Wilson — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:40:51 +0000

I”m right handed but left eye dominant i learned to shoot like this,it really made no difference until i started shooting large cal. I learned real fast. After joining the army i trained my self to shoot with my right eye it became my dominant eye after awhile,Now years later i started wearing contacts and my eyes went back to the way they were when i was younger it is still not that a big deal just something you have to identify and adjust to now i shoot with my right hand and my left eye i still shoot rifles with my right eye and left one closed

By: Kaerius

Kaerius — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:08:31 +0000

I’m lefthanded, yet when I learned to shoot(with rifles), the regular right-handed rifles didn’t feel at all awkward(quite natural actually), so that’s how I learned. I had no idea at the time that I was cross-dominant(besides, it felt natural using my left hand to adjust my aim).

Though as Nightstage, I guess I’m more ambi-ocular, the right is dominant, but I can consciously switch at any time without issues.

With pistols, I just hold it slightly more to the right(two-handed hold), though I could easily switch eye instead, particularly if I wanted to shoot one-handed.

By: ToddG

ToddG — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:11:53 +0000

Rich — I don’t think he shoots with both eyes open regularly.

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:56:48 +0000

I’ve shot with the shooter in the photo on many occasions and he used to close one eye and it didn’t seem to affect his shooting. Didn’t know he switched to both eyes. I’m cross eye dominant as well but tilt my head vice moving the pistol over. You ever picked up on that when shooting with me Todd? I’m sure you have since the cant is fairly obvious. As for rifles, I still shoot right handed despite being left eye dominant but position the rear scope cap so that it acts as a pseudo eye patch. I do this with Aimpoints and scopes. Try it Al and let us know how it works for you.

By: ToddG

ToddG — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:31:40 +0000

HD — You’re right, we suffered a little transcription error getting that typed up. It’s fixed now. Thanks for catching it!

r eduex — If you’ve only got one working eye, dominance is a non-issue. Put the gun in front of the working eye, just as explained in this post. If you have one eye with great vision and one with bad vision, and the bad vision eye is dominant, shooting glasses or a patch are your only quick solutions.

Al — Most people I’ve trained with recommend shooting with the non-dominant hand (i.e., left shoulder for right-handed person) to get the sights/dot in line with the dominant eye.

By: Al

Al — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:43:05 +0000

This advice is fine for pistol shooting. But for rifles (not your subject, I know) there isn’t an easy solution like this.

By: Ninth Stage

Ninth Stage — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:13:07 +0000

My left eye was quite dominant when I started shooting but I’ve since become ambi-ocular.
I worked at it, not very hard really, and now shoot freestyle and strong hand with my right eye. I now only sight with my left eye when shooting weak hand.

By: turbomkt

turbomkt — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:36:13 +0000

Something that may help with comfort is a patch/cover. Rather than closing the eye which would be unnatural, use a shooters patch (hinged to it can be flipped up).

I did this with my students when I was teaching marksmanship for the military 15 years ago.

By: r eduex

r eduex — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:23:34 +0000

no one ever seems to address the problems of those have only one working eye which is not on the same side as their shooting hand …
i have several friends with this problem , 20/200 or worse in the right eye and right handed …
it makes correcting poi/poa problems a real pita sometimes