Left eye dominant righty help

Kevdubbya

Kevdubbya

New member
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Location
Chatham ON
So I'm new to skeet and shooting shotguns in general.
After a few weeks out playing my best score was 10/25.

This most recent outing a fellow shooter picked up that I was probably left eye dominant by how I was leaning over the gun so much. We did a few tests and determined I am most likely left eye dominant, shooting right.

We did the scotch tape trick and I instantly shot better, my best round to date 16/25

My question is, should I continue on using the tape, or try to teach myself to switch hands and shoot left?
It feels extremely awkward mounting left right now and I've yet to try a round that way. But I've heard it can be easier in the long run than trying to work through the eye dominance.

TIA
 
You gotta lead the target from either side. Left or more left doesn't matter !

If it comes fast, you lead a little more ahead.
 
Im left eye dominant and shoot right handed. I’ve learned to compensate for this faster than I would have learned how to shoot left handed. And birds tend to die more often than not when I point a shotgun at them. Get a gun that fits you well and practice as often as you can
 
I've never met a good shotgun shooter who was cross dominant. I have met quite a few who were frustrated and kept trying to shoot from the wrong shoulder. I believe you need to train yourself to shoot from the left side.
 
I am left eye dominant right-handed. I used a dot for years with mixed results. After 25 years or so I made the switch to shooting from the left and never looked back.

If you have just started shooting I would try switching sides as you don’t have tens of thousands to the right shoulder to deprogram.

What you do really depends on your goals and the effort you are willing to put in.

If you just want to have fun and get a bit better, go with occlusion. Size and placement of the dot is critical. A large piece of tape is not optimal.

If you want to get to your full potential switch sides.

A third option that works for some is to call for the bird with both eyes open and close the off eye IMMEDIATELY before shooting.

Whichever option you take, it is well worth finding a coach with experience in cross-dominance. If the coach tells you there is no such thing or that he/she has a magic fix for it, run don’t walk away.
 
I'm left eye dominant right-handed as well. I taught myself to shoot left from day one. Other then casings in the face there was no down-side to doing it.
 
I'm a right eye dominant, right hand shooter (for 50 years) and have developed a bit of glaucoma in my right eye, which of course has permanently shifted my dominant eye to the left. This is a recent development and am still trying to figure out what I'm going to do. Push through and continue to shoot right handed or switch. If I was younger I would switch in an instant, but things like that get a lot harder to accomplish as you close in on 70.
 
I was a righty and right eye dominant until 2015. I use the dot, no issues at all. Took a bit to get used to but switching to left was not an option. Bringing the gun to my left shoulder is totally foreign feeling. I can't align my body for a proper left hand mount. There are LOTS of superb cross dominance shooters out there so don't let using a dot deter you. I even have one on a clear set of lenses I switch too when hunting.
 
If there is a will, there is a way...

crossover_stock.png
 
I have had 20 eye surgeries, and been legally blind in each eye at one time. My eye dominance fluctuated back and forth for a few years until my vision was finally stabilized a few years ago. My shooting suffered badly for a while with the fluctuating eye dominance, and I actually quit shooting all together for over a year. When my left eye took over, I tried squinting, and even closing an eye for an instant before shooting, and nothing worked all that well for me. I was just fortunate, that the right eye dominance reestablished itself, when my vision was fully restored.
 
I'm right/right but was forced to shoot lefty one year due to cataracts in my right eye. Shouldering a gun on my "wrong" shoulder was a huge struggle for me, after 5 decades of never having tried it...and that was with a rifle! I can't even imagine trying to use a shotgun off my left shoulder; the bird would have completed its migration and set up shop in South America by the time I was ready to shoot. :)

Oddly enough, using the left eye...the "wrong" one...wasn't a problem at all. I always shoot with both eyes open; the cataracts were so bad on the right side that the effect was pretty much the same as if I had closed it or placed tape on that side of my glasses.

My problem was temporary, as I went back to my usual routine after cataract surgery. In your case, you need a long-term solution. Before you even attempt putting slinky-stocks on your shotgun or taping up your glasses, why not simply try shutting your dominant left eye as you raise the shotgun? When one is closed the other becomes, by default, dominant. You'll be shooting same eye and shoulder, which should be the easiest answer. Squinting one eye closed like that is fatiguing if done for any length of time, but you would only need to do so for a second or two at a time.
 
Kevdubbya said:
So I'm new to skeet and shooting shotguns in general.
After a few weeks out playing my best score was 10/25.

This most recent outing a fellow shooter picked up that I was probably left eye dominant by how I was leaning over the gun so much. We did a few tests and determined I am most likely left eye dominant, shooting right.

We did the scotch tape trick and I instantly shot better, my best round to date 16/25

My question is, should I continue on using the tape, or try to teach myself to switch hands and shoot left?
It feels extremely awkward mounting left right now and I've yet to try a round that way. But I've heard it can be easier in the long run than trying to work through the eye dominance.

TIA
Click to expand...

You need to determine for certain that you are left eye dominant. "I am most likely left eye dominant, shooting right" and "a fellow shooter picked up that I was probably left eye dominant" could send you on a trail of frustration. The tests are simple and conclusive. The scotch tape trick making you shoot better is not a test.
 
Kevdubbya said:
So I'm new to skeet and shooting shotguns in general.
After a few weeks out playing my best score was 10/25.

This most recent outing a fellow shooter picked up that I was probably left eye dominant by how I was leaning over the gun so much. We did a few tests and determined I am most likely left eye dominant, shooting right.

We did the scotch tape trick and I instantly shot better, my best round to date 16/25

My question is, should I continue on using the tape, or try to teach myself to switch hands and shoot left?
It feels extremely awkward mounting left right now and I've yet to try a round that way. But I've heard it can be easier in the long run than trying to work through the eye dominance.

TIA
Click to expand...

I am right handed, and right eye dominant - so just guessing - although a couple of our grand-daughters are left handed - at least one for sure is also left eye dominant. Vision / sight picture for sure is part of it - also consider finger / hand dexterity - comes with practice I think - is no "magic solution" for cross dominance that I know of. But, for sure, from some dangerous game shooters and some former jungle fighters - is handy to be able to get off an accurate shot for the "wrong" side. From a former USMC shooting Instructor - learn to shoot with both eyes open - even when using a scope - your brain will learn to accept two different images at the same time, from your two eyes - but likely needs some practice at that. If you are cross aiming - using left eye to see front bead and rifle is on right shoulder - might want to learn to shoot from left shoulder - not sure if "eye dominance" can be "trained out" of its effect. But I am sure, that at least for "adequate" shooting ability, is both a visual thing, and a finger/hand dexterity thing.
 
I'm another left eye dominant, RH person. Started shooting RH because I didn't know any better. After about 4 years I switched to lefty with my shotgun for the same reason you have, after about 2 more years I made the switch with rifles too.

I tried all the tricks. They help, but nothing like actually switching. Night and Day difference for me. It has helped me in a bunch of ways too, I can see iron sights better on my left side, and it takes less effort to use a scope on my left side, which reduces mental and eye fatigue on long range trips.

So I 100% recommend switching it up. It'll feel awkward at first but you'll adapt a lot easier to left hand shooting than right eye shooting, at least I sure did.
 
Am 67 and found out I was left eye dominate at 14 and shot left since then. I can shoot right in a pinch but not what I am used to. It's not that difficult except I have to work the bolt with my right so went to single shots long ago also.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom