Cross-Dominant Shooting

[SparklelyGirl]

Looking for insight regarding Cross-Dominant Shooting.

When I first looked through a scope I had a hard time seeing anything but black. It was weird and being so new to shooting I didn't have the vocabulary to articulate what I was experiencing so anyone I asked had no idea how to help me. I just found a site after googling and I was happy to know I can now describe what is happening and there are a few things I can try to correct my vision when looking through a scope.

If you are a Cross-Dominant Shooter, what helped you overcome or be a better shooter?

Thanks for your time! Have an AMAZING rest of your day!

[J.Hancock]

Squinting (not shutting) my dominant eye, momentarily, while attaining the sight picture through the scope helped. Your dilemma sounds more like an eye relief problem though, you could be either too close or to far (or left, right) from the optic.

[870tac]

I also shoot cross dominate. I shoot right but have left dominate eye. I will say that i find it easier to shoot with a low powered scope or rds, as opposed to iron sights. Pistol i just cross over and use my dominant eye. Do whatever works for you and keep practicing ��
As for the seeing black when looking through a scope: you may need to find a scope with greater eye relief. Try a scout mounted scope if possible.

[SparklelyGirl]

Squinting (not shutting) my dominant eye, momentarily, while attaining the sight picture through the scope helped. Your dilemma sounds more like an eye relief problem though, you could be either too close or to far (or left, right) from the optic.

Thank you for your suggestion. I did fix my eye relief and experienced pretty much the same effect. It's like my left dominan eye is looking at the outside of the scope and my right eye through the scope. I am going to try tape on my glasses the next time I go shooting and see how that goes for me.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Well hello there Sparklely!

Eyes are hard to change over from one side to the other. I shoot with both eyes open and have had to consciously ignore the left one. Holding one closed is harder to do than most people think. A lot of shooters will attach some sort of blinder that blocks across the line of vision. I don't seem to need one.

If those fail, there are more technical methods to put the sight in front of the dominant eye. I met a German 300-metre ISU shooter who had a horizontal plate on her precision rifle that displaced the front sight sideways 3-4 inches to the left. The European rifle receivers have grooved tops, so there was a similar fixture under the rear sight. She did all right, so obviously it was something she trained to compensate for.

When I did a Goofle Search for offset rifle sights, I only come up with tacticool 45-deg rifle sights for ARs for the bearded operator crowd who can't hang enough crap on their rifles. Go to page 70 of this catalogue link - https://static.mec-shot.de/fileadmin...kunden_web.pdf

[vagrantviking]

Learn to shoot left so the rifle is lined up with the dominant eye. Probably easier for a kid or someone new to shooting.

More practical and what I've see a few people really successful with is an eye patch. A clip on one or painted lens on the shooting glasses or anything that disrupts the vision of the dominant eye forcing the other one to become the primary.
If the weaker eye is very weak or has other vision issues this might not be great but if it's just a matter of getting the brain to be happy using it this can be the simplest way to go.

[SparklelyGirl]

Well hello there Sparklely!

Eyes are hard to change over from one side to the other. I shoot with both eyes open and have had to consciously ignore the left one. Holding one closed is harder to do than most people think. A lot of shooters will attach some sort of blinder that blocks across the line of vision. I don't seem to need one.

If those fail, there are more technical methods to put the sight in front of the dominant eye. I met a German 300-metre ISU shooter who had a horizontal plate on her precision rifle that displaced the front sight sideways 3-4 inches to the left. The European rifle receivers have grooved tops, so there was a similar fixture under the rear sight. She did all right, so obviously it was something she trained to compensate for.

When I did a Goofle Search for offset rifle sights, I only come up with tacticool 45-deg rifle sights for ARs for the bearded operator crowd who can't hang enough crap on their rifles. Go to page 70 of this catalogue link - https://static.mec-shot.de/fileadmin...kunden_web.pdf

Thank you!

[marshall]

I wondered if you had tried left hand?
I had my eyes done a few years back, before I had laser for cataract, I used a adjustable iris that clipped on my glasses , it changed the focal point of my good eye, Made a lot of difference with handguns, don't think I ever tried it with a scope

[Suther]

Make the switch to shooting left handed. It has a learning curve, particularly with the muscle memory in your arms, but with time and practice you'll be better left handed than you ever were right.

I am left eye dominant, right handed. Started shooting right handed because I didn't know better. I switched to shooting left handed for shotgun first, I can focus my right eye though an optic but iron sights or shotgunning was always difficult. This past year I also decided to switch to left with rifle. I wanted to get proficient with iron sights and that just wasn't happening with my wrong eye.

The way I see it, You can work around the problem, or eliminate it entirely.

[emerson]

I have had serious problems shooting with both eyes open because my left takes over and I lose the scope reticle with my right eye. Recently I’ve been doing a LOT of scope shooting 22 and now I find keeping both open and seeing what I want, whether scope cant level with my left or reticle with my right is getting a lot easier.