Change eyes, or change arms?

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Rayleigh_Scattering

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I am trying to determine which way to proceed on something, and would ask the opinion of anyone who has tried to solve this same problem before.

I am strongly left eye dominant, but shoot right handed, and find that this disconnect interferes with my ability to use optics (or even iron sights) effectively.

Should I:

a) try to retrain my brain to reduce the eye dominance (with the taped-over headache-inducing glasses), or
b) learn to shoot left-handed (I might learn better shooting habits too, and would be using my stronger right arm to support the rifle).

Both have their good and bad sides.

Anyone dealt with this before? What did you do, and how did it go?
 
My dad is strongly left eye dominant and does everything left handed except shoot a gun... it's weird. But he has always squinted one eye when shooting through an optic to get a clear picture. Lately he took up trap shooting and was always shooting right handed and closing one eye. Over the last year or so he's been training himself to shoot with both eyes open and I think he does it more with a rifle as well. For me, I think it would be easier to train the eye if you feel way more comfortable shooting right handed.
 
I'm left eye dominant and right handed. Shoot long guns left, pistols right.

As I understand it, you can train yourself to switch dominance at will, but it seems like a lot of work to do so....

YMMV.
 
Stick to right handed shooting... .do everything you can to stay with it.

I know too many left handed shooters and they have spent countless of extra $$$ buying LH rifles etc. and still struggle with certain firearms that are not LH friendly.
 
>train yourself to switch dominance at will

I used to be able to when I was younger, but the hardware is aging unevenly and the firmware has adapted to the degradation with a strong left-eye preference.

Wear an tear, but considering all the stupid risks I've taken in my life I'm thankful to still have life and sight at all.

>LH

True. The bolt on the Enfield and the charging handle on the SVT would be a PITA to use left handed.
 
I have the same dominance issues, but since I've been messing around with firearms right-handed for over 30 years, I find it too hard to switch to left-handed. Even for pistols that are much more un-handed in use. For open sights I have to close my left eye (takes practice to shut it lightly and not just mash it closed), but for scopes I can just do a slow wink to set the focus on the right eye, and then shoot with both eyes open. If I don't take too long to pull the trigger.

Since I never really shot a bow, even though I had one for a short time as a teenager, I'm having an easier time picking that up as a lefty. But I made sure the recurve I picked up to test the waters with is ambi, just in case.
 
I'm Left Eye Dominant, but I wear glasses, shoot right handed and my prescription on my right eye is almost double the strength of the Left. Things aren't cut and dry, all I know is that when I put my rifle/shotgun and shoot left handed, it doesn't feel very good. Shooting all these years right handed has made me a right hander, even if my crazy folks forced me to be one as a baby when I did everything as a Southpaw. I still kick a football with my Left, they couldn't swap me on that one.

Usually if you are naturally right handed, your dominant eye is your Right, but it's not a set rule. If my parents kept me as a lefty, I'd be shooting left handed today.

Don't get me started on Optics and Iron sights, Myopia w/astigmatism and bi-focals around the corner. Shooting left handed would alleviate some of the problems, but it wouldn't be perfect.
 
I'm a bit unique. I shoot an Olympic .22 pistol in the right hand with the right eye.
As for rifle, I'm left handed with a left hand rifle with a left eye.

"As I understand it, you can train yourself to switch dominance at will, but it seems like a lot of work to do so...." - My brain knows what I'm looking at on either eye. When I raise a right hand, my brain tells the right eye to look at. When I raise a rifle, my brain tells my left eye to look at. It takes years of practice. Hope you don't get a migraine. :)
 
Left handed , right eye dominant, switched to shooting right hand.

Took a bit of time but dont even think about it now.

Rayleigh_Scattering said:
I am trying to determine which way to proceed on something, and would ask the opinion of anyone who has tried to solve this same problem before.

I am strongly left eye dominant, but shoot right handed, and find that this disconnect interferes with my ability to use optics (or even iron sights) effectively.

Should I:

a) try to retrain my brain to reduce the eye dominance (with the taped-over headache-inducing glasses), or
b) learn to shoot left-handed (I might learn better shooting habits too, and would be using my stronger right arm to support the rifle).

Both have their good and bad sides.

Anyone dealt with this before? What did you do, and how did it go?
Click to expand...
 
Seems like you'll have to overcome something that seems uncomfortable one way or another.

Only, there's no inherent advantage to accommodating a dominant left eye. If you accommodate the right hand shooting, you'll benefit from the wider availability of firearms designed for right handed shooters. I know what I'd do.
 
To change shooting "hands" at the expense of eye dominance is one of the worst possible things to do, and yet it still gets suggested. It is far easier to close an eye, with little or no consequence, than it is to attempt to fully overcome a natural preference of hands.

R.
 
Rman said:
To change shooting "hands" at the expense of eye dominance is one of the worst possible things to do, and yet it still gets suggested. It is far easier to close an eye, with little or no consequence, than it is to attempt to fully overcome a natural preference of hands.

R.
Click to expand...

Depends how bad the weak eye is. In my case I would suck balls shooting right hand right eye for any rifles.
 
It always depends, I guess. Pretty tough for a fella with no right eye, to shoot well right handed...but it's been done.
My comment was more to the folks that have two decent blinkers, but have eye dominance opposite to that of hand dominance.

R.
 
I trained myself to shoot right handed in my teenage years. I walked the fields shooting milkweed plants with a pellet gun. Took awhile but got the hang of it.
 
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