Cross dominance shooting

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KrushD

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Hi all. Just recently got my PAL and keen to get into Clay shooting. My upcoming retirement gift ;)

Great advice and info on the forum so have been reading.

Had a question on eye dominance - I am RIGHT handed and LEFT eye dominant (am a photographer so I know this).

I used to plink around with .22 as a kid and I would shoot right handed with left eye closed.

I gather that is much harder when sighting / shooting a shotgun.

Any advice folks? Should I just start shooting off left shoulder or is there any other option?

Many thanks!
 
I am also right handed and left eye dominant. I don't claim to be an expert in these things by any means. I used to shoot rifles with my left eye closed, using right to aim. However, ever since I got my handguns I have started shooting with both eyes open and the sights lined up with my left (dominant) eye. It feels like shooting with my right eye closed, but the eye remains open and so my depth perception is retained and overall I like the feel better. I just have to concentrate on looking for my front sight and not jerking the trigger. I plan to try doing the same when it comes to shooting rifles again, but if it doesn't work with the rifle in my right hand I may switch to shooting left-handed and see if that helps. Certainly in archery I found switching to left handed helped (drawing bow with left hand, so arrow lies underneath left (dominant) eye, even though this was a change to how I used to do things.
 
I recommend giving left shoulder a good honest try. Yiu can get by closing your left eye, or using scotch tape on the left side of your shooting glasses etc. However once you learn to handle the gun left handed, you will probably find it easier to shoot left handed.
 
Agreed as well, can definitely use techniques to shoot right handed effectively, but as your just starting out (restarting) probably best to shoot lefty and build that muscle memory.
 
Use your left hand, I am the same. Learn to load with your left hand also. If you rep it out it will become second nature.
 
Very simple solution that requires no having to learn to shoot left-handed for you. It's called a Magic Dot. Put it on your glasses over your dominant eye. You can still shoot both eyes open and retain your peripheral vision and not have to worry about your dominant eye taking over. It's been a game changer for me after being diagnosed with developing cross dominance in 2016.
 
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the spank said:
Very simple solution that requires no having to learn to shoot left-handed for you. It's called a Magic Dot. Put it on your glasses over your dominant eye. You can still shoot both eyes open and retain your peripheral vision and not have to worry about your dominant eye taking over. It's been a game changer for me after being diagnosed with developing cross dominance in 2016.
Click to expand...

Where did you pick these up??
 
the spank said:
Very simple solution that requires no having to learn to shoot left-handed for you. It's called a Magic Dot. Put it on your glasses over your dominant eye. You can still shoot both eyes open and retain your peripheral vision and not have to worry about your dominant eye taking over. It's been a game changer for me after being diagnosed with developing cross dominance in 2016.
Click to expand...

This looks like an interesting workaround. Many thanks - I’ll give it a try.
 
Using your left eye to aim as you shoot from your left shoulder is much more muscle friendly.
Sure you can shoot cross dominant but you will fatigue faster and it's not as natural left eye shooting lefty.
Cross dominant is highly discouraged for slow fire bullseye pistol shooting. Also in archery, while hunting-shooting game such as deer, you could pull this off merely to fill one tag at typical archery hunting distances. But experienced archers also discourage this practice as you work more muscles (awkwardly) and over a long target match is very fatiguing.
 
Brutus said:
Using your left eye to aim as you shoot from your left shoulder is much more muscle friendly.
Sure you can shoot cross dominant but you will fatigue faster and it's not as natural left eye shooting lefty.
Cross dominant is highly discouraged for slow fire bullseye pistol shooting. Also in archery, while hunting-shooting game such as deer, you could pull this off merely to fill one tag at typical archery hunting distances. But experienced archers also discourage this practice as you work more muscles (awkwardly) and over a long target match is very fatiguing.
Click to expand...

Hi Brutus. QQ for you. I have shot handguns before (not a lot TBH) and it seemed to work ok for me as I could get my head to shift to sight with dominant eye with slight cant to gun. I only thought this was a big issue with shotguns.

Was that wrong?
 
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