Cross Eye Dominance Advice?

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I'm cross eye dominant (right hand left eye) and have been thinking about what is the best way to shoot a pistol effectively. Seems like there's some debate around the topic and would love to hear what works best for other people. I hope to shoot in some matches in the near future and want to hear some opinions before I pick up any bad habits. Any pros and cons you guys have with:

1. Tilting your head to the right to line up your left eye with the sights
2. Adjusting the handgun position to line up the sights with your left eye
3. Training your right eye to be the dominant eye receiving all the info

I know there's a lot of debate around this from asking friends and youtube videos. I'm most curious to hear if people have successfully trained their right eye to be able to focus on the sight with both eyes open and how they accomplished it.

Thanks
 
It is not difficult to change eye dominance. It’s not a huge issue for pistols but it will require shooting leftie for long guns. Personally I would just become R eye dominant and make life easier. I am R eye dominant but my visual acuity in L eye is better. Regardless since I always shoot a both eyes open including long range, it ultimately doesn’t matter. Whatever you do don’t become the guy who shoots a pistol weaver stance w one eye closed.

I’m sure others will have different advice.
 
I just kind of turn my read to the right a fraction and be bring the sights up in front of my left eye. I don’t really consciously do it or anything it just happens. Shooting right handed weapons lefty is awesome IMHO. You can see the ejection port to clear malfunctions with great ease. and things like mag changes or emergency reloads are done easily with your dominant hand.

Obvious exceptions being bull pups.
 
It is not difficult to change eye dominance. It’s not a huge issue for pistols but it will require shooting leftie for long guns. Personally I would just become R eye dominant and make life easier. I am R eye dominant but my visual acuity in L eye is better. Regardless since I always shoot a both eyes open including long range, it ultimately doesn’t matter. Whatever you do don’t become the guy who shoots a pistol weaver stance w one eye closed.

I’m sure others will have different advice.

Thanks for the input. That's some good validation, my only friend in that shoots competitively was pretty clear that I should train my right eye. Maybe it seems harder than it actually is, and just needs some effort.

Anybody have any tips / success stories? I've heard scotch tape over the eye protection lens to blur it out a bit can help start
 
With pistol I find that if I shoot with both eyes open, eye dominance really isn’t a factor. While I’m left-handed and left-eye dominant, I have an astigmatism in the left eye as well. both eyes open works best for me.

Personally, I think if you’re training to turn your head a few degrees to line up your cross-eye dominance, you’re intentionally including a training scar in your routine. When I shoot off-hand (non-dominant) which for me is my right side, I use my right eye as my dominant eye for sight picture. Same for carbine for me, but it’s a more conscious effort. With pistol I don’t even think about it these days.

Ultimately, find what gives you the fastest target acquisition. But realize, if you’re training for a defensive shooting encounter, you most likely will not be in a perfect isosceles stance and focused on eye-dominance, so my recommendation is force your training to overcome any perceived weaknesses and strengthen your overall platform.
 
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I’m the same way. I just bring my eye to the sites. Probably just as much practice to use your other eye as it is to just get the muscle memory to aim down sites with your left eye.

I don’t have an issue shooting rifles with my right.
 
Thanks for the input. That's some good validation, my only friend in that shoots competitively was pretty clear that I should train my right eye. Maybe it seems harder than it actually is, and just needs some effort.

Anybody have any tips / success stories? I've heard scotch tape over the eye protection lens to blur it out a bit can help start

the range is not the place to transition eye dominance. Can do at home dry firing. First close L eye and draw pistol up to sight picture. repeat this while slowly incorporating the L eye open. With some practice the visual cortex will learn to use the image from R eye and you’ll become accustomed to aligning the sights w the R eye. At first it will seem insurmountable but it suddenly works like a charm.
 
I'm the same way....right handed...left eye. I was a south paw till those evil nuns got hold of me in kindergarten....yup, I was raised Irish Catholic in Ireland. After they beat that out of me I now shoot pistol and rifle right handed and compound bow left....yup, the guy at the store would not sell me a right handed bow. I also kick ball leftie. I solved the issue by running red dots on everything that goes pew pew and keeping both eyes open. I have a few pistols with irons but those are for up close and personal.....if I can't hit you somewhere at 10 yards I'm done for!
 
I'm cross eye dominant (right hand left eye) and have been thinking about what is the best way to shoot a pistol effectively. Seems like there's some debate around the topic and would love to hear what works best for other people. I hope to shoot in some matches in the near future and want to hear some opinions before I pick up any bad habits. Any pros and cons you guys have with:

1. Tilting your head to the right to line up your left eye with the sights
2. Adjusting the handgun position to line up the sights with your left eye
3. Training your right eye to be the dominant eye receiving all the info

I know there's a lot of debate around this from asking friends and youtube videos. I'm most curious to hear if people have successfully trained their right eye to be able to focus on the sight with both eyes open and how they accomplished it.

Thanks
I'm on the same boat.

I just shoot pistol right handed. Problem solved.

Rifle, I dont know why, but I feel much better shooting left handed. I can support the rifle better (weird). So I shoot rifle left.

FYI ... if you close your left eye, then your right eye becomes the dominant eye.

If using a red dot then I noticed it doesn't matter. I still shoot right handed with both eyes open. Dots are easy.
 
Learn to shoot both eyes open or close range point and shoot. The gun is an extension of your grip and stance it should hit where you point. If you are doing target shooting like bullseye just reposition your stance to place the sights closer to your dominant eye. This should work nicely it works for me.
 
I just kind of turn my read to the right a fraction and be bring the sights up in front of my left eye. I don’t really consciously do it or anything it just happens. Shooting right handed weapons lefty is awesome IMHO. You can see the ejection port to clear malfunctions with great ease. and things like mag changes or emergency reloads are done easily with your dominant hand.

Obvious exceptions being bull pups.

just to further clarify. I shoot with both eyes opened. But still find my natural motion of my body is to bring the sights op in front of my left eye. Sometimes this causes me t
 
I'm also Rt handed and Lf eye dominant. I found it easier to learn to shoot handguns and rifles left handed.
 
I am also cross eye dominant (right handed, left eye dominant). I shoot pistols in my right hand. When I first started shooting, I shot with left eye open and right eye closed, while I tilted or turned my face so my that my left eye would line up with the sights. As I went to the range more, I practiced shooting with both eyes open and there's no more need for me to tilt or turn my face. For rifles, I shoot left handed with both eyes open. Even though I'm right handed, I've always felt like I was naturally left handed instead.
 
A little of 1 and a little of B with a little left eye squint thrown in. I also find I have a better stance with the left foot slightly forward of the right, causes my body to pivot and I bring the sights automatically inline with my left eye. Yeah, it, ain't a perfect isoceles, but eff it, it works for me.
 
With a handgun it doesn't matter. I would always opt to move the gun to where your head is naturally. When it comes to cross eye dominance with a handgun.. just don't over think it.
 
Same here, right handed, left eye dominant. Tried switching to the right eye, but hadn't much success, probably because the left eye is so much better. Only problem is getting beaned on the head with empty cases occasionally.
 
I am totally unaware how somebody can “train” themselves to change eye dominance since it’s a function of your brain processing the signals from your optic nerve it’s not your eyes.

If you are shooting a pistol with 2 hands the issue is that your weak hand is in front of your strong hand which moves your weak shoulder forward and shifts the gun towards your strong side eye.

The most common solution for those of us who prefer to shoot with both eyes open (unlike Bullseye shooters who shoot one handed and sometimes wear patches over their offhand eye) is to tilt the gun towards your weak side to allow your dominant eye to align with the sight alignment.
 
I'm cross eye dominant (right hand left eye) and have been thinking about what is the best way to shoot a pistol effectively. Seems like there's some debate around the topic and would love to hear what works best for other people. I hope to shoot in some matches in the near future and want to hear some opinions before I pick up any bad habits. Any pros and cons you guys have with:

1. Tilting your head to the right to line up your left eye with the sights
2. Adjusting the handgun position to line up the sights with your left eye
3. Training your right eye to be the dominant eye receiving all the info

I know there's a lot of debate around this from asking friends and youtube videos. I'm most curious to hear if people have successfully trained their right eye to be able to focus on the sight with both eyes open and how they accomplished it.

Thanks
What is your goal.

What is your prescription?

<<-- checking in as a LED RHS
 
I learned to shoot rifles lefty (in basic training) because I am cross dominant. I usually shoot pistols righty as I tend to be very uncoordinated on that side with fine motor skills since I broke my left arm years ago. I do cross train pistols lefty but not consistently. However, I shoot about the same both hands. Maybe because of the eye dominance making me more accurate as a lefty while my right side coordination makes up for the cross eye dominance. I do the head tilt to the right when I shoot right handed.
 
Anybody have any tips / success stories? I've heard scotch tape over the eye protection lens to blur it out a bit can help start
I am mildly left eye dominant and use tape on my glasses for bullseye. It keeps me from accidentally using the left eye while letting me keep it open and generally have situational awareness. Before that I shot smallbore lefty and that worked too, but logistics were a bit of a pain. I shoot highpower righty, also with tape. Plenty of Xs with either eye.

I think a lot of people who are cross-dominant have a dominant eye that's only mildly dominant, so it's pretty easy to make the jump.
 
I'm cross eye dominant (right hand left eye) and have been thinking about what is the best way to shoot a pistol effectively. Seems like there's some debate around the topic and would love to hear what works best for other people. I hope to shoot in some matches in the near future and want to hear some opinions before I pick up any bad habits. Any pros and cons you guys have with:

1. Tilting your head to the right to line up your left eye with the sights
2. Adjusting the handgun position to line up the sights with your left eye
3. Training your right eye to be the dominant eye receiving all the info

I know there's a lot of debate around this from asking friends and youtube videos. I'm most curious to hear if people have successfully trained their right eye to be able to focus on the sight with both eyes open and how they accomplished it.

Thanks
Hickok45 can shoot a pistol pretty effectively.
 
This reminds me of the time I was at Southborough shooting trap with my kids on a Sunday afternoon.

There was a young lady on the line next to me, a first time shooter. Her BF or someone had her set up with a 20 ga 1100.
As she proceeded to go 0-25, I couldn’t help notice that she was shooting righty but closing her right eye with left eye open.

When the round was over I mentioned, "ya know, I noticed your were closing your right eye....you may want to shoot left handed or switch eyes..."
The BF was looking at me like I was speaking Greek...."She's shooting righty with her right eye closed and her left eye open..."
They just looked puzzled and walked away. Was I right or wrong? [thinking]
 
Learn to shoot rifle lefty , not a big deal, most rifles run better that way anyways.

Pistol don't turn your head bring the gun a little bit over the left and the rest make up by slanting the gun like 25 to 30 degrees. Lots of reps and you wont have an issue.

If you want to be super baller learn to shoot pistol left handed too. Ideally it is better because your sight lines up with your arm when it is extended. But you can shoot right handed just fine.

Don't use tape it's a crutch IMO.
 
I am left eye dominant but shoot everything right handed. Sometimes it's an issue with pistols for me as it introduces some parallax error (I align the sights with my right eye but see the target better with my left). This is weird because my right eye essentially focuses short distance on the sights and my left eye focuses far distance on the target. My eyes/prescription are not set up like this. Mainly with practice I am able to train out of cross eye dominance but everytime my glasses prescription change I have difficulty with it for a while.

With rifles I either run a magnified optic or close one eye / use a stick on lens filter. I could never shoot well left handed.

Shotguns/skeet is a non issue for me because when sighting down the barrel my brain finally realizes what eye to use, I am not really focusing on the bead at all.
 
Also. Maybe. What is your age.

The eye domancane
I learned to shoot rifles lefty (in basic training) because I am cross dominant. I usually shoot pistols righty as I tend to be very uncoordinated on that side with fine motor skills since I broke my left arm years ago. I do cross train pistols lefty but not consistently. However, I shoot about the same both hands. Maybe because of the eye dominance making me more accurate as a lefty while my right side coordination makes up for the cross eye dominance. I do the head tilt to the right when I shoot right handed.

I think we have crossed on this topic before.

When I was an early 20s shooter, I would regularly compete in rimfire. Did well shooting right hand, but left eye on pistol. Stance very natural, but slightly left shifted.
For rifle, I could not maintain site picture with right eye at all,and just shot lefty.
I could spend hours slowly plinking on irons with my left eye and left hand. Took two deer with a .30-06 ruger LH bold gun. Never am issue with the cross hand.

Now as I'm in early 40s, I've noticed the weakness in my right eye is noticibly less. The cqb course I took a few years ago, I mostly ran right hand rifle. The best scores I got were in the few switch drills, where the instructors had us switch hands in the middle of a run. Other than the ambi safety I had on my AR being crap, I had no issues.

What helped me more than anything is good monitors, some solid FPS gaming, and, surprisingly, age.

I almost had surgery on my right eye when I was a child due to nerve issues. It managed to tend towards self correction over the years.

I still I'll can't expect my right eye to hold up if I pull an allnighter, but the normal amount of load in a day means it can now handle things.

Buy an eye patch and play both sides. Even if you are not cross.

Do the same drills with both eyes open.

All win.
 
I am right handed and cannot see much (or anything at all) with my right eye because of the wound. It just can't be fixed . So for the last 35 years I have been shooting pistols aiming only using my left eye. Just align the pistol properly and shoot, the hold will become your second nature. I don't even know the difference. Shooting rifle is entirely different issue. I just had to train to hold a rifle like a left-handed person. Even now, this requires a hard mental exercise.
 
I just kind of turn my read to the right a fraction and be bring the sights up in front of my left eye. I don’t really consciously do it or anything it just happens. Shooting right handed weapons lefty is awesome IMHO. You can see the ejection port to clear malfunctions with great ease. and things like mag changes or emergency reloads are done easily with your dominant hand.

Obvious exceptions being bull pups.

That's what I do. I don't think about it too much...I just bring the sights up to my left eye and away I go. I do find that I turn my head to the right slightly as well to help align everything.

Also, I shoot pistol with both eyes open....no trouble here. It took a little while to get used to it but now it comes naturally.
 
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