Helpless with handedness

HooVooLoo

HooVooLoo

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Hello all.

Help! I am not sure what to do about my scenario, and how it may be corrected, and even if it needs to be.

I have been trying to improve my pistol accuracy by working on my dominant eye. As a right-hander, I was always "taught" that the right eye was my dominant one.

As I continued shooting, I found that my LEFT eye seemed to be the dominant one, based on the results from the paper targets.

Then I tried something different...I started trying to shoot with left-hand dominance, and achieved even better results, both with left and right eye focus.

Now I am truly concerned, in that I may be training myself in the wrong fashion. Maybe those times I did better with left hand than with right hand, I was simply having a good day.

Shooting in the left hand did not feel any more or less natural than the right hand, and eye selection did not seem to be the issue. But the initial results seemed to clearly indicate that I am a left-hand shooter. Again, I perform my main chores, including writing, with the right hand.

Is there a way I can more thoroughly test to know whether I am better with left or right-handed pistoling, without having to blow through 3-4K rounds of ammo?

I fear that if I start practicing with left-handedness without knowing the danger signs of improper handling of the firearm, I might ingrain those bad habits even further.

*sighs*

Thx all for your responses in advance.
 
HooVooLoo, try this. Look at a point on the wall - outlet, light switch, whatever. Now make your hand into a loose circle and look through it at the spot on the wall. Close each eye in turn... which eye are you using to look at it with? That's your dominant eye.

As for right handed shooting when you're left eye dominant... Jim Conway showed me a great way to compensate. When you bring your gun up in line with your eyes, cock your head to the RIGHT so that ONLY your LEFT eye can see the sights. After a little practice, it'll feel very natural - to the point where you do it automatically. If you're going to the 11/29 Pumpkin Shoot I'd be happy to show you what he showed me.
 
Dirtypacman said:
This was a good discussion from NES about the subject:

http://northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=13371&highlight=left+eye
Click to expand...

Yes, I have performed those exercizes, and found myself to be left-eye dominant.

My worry is that when I tried shooting left-handed, I found that I was more accurate than with the right hand. I am heading to the range in a few minutes to continue this testing, but it will be to my chagrin if I find that for whatever reason I am better with left-handed pistol rather than right-handed pistol. It seems to simply go against my logic, but then again, logic does not matter when it comes to accuracy...You go with what is more accurate.

Ack.
*HEAVY SIGH*
 
HooVooLoo said:
I am heading to the range in a few minutes to continue this testing, but it will be to my chagrin if I find that for whatever reason I am better with left-handed pistol rather than right-handed pistol. It seems to simply go against my logic, but then again, logic does not matter when it comes to accuracy...You go with what is more accurate.
Click to expand...

dwarven1 said:
As for right handed shooting when you're left eye dominant... Jim Conway showed me a great way to compensate. When you bring your gun up in line with your eyes, cock your head to the RIGHT so that ONLY your LEFT eye can see the sights. After a little practice, it'll feel very natural - to the point where you do it automatically. If you're going to the 11/29 Pumpkin Shoot I'd be happy to show you what he showed me.
Click to expand...

I'm serious - give this method a try. Wish I could go to the range to show you, but I'm stuck at work. But it really does work.
 
Shooting pistol with your right hand and left eye shouldn't be a big problem, unlike rifle or shotgun where it's important to use the same hand/eye combination. Just move the gun over in front of your left eye and/or cock your head as Ross suggested. You can also get a blinder that clips to the lens of your glasses, allowing you to keep the weak eye open - some people can do that without the blinder, but I find it difficult.

Makers of high-end target grips for Bullseye pistols (Thomas Rink is one) offer grips that are canted slightly to allow the pistol to point more naturally with the right arm positioned, as yours will be, further to the left across your body - but they're not really necessary.
 
HooVooLoo said:
Thx for the offer, but Mom is coming to town that weekend.
Click to expand...
So what? My Mom's coming up, along with my sister- & brother-in-law... I'm going to try and get them all to come. My mother was at the shoot last year. (I think Fred was kind of smitten with her...)
 
In several of the more advanced pistol courses I have taken, the instructors mentioned that right handed people who are left eye dominant often shoot better left handed. I try to train with both hands and both eyes. Shoot right handed with each eye, repeat with left hand. like anything else, just practice slow and you will learn it faster than you would expect.
 
I was having trouble too, but found i shoot with the right hand but sight with my left eye.
A Crimson Trace Laser solved the problem.

Us old guys are allowed to cheat just a little
 
I don't know if you're shooting gallery or centerfire, but here's what worked for me: I'm a long time action pistol shooter that's mostly right handed (I actually do a few things left handed) and left eye dominant. I struggled with this for several years. I found using ' left eye / right handed ' was physically uncomfortable and closing my left eye caused facial tension, eye strain, poor depth perception, and loss of peripheral vision. So I decided to 'change' my eye dominance. I placed a piece of opaque tape onto my shooting glasses over my left eye and shot with both eyes open. The tape forces you to look at the sights with your right eye (of course). I did this for a full season. I usually take off a month or two around Christmas and when I start to shoot again, I start dryfiring. I took the tape off my glasses after Chrsitmas and found I was looking at the sights with my right eye. I thought I was all set, but it still took another season with the tape over my left eye before I felt confident enough to shoot a match without it. It was worth the time and effort.

Although my right eye is very slightly weaker than my left, the lack of tension and ability to peripherally 'see' targets was dramatic. While other factors certainly contributed - my performance at bigger matches improved and I believe that shooting with both eyes open was the key to this improvement.

I did worry about my reaction to the stress of self-defense. Would my body revert to its 'natural' default? The answer was no. For me the big test was shooting a no light stage at an IDPA match (I shoot very few IDPA matches) with no practice and a new flashlight. Lots of stress - my own fault of course - but lots of stress. The stage went without a hitch. If eye dominace was going to cause me problems, it would have been there.

You're definitely going in the right direction, don't give up on it. The results are worth the effort IMHO.
 
Last edited:
I am right handed but have always been left eye dominant so I shoot leftie. Just the way the drill sargeants taught me in basic. It's easier to hit the target when you can see the target.[smile]
 
I shoot with either hand, either eye. I just kept doing it. Start close to the target and keep walking backwards as long as you are hitting the target and keep shooting. It's a learned skill, you don't have to be a "Natural".
 
The gun should be an extension of your arm, once the gun is lined up with your forearm, point the gun so that it naturally points toward the center of your target and from the center of your body, straight out in front of you w/a two handed grip, head slightly cantered toward gun hand side, with both eyes open, you should be able to pick up front sight right away w/domminant eye even with both eyes open.... if you see two sights, close non domminant eye real quick and front sight shoul be on target.
 

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