should i try and go lefty

[bigcat]

now i must say that my whole life i have shot a pistol right handed but used my left eye. was blinded by a fish hook when i was a kid. i have adjusted with everything and am not a bad shot with rifle or shotgun left handed but have never tried pistol. now that i am going to start competition notice that quick sighting is a problem. should i try and overcome this or try and convert my gun to left handed or is that even possible. i have an eaa match. just want some opinions on this

[Loves2Shoot]

Just tilting your head is easier than re-handing yourself unless you swing well both ways.

[calishootr]

I am left eye dominant but right handed, and to me, its far easier to tilt one's head a lil than to re-learn somthing like how to manipulate a firearm, yes i shoot it weakhanded when a stage asks for it, but tryin to learn how to draw the thing??? pass....

[cletus9mm]

i'm a proud oddball. left handed but right eye dominant. like most lefties i do a few things with my right hand. i throw frisbee with my right and i shoot bow right handed. when i grew up i learned to shoot bow right handed in boy scouts because they didn't have any left handed bows as i grew older i found out my left eye is very slightly lazy. it is not and cannot be corrected to 20/20. my right eye on the other hand is slightly better than 20/20. this is what prompted my switch with pistol first, and then with rifle. i knew i was never going to be as good as i could be if i was shooting with my lazy eye so i saw little choice for myself. to make the switch i started off by buying a right handed holster. every single day i wore that holster with a gun in it for at least two months. i drew the gun and pointed it at various objects around my house to practice the feel of it and get used to the new sight picture. after about a month it became really comfortable. it was frustrating at first but you can definately get used to going lefty with enough practice. borrow or buy a lefty holster if you can and practice practice practice. if you find you hate it, it's a really easy switch back. much luck.

[Booty]

i'm a proud oddball. left handed but right eye dominant. like most lefties i do a few things with my right hand. i throw frisbee with my right and i shoot bow right handed. when i grew up i learned to shoot bow right handed in boy scouts because they didn't have any left handed bows as i grew older i found out my left eye is very slightly lazy. it is not and cannot be corrected to 20/20. my right eye on the other hand is slightly better than 20/20. this is what prompted my switch with pistol first, and then with rifle. i knew i was never going to be as good as i could be if i was shooting with my lazy eye so i saw little choice for myself. to make the switch i started off by buying a right handed holster. every single day i wore that holster with a gun in it for at least two months. i drew the gun and pointed it at various objects around my house to practice the feel of it and get used to the new sight picture. after about a month it became really comfortable. it was frustrating at first but you can definately get used to going lefty with enough practice. borrow or buy a lefty holster if you can and practice practice practice. if you find you hate it, it's a really easy switch back. much luck.

Hello,

I shoot left handed with a pistol but I am right eye donimant. i have been shooting with my left eye, but my left eye don't work as good as my right. Will it hurt anything for me to shoot left handed but use my right eye? Is there anything wrong with that? Does any of the pros do that. I have been shooting the speed steel matches and I love it. Any information would be great.

Thank you

Booty

[Loves2Shoot]

I've know aging pros who keep their handing and tilt their head and use the other eye. I don't know one who has switched their handing. I tried (for a year) to switch my handing, switching eyes took a day.

[bigcat]

thanks for all your responses. the truth is this i shoot the gun very well left handed. better than right and support hand grip feels better but here is the catch. i cant draw left handed . i mean not at all as to where right handed i draw well but have to look a little longer than most to pick up front sight because of head tilt. probably a lot of practice would solve that but i think i will keep working right handed. thanks again

[Flyin40]

thanks for all your responses. the truth is this i shoot the gun very well left handed. better than right and support hand grip feels better but here is the catch. i cant draw left handed . i mean not at all as to where right handed i draw well but have to look a little longer than most to pick up front sight because of head tilt. probably a lot of practice would solve that but i think i will keep working right handed. thanks again

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm understanding that your blinded in your right eye. If this is the case then I must disagree with all those saying tilt your head. There is no reason to tilt your head but rather just move the gun over in front of your left eye. This is all I do. It doesn't require any tilting at all. Keep your head centered and bring the sights in line with your eye. The reason I disagree is your situation is unique compared to most. The purpose of tilting your head is to help with double vision and your eyes competing with each other. It is kind of like squinting one eye while you shoot. In your situation you won't have your right eye competing with your left eye so I would start out keeping your head centered and just bring the gun over. Sevigny does this.

I'm not saying that anyone shooting guns should never tilt their head(just very limited cases) but if I'm undstanding everything correctly I think being centered will help you in the long run.

Flyin

[Flyin40]

thanks for all your responses. the truth is this i shoot the gun very well left handed. better than right and support hand grip feels better but here is the catch. i cant draw left handed . i mean not at all as to where right handed i draw well but have to look a little longer than most to pick up front sight because of head tilt. probably a lot of practice would solve that but i think i will keep working right handed. thanks again

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm understanding that your blinded in your right eye. If this is the case then I must disagree with all those saying tilt your head. There is no reason to tilt your head but rather just move the gun over in front of your left eye. This is all I do. It doesn't require any tilting at all. Keep your head centered and bring the sights in line with your eye. The reason I disagree is your situation is unique compared to most. The purpose of tilting your head is to help with double vision and your eyes competing with each other. It is kind of like squinting one eye while you shoot. In your situation you won't have your right eye competing with your left eye so I would start out keeping your head centered and just bring the gun over. Sevigny does this.

I'm not saying that anyone shooting guns should never tilt their head(just very limited cases) but if I'm undstanding everything correctly I think being centered will help you in the long run.

Flyin

Wanted to add how to get the gun up without tilting your head.

Get in a solid shooting stance, knee's slighty bent and most of the weight on the balls of your feet. Keep you head straight ahead and centered. Keep your shoulders and head square to the target. Raise the gun and without moving anything but your arms bring the sights up where you can see them. Just remember don't move anything but your arms. I think this will help you down the road. If your blind in one eye your peripheral vision will be less than with someone with both eyes. I'm thinking that tilting the head will only make the peripheral vision worse in your situation.

Hope this helps. If anyone disagrees please post up. Just my expierence and someone else may have a different opinion or suggestion.

Flyin

[Duane Thomas]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with shooting right hand/left eye. There have been, and are, some very good shooters doing exactly that. Like for instance our host, Brian Enos, and multi-nationa/world champion Dave Sevigny, to name just two.

Honestly, I have never understood the idea that it's a big deal to move your head slightly to bring your left eye in line with the sights. I'm cross dominant myself. This is how much head turn it takes to bring my left eye in line with my right/master hand:

[bigcat]

thanks for all your responses. the truth is this i shoot the gun very well left handed. better than right and support hand grip feels better but here is the catch. i cant draw left handed . i mean not at all as to where right handed i draw well but have to look a little longer than most to pick up front sight because of head tilt. probably a lot of practice would solve that but i think i will keep working right handed. thanks again

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm understanding that your blinded in your right eye. If this is the case then I must disagree with all those saying tilt your head. There is no reason to tilt your head but rather just move the gun over in front of your left eye. This is all I do. It doesn't require any tilting at all. Keep your head centered and bring the sights in line with your eye. The reason I disagree is your situation is unique compared to most. The purpose of tilting your head is to help with double vision and your eyes competing with each other. It is kind of like squinting one eye while you shoot. In your situation you won't have your right eye competing with your left eye so I would start out keeping your head centered and just bring the gun over. Sevigny does this.

I'm not saying that anyone shooting guns should never tilt their head(just very limited cases) but if I'm undstanding everything correctly I think being centered will help you in the long run.

Flyin

Wanted to add how to get the gun up without tilting your head.

Get in a solid shooting stance, knee's slighty bent and most of the weight on the balls of your feet. Keep you head straight ahead and centered. Keep your shoulders and head square to the target. Raise the gun and without moving anything but your arms bring the sights up where you can see them. Just remember don't move anything but your arms. I think this will help you down the road. If your blind in one eye your peripheral vision will be less than with someone with both eyes. I'm thinking that tilting the head will only make the peripheral vision worse in your situation.

Hope this helps. If anyone disagrees please post up. Just my expierence and someone else may have a different opinion or suggestion.

Flyin

thank you very much i will start working on that today. makes sense in theory

[bigcat]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with shooting right hand/left eye. There have been, and are, some very good shooters doing exactly that. Like for instance our host, Brian Enos, and multi-nationa/world champion Dave Sevigny, to name just two.

Honestly, I have never understood the idea that it's a big deal to move your head slightly to bring your left eye in line with the sights. I'm cross dominant myself. This is how much head turn it takes to bring my left eye in line with my right/master hand:

i always thought my situation was rare, i had no idea that there was so many good shooters doing this. this along with the previous post on how to bring gun on target is very uplifting. i just figured i would shoot to shoot and have fun without really having a chance to win much. now i am motivated to get this figured out and win. thanks to you and all that posted on this topic.

darren

[Duane Thomas]

Yer welcome.

[CrankyCrash]

It appears there are far more of us than I realized.

I am also one of those left-handed folks with right eye dominance.

For twenty years, I struggled shooting with my left eye ... the military never used to test for eye dominance, all they cared was you were able to hit what you were supposed to.

Finally, long after I retired from the Army, I took a competition handgun class and the GM that was teaching me discovered my problem and my shooting vastly improved almost immediately.

Good luck and be safe.