Training / Drills for Cross-eye Dominance

[Dryden]

I've searched the forums and have read a number of threads regarding cross-eye dominance. I don't want to rehash those discussions but I do have a question for you cross-eye dominant shooters. Are there any drills you have found that help you focus (no pun intended) on your cross-eye dominance?

My problem (well, one of many) is that I'm a left handed shooter / right eye dominant. I have a nasty habit of closing my left eye which completely throws off my aim. I've considered wearing an eyepatch or otherwise obscuring my vision out of my left eye to force myself to use my right eye. With my left eye blocked, I'll be forced to either use my right eye or shoot blind!

I've tried switching to my weak hand and things aren't so good there. I'm not ambidextrous at all. I don't know if there are degrees of eye dominance but mine seems to be extreme. For example, at 7 yards if my left eye shows me aiming at the center of a target the reality is that I'm probably aiming a couple of feet left.

How do the more experienced cross-eye dominant shooters do it?

[Loves2Shoot]

I obscure the left eye lens where it picks up the front sight. I sandblast the lens in that sweet spot because the "frosting" works better for me than tape and it is USPSA and IDPA legal.

[Action Pistolero]

I have a weird problem. I'm right handed and shoot with my right eye. If I get to shoot everday my right eye becomes dominant. It's kind of hard to explain but if I don't tape the upper part of the lens over my left eye I look down the left side of the gun.

I believe my problem is that I drive a lot. I cannot use the rear view mirror in my truck because of all my equipment in the back. I have to use the outside mirrors and naturally I'm using the left one the most. My left eye then becomes dominant.

If I try to shoot with both eyes open and try to use my right eye the left will take over. If I try to use the left eye the right will take over. The dominace will change at the drop of a hat. I make it simple and tape the left eye and be done with it. It has worked well for me.

[lugnut]

Hmmm. I don't mean to sound like an idiot but why would closing your left eye throw off your aim??? It shouldn't. I can easily, and often do, close my non-dominant eye while shooting. When I shoot with both eyes open, it's my dominant eye that is being used.

I guess if you aren't very cross eye dominant that could be somewhat of an issue with both eyes open but I can't figure out how it could be an issue with either eye closed.

As far as practicing. I don't think I do anything specific. It's simply a matter of moving the gun in front of my dominant eye. I'm left eye, right handed.

DON'T ever let yourself think that being cross dominant is an issue- it shouldn't be! Ask Dave Sevigny.

[Action Pistolero]

You could just close your left eye but that causes more strain on the right one.

[AlamoShooter]

Well Maybe I can help confuse you more, I am right hand left eye dominate, my left eye is just a bit stronger than the right. " ITS Not a big deal" Its Not a handicap . change the way the you think Think bigger learn to see more and only use what you need in what you see to make the shot.

A good driver can tell what the passenger is doing in the front seat and not take their eyes off the road. learn to shoot like that. =See more=

I use my right eye to help pick up the next target , If you shoot any open guns you can block off the front of the lens so you can not see the target through the scope = only your off eye can see the target.

Stretch your brain to proses more information in what you are seeing. If you have to make a tight shot , thin faint off or close the off eye for most every thing else use both eyes, or learn to.

[Loves2Shoot]

I'm in the same boat as Action Pistolero is, not a very dominant eye. Blocking one eye is the only way to get a crisp sight picture for me., and it doesn't slow me down.

[DyNo!]

I'm cross eye dominant (Right handed/left eyed) and for my pistol, I cant my hands to use my left eye.

For a rifle/shotgun, I keep both eyes open for non-precision shooting and squint (not close) one eye to shoot with precision.

[Dryden]

I think I'll try blocking my left eye and see what happens. The key for me is going to be getting my mind used to picking up the sight picture from my right eye. I need to decrease my reliance on my non-dominant eye. Not sure how it got this way but it's a bad habit I need to break. Thanks again!

[benos]

I think I'll try blocking my left eye and see what happens. The key for me is going to be getting my mind used to picking up the sight picture from my right eye. I need to decrease my reliance on my non-dominant eye. Not sure how it got this way but it's a bad habit I need to break. Thanks again!

You are on the right track. From here on out it will just take some dedicated training.

be

[Dryden]

I think I'll try blocking my left eye and see what happens. The key for me is going to be getting my mind used to picking up the sight picture from my right eye. I need to decrease my reliance on my non-dominant eye. Not sure how it got this way but it's a bad habit I need to break. Thanks again!

You are on the right track. From here on out it will just take some dedicated training.

be

Much appreciated and thanks for hosting a fantastic site! I think I need to start dropping hints for my wife so she knows to get me your book. I wonder if she'd get the hint if I changed her web browser's home page to the order page for it?

Edited December 23, 2010 by Dryden

[twikster]

I learned to use whichever eye matches the hand holding the gun. I did it mostly by dryfiring at a blank ceiling, while lying on the bed. Of the two guns that you see, always pick the "inside one" and it will be the correct one for that hand. Ie, the right gun for the left hand, and the left gun for the right hand. I have not had a master eye for over 30 years now.

[Got Juice?]

I am left handed.Right eye dominant. Tennis, badminton, hockey(Left), I switch hit(baseball), but throw left, Golf Right etc.

So. Since I am left hand dominant and right eye dominant, I have cross trained myself. In IPSC, I shoot strong hand right. and keep both eyes open. It seems that in firearms I am 85% ambidextrous. (shotgunning clays or rifle shooting (scoped), I have mastered either hand)

My Last shooting match I was barely mid pack (7/12 Comstock). But the organizers had an equal number of SH/WH stages so.... I ended up finishing 2nd to a master class shooter on that day! Yay! (95.77/100.00)

Your dominant eye is target acquisition, and your non dominant eye calculates 'speed,time,distance' which is what gives humans 'depth perception' It takes practice (buy a .22 pistol) and time, but you can tailor your shooting to a point where either hand works equally with a gun. All it takes is time for the muscle memory set to take place (2-3 months of steady training) and you will be suprised at what it will do to your shooting scores.

Your cross dominance is NOT A PROBLEM, it is a hidden strength! Once you learn to use both hands with equal facility, you will start to hear other shooters grumble a bit ... things like 'are your certain that was your weak hand?'

While I don't purport to being any expert, Having only shot pistol since June this year, being in the top 5 of any competition in that short a time frame is nothing short of amazing for a person new to the sport. Cross dominance is definately a strength. It will not hold you back as long as you learn to adjust your shooting mechanics, and keep both eyes open!

Edited December 24, 2010 by Got Juice?

[CocoBolo]

I'm cross eye dominant, right handed left eye. I taught my self to bring the gun up in front of the left eye. A lot of dry fire and the tenasity to keep shooting with both eyes open and a lot of rounds down range and I don't even think about it any more. You will go thru that stage when you are shooting along and you realize you are swapping eyes back and forth from one to the other, but hang in there. When I started doing this my shooting took a turn for the worse for a while but its all good now!

Remember the upper body turrets like a tank, if you do not with CED you will make some bad shots, well so will no CED shooters but its just worse for us.

Don't pay any attention to the position in the avatar that was when I turned to the photographer and said take the picture already!

Edited December 24, 2010 by CocoBolo

[Dryden]

Lots of food for thought. Closing my right (dominant) eye is something I've always done without thinking. I don't know that I've ever tried to force myself to shoot with both eyes open. My intention behind obscuring the vision out of my left eye was based on the fact that it will force me to keep my right eye open. I think that may be the first step toward keeping both eyes open. This spring I'll try to get to the outdoor range (where I can have a large area to myself) and set up a video camera to see if I'm blinking. I seem to remember seeing the front sight through the entire shot but my mind could be making it up. That's a story for another thread though.

Well, back to the reloading bench. Need more practice ammo!

[pjb45]

I have done it all for being right handed and left eye dominant; tape, switching eyes,etc. My classifiers are about the same whether I shoot with my dominant eye or non-dominant eye.

The only thing I work on is shooting weak hand/dominant eye. I use my dominant eye. I do not cant the gun. I do tend to aim a little left of the center. But that depends on how much time I spend shooting weak handed (left). Shooting around a barricade does offer some opportunities, most of the time I just use my non-dominant eye, but if the shot is very tight I just switch eyes and then I do not have to lean as much or put the gun in a strange alignment.

Now I just squint or close my dominant eye when I am ready to fire. No big deal.

Bottom line, test how you shoot on all the weird shooting positions so you are not surprised when you are confonted with them. We have one guy in our club who sets up some really tight shots around walls and barricades, so I get a lot of practice with that kind of shooting..

[benos]

I think I'll try blocking my left eye and see what happens. The key for me is going to be getting my mind used to picking up the sight picture from my right eye. I need to decrease my reliance on my non-dominant eye. Not sure how it got this way but it's a bad habit I need to break. Thanks again!

You are on the right track. From here on out it will just take some dedicated training.

be

Much appreciated and thanks for hosting a fantastic site! I think I need to start dropping hints for my wife so she knows to get me your book. I wonder if she'd get the hint if I changed her web browser's home page to the order page for it?

That sounds like a trick I would do.

be

[.45]

.

I have cross eye dominance -- right handed shooter and left eye dom.

20 or 30 years ago, when I shot compet. {no big deal, just a local club}, I used an opaque clip on, on my shooting glasses...so I could keep both eyes open, but only one could see the target..... I was never happy with that arrangement, whether I blocked my right eye,or my left eye.....I was never really comfortable

if I keep two eyes open, with no outside help, I see two targets, so something had to give, for me to shoot and hit targets

so I trained myself to close the non dom. eye....... my hold when sighting and firing may look slightly goofy, but it works for me...I just do it, and do not think about it as it is now natural

just as one learns to ride a motorcycle with each hand and foot having a job .... and one does it institnctively after a while .... now I close my right eye when a gun is in hand and being raised.... that is, when I am about to view the sights, and line them up on a target, my right eye is closed and I am shooting with my left eye only.....no problems with that routine, although it does take me a minute to adjust if I pick up a rifle or shotgun, and wish to use my right eye to fire that weapon right handed.

one or the other approach should work for you... that is, an opaque clip on, or a blacked out lens on the glasses..... or just closng one eye, as I do

.

[Matt Griffin]

How do the more experienced cross-eye dominant shooters do it?

I started taping last year, and find it to be a perfectly acceptable solution. I'm left-hand, right-eye, but my left eye is strong enough that double images are nearly equal in opacity. I must either squint or tape, shooting with both eyes fully open just won't work.

Matt

[slodsm]

I started using a magic dot on my left eye about a year ago shooting sporting clays and trap. Both eyes are 20/20 and 20/13 combined but my left eye would take over if I was shooting a left hand target or doubles in sporting clays. I shot 1 eyed to help but in a 300 bird event the fatigue would get me in the afternoon and my scores would drop like a rock.

The magic dot left my depth perception intact and killed the strain of squinting as well while stopping my ability to focus on the target with my left eye. Stopped a lot of frustration for me.

[michael1one]

is it easier to train your right eye to be dominant with iron sights or electronics sights?