Has anyone switched their shooting hand

[West Texas Granny]

Since I'm cross eyed dominate I've been thinking of switching shooting hand to match my dominate eye. I've tried with the revolver and my hands just couldn't grip it. I tried my CZ today and it was much easier to hold and control. Has anyone ever made the switchover.

[beltjones]

It's generally ill-advised. Just put the gun in front of your dominant eye. Of course, it helps if you're using a modern isosceles technique.

Dave Sevigny is cross-eye dominant and it doesn't seem like it has held him back much.

[wanderer]

just move the gun in from on your left eye, all it involves is a 1 inch movment of the wrists, it will help to square up your stance a little.

[Glen]

I switched. It was relatively easy.

Glen

[No.343]

I did. As a child my father encouraged me to shoot right handed even though I am left handed. I switched in my mid twenties to shooting left handed. It wasn't a big deal for me, but I am somewhat ambidextrious. I switched because I am left eye dominant.

[West Texas Granny]

Yesterdays first attempt was really good except for the trigger finger. All hits were on target but low at 5 o'clock. A 4 inch grouping from 7 yards. Just have to learn how to properly pull the trigger all over again. Shooting revolver will be harder as I've tried it in the past with really horrible results. In other words I couldn't hit the side of a barn if I was locked inside one.

[No.343]

Yesterdays first attempt was really good except for the trigger finger. All hits were on target but low at 5 o'clock. A 4 inch grouping from 7 yards. Just have to learn how to properly pull the trigger all over again. Shooting revolver will be harder as I've tried it in the past with really horrible results. In other words I couldn't hit the side of a barn if I was locked inside one.

I don't know how you grip your revolver, but I have to grip it very firmly with my support hand. When I shoot free style wrong handed that grip doesn't come naturally. Stick with it. It will be easy after a few thousand reps.

[Xander]

I'm right handed and right eye dominant, but I can shoot better if I shoot with my left hand. I guess I'm ambidextrous

[raysracer]

I'm also right handed and right eye dominate. Tried left for the first time. Did it cross eyed Dom. Got to within a couple of seconds of right handed. Need practice on the slide release and mag switch.

[MrP]

It's generally ill-advised. Just put the gun in front of your dominant eye. Of course, it helps if you're using a modern isosceles technique.

Dave Sevigny is cross-eye dominant and it doesn't seem like it has held him back much.

Heck, maybe that's the secret!

[DonovanM]

I try to switch shooting hands in every practice session

In all seriousness, I'm right handed/left eyed and shoot right handed. Works great. Took some extra attention on how to grip but I've never considered changing shooting hands because of it.

[leas327]

My daughter is left handed and I have thought that in a couple of years I would try to seriously switch just to teach her. The thing is, even at three she is already better with her right hand than I ever could be with my left.

[Joe L]

I'm a little late but I would like to share my experience. I have my strong (right)arm in a sling after shoulder surgery and it will be January before I can shoot with two hands. I am right handed and right eye dominant. Had surgery last week, hit the range last weekend to shoot single hand only weak side. Felt a little clumsy at first, but I have since put over 1000 rounds downrange with a 22 slide on my P226 frame. I am getting there. By January, I should be pretty good out to 25 yards, standing, weak hand only. Hopefully 3" groups. In other words, you can re-train yourself to do almost anything you HAVE to do, but it takes a lot of rounds. I welcomed the challenge and hope that my left index finger slowly catches up with where I was with my right when it became "unavailable". Shooting right hand single hand only while recovering from left side shoulder surgery definitely improved my overall shooting accuracy, and I didn't do nearly the round count since I didn't have the 22 slide then. My left arm is still weak but I can shoot a 22. Tried my X-5 and made it 20 rounds before putting it down yesterday, too heavy for me right now.

I think it took me something like 200 rounds before I could shoot worth a toot, by the way. But the improvement was rapid after that, at least for me.

Joe

[Guest]

Right handed & left eye dominate here. No issues shooting right handed. It also makes shooting weak (left) hand a little easier. Bigger problem with shotgun (skeet, trap, clays) than pistol. Rifles with scopes or a red dot are no issue. Change if you want, but there are a lot of good shooters with this condition.

[Screemnjay]

You may or may not need to, or benefit from the switch. It depends both on your level of dominance and your overall vision in addition to your dexterity. Comparisons to others is useless. If you can switch, there's no harm. The experiment will yield results that will determine your path. If, in the end, it is your inclination to switch, commit.

[ArmdCtzn]

I'm right-handed and left-eye-dominant, but I'd been shooting right-handed and right-eyed for so many years by the time I figured it out, I wasn't going to change.

[motosapiens]

If you shoot idpa, you have to be able to shoot with your other hand anyway (to do well), so I would recommend practicing it regardless of what you do in the long run.

When I was teaching snowboarding, I found that riding switchfoot (right foot forward instead of left) forced/allowed me to concentrate more on technique, and also gave me something entertaining and challenging to do on boring low-angle slopes. I suspect there is similar benefit shooting with your non-dominant hand. Since you won't have bad habits already ingrained, you should be able to work on your technique and probably see significant results right away.

[Sin-ster]

I am fairly close friends with a handful of "serious" shooters-- as in, shooting at things that shoot back.

They all advocate being able to shoot freestyle with both hands. One came out for a match not terribly long ago, did just that, and beat all but an M-class Production shooter in an otherwise talented field. With no prior gaming experience. And yes-- he switched hands several times.

Training with him shortly there after, I was pushed to do the same thing. It's not nearly as hard as you'd imagine-- with no prior practice at it, even. Feels extremely odd with the support (formerly weapon) hand, and the sights will track funky. Obviously, it'll take some time getting used to.

If you genuinely feel that it will benefit your shooting, I see no reason why you shouldn't switch. I'm blessed to be righty-righty dominant, but you can guarantee if I weren't, I'd give it some consideration. If it seemed like my cross dominance was a problem that was best fixed in that regard, I'd go for it and not give it a second thought.

You can really and truly train around anything, if you're dedicated enough. Being smart about how you go about it can severely shorten the learning curve, too.

[JKSNIPER]

Left eye dominant and shoot righty.

Never been an issue for me.

I didn't even know my left was the dominant eye until I was well into shooting competitively.

I know several people who perform one skill or most skills righty but for certain things they use their left hand.

My son is right handed but he's played hockey lefty since he first started.

Friend of mine, Don, shoots pistol righty and rifle lefty.

For him and my son when asked about why they do that one thing lefty they both gave the same answer "It feels right this way."

If you feel better having the pistol in your left hand then do it that way.

Otherwise I wouldn't put too much stock in worrying about being cross eye dominant...its the same as guys who shoot scoped rifle worrying about parallax when they're only 50 yards from the target...it don't mean all that much.

JK

[oneadam12]

My son swapped over, but had not been shooting very long. It seemed to help him with his accuracy. It took a couple of weeks for his grip to strengthen to what it needed to be and of course learn how to do mag changes. He has never mentioned swapping back.

[underlug]

My son swapped over, but had not been shooting very long. It seemed to help him with his accuracy. It took a couple of weeks for his grip to strengthen to what it needed to be and of course learn how to do mag changes. He has never mentioned swapping back.

Being young is as much of an attribute as speed and attitude

[Joe L]

I'm a little late but I would like to share my experience. I have my strong (right)arm in a sling after shoulder surgery and it will be January before I can shoot with two hands. I am right handed and right eye dominant. Had surgery last week, hit the range last weekend to shoot single hand only weak side. Felt a little clumsy at first, but I have since put over 1000 rounds downrange with a 22 slide on my P226 frame. I am getting there. By January, I should be pretty good out to 25 yards, standing, weak hand only. Hopefully 3" groups. In other words, you can re-train yourself to do almost anything you HAVE to do, but it takes a lot of rounds. I welcomed the challenge and hope that my left index finger slowly catches up with where I was with my right when it became "unavailable". Shooting right hand single hand only while recovering from left side shoulder surgery definitely improved my overall shooting accuracy, and I didn't do nearly the round count since I didn't have the 22 slide then. My left arm is still weak but I can shoot a 22. Tried my X-5 and made it 20 rounds before putting it down yesterday, too heavy for me right now.

I think it took me something like 200 rounds before I could shoot worth a toot, by the way. But the improvement was rapid after that, at least for me.

Joe

It's been a month since I wrote the post above. Still shooting weak hand only, standing, I HAVE learned to shoot 7" groups at 25 yards with both a heavy and a light 9mm pistol. Never bought a left hand holster or tried any transitions but one can definitely learn to shoot fairly well. Learning curve was very similar to learning to shoot strong hand only, which wasn't that long ago for me!

Joe

[West Texas Granny]

I'm a little late but I would like to share my experience. I have my strong (right)arm in a sling after shoulder surgery and it will be January before I can shoot with two hands. I am right handed and right eye dominant. Had surgery last week, hit the range last weekend to shoot single hand only weak side. Felt a little clumsy at first, but I have since put over 1000 rounds downrange with a 22 slide on my P226 frame. I am getting there. By January, I should be pretty good out to 25 yards, standing, weak hand only. Hopefully 3" groups. In other words, you can re-train yourself to do almost anything you HAVE to do, but it takes a lot of rounds. I welcomed the challenge and hope that my left index finger slowly catches up with where I was with my right when it became "unavailable". Shooting right hand single hand only while recovering from left side shoulder surgery definitely improved my overall shooting accuracy, and I didn't do nearly the round count since I didn't have the 22 slide then. My left arm is still weak but I can shoot a 22. Tried my X-5 and made it 20 rounds before putting it down yesterday, too heavy for me right now.

I think it took me something like 200 rounds before I could shoot worth a toot, by the way. But the improvement was rapid after that, at least for me.

Joe

It's been a month since I wrote the post above. Still shooting weak hand only, standing, I HAVE learned to shoot 7" groups at 25 yards with both a heavy and a light 9mm pistol. Never bought a left hand holster or tried any transitions but one can definitely learn to shoot fairly well. Learning curve was very similar to learning to shoot strong hand only, which wasn't that long ago for me!

Joe

Well here is hopping the shoulder is better. Still working on shooting left handed but recently I got the shotgun bug and as a result I'm spending less time on the pistol range. Having a blast shoot trap and skeet.

Did find a Kimber in 45acp that really fit and felt great in my left hand. It's on my list to acquire but a trap gun has moved to the top of the list.

[NHGunowner]

I'm new to action type shooting. I am also right handed, left eye, Though fairly ambidexterous. Like JKSNIPER mentioned I didn't even realize that fact for many years. All my early experiences were long gun, fired lefty, not even aware. "felt right". In my 20's I started handgun, right handed and it still didn't occur to me that I had 2 trigger fingers for a few years. So now (at 30) I'm starting to practice weak hand, and finding little trouble with trigger control. Need some work on muzzle but I'll get there.

Do most long gun shooters shoulder towards the dominant eye? I shoot decent from right shoulder but pulling my left eye over the stock vs using my non dominant eye kinda a wash.

[Joe L]

A little more of an update on my experience switching strong sides.

I had to shoot left hand only for 6 weeks while right side strong arm was in a sling. I shot 4000 rounds weak hand only during that time. Yesterday I was able to go to the range and shoot strong arm with a normal two handed grip. Funny thing happened. I could shoot more accurately left handed! And I felt completely comfortable shooting left hand, left hand only, left hand with right hand support, left hand from a rest. I shot equal number of rounds from both sides and felt very comfortable either way. It was like starting over to get to this comfort level, but I can conclude that, yes, it is possible to switch to what would have remained your weak arm if you have to. It may take 4-6 weeks and several thousand rounds to do so, but, yes, anyone could do it, if I did it.

This is fun.

Joe