Eye Cross Dominance - Best Answer?

[pjb45]

I have done almost every combination possible.

For years I closed my left eye and sighted with my right. Then for years used my left for sighting. Now I just shut my left eye. My match performance has improved greatly but not because of the eye issue but from first class instruction.

My classifier scores are almost the same using the left or right eye.

[diehli]

If you don't have any issues with your eyes competing for dominance, just shoot.

[theycallmeingot]

I think I asked this same question before, and BE recommended tape over the top of the left eye. I put scotch tape (highly translucent) over the top portion of the left lense every match, and it works for me. The only hard part is remembering now that I don't have to close the left eye. It really completely changed the way I play the game.

[Xander]

I think I asked this same question before, and BE recommended tape over the top of the left eye. I put scotch tape (highly translucent) over the top portion of the left lense every match, and it works for me. The only hard part is remembering now that I don't have to close the left eye. It really completely changed the way I play the game.

scotch tape or lip balm are always on my range bag

[Youngeyes]

Just saw the new Blue Press with the article by Duane Thomas. The photos show that both he and BE are right handed but left eye dominant. Duane does seem to partially close the right eye. Maybe this helps break the dominance. BE has eyes wide open but has the sights lined up with his left eye. I guess all us "greats" have cross dominance and are good looking.

[Chris iliff]

Yep I agree, just look at my avatar.

[ACC]

I'm left eye dominant and right handed and I use the tape with a little twist.

I didn't want to put tape on my glasses because it was a pain to clean off.

To solve the problem, I use clear Grafix Cling Vinyl and put the clear tape on the cling vinyl.

Now I can easily add or remove the cling vinyl with no residue from the tape.

The ease of removal allows me to experiment with both eyes with no blurring or blurring either eye.

It is available an most craft stores or the internet and inexpensive.

[zanthor]

I'm new to the game and far from an expert, but at 20 my right eye was dominant and I had no problems obtaining a good sight picture with both eyes open. Now I'm 40 and much to my surprise my left eye is slightly dominant. As little as a blink can flip my sight picture back and forth between eyes, which proved to be problematic. I heard someone talking about eye dominance and they suggested chapstick, and I've been using it since with great results.

I put a smear in the top right corner of my left eye which stops me from obtaining a sight picture but still gives me a great field of vision. After I am done shooting a tissue wipes it right off without any evidence it was there.

[jailer252]

I am right handed and cross eye dominant. Funny thing, I shoot with both eyes open placing the gun up in front of my left eye slightly. I run green F/O fronts on all my guns so I only notice in videos.

[DavidMarlow]

I know this is kinda old, but another thing to try for cross dominance is to cant the top of the weapon a few degrees inboard until your strong eye picks up the sights. By bringing the whole weapon over to where it's in front of your dominant eye, you throw your muscles out of alignment to really manage recoil and make fast follow-up shots. If you simply cant the weapon slightly, your forearms can actually help control the weapon. At closer ranges, 15 meters and less or so, you can still aim center mass and get your hits. At longer ranges, you may want to offset your point of aim slightly. If you are shooting right handed, aim slightly lower and to the right, go low and left if you are left handed.

Every shooter is going to deal with cross dominance at some point, whether it's a SHO/WHO stage in competition or training to shoot WHO in the event your dominant hand is injured.

[diehli]

I know this is kinda old, but another thing to try for cross dominance is to cant the top of the weapon a few degrees inboard until your strong eye picks up the sights. By bringing the whole weapon over to where it's in front of your dominant eye, you throw your muscles out of alignment to really manage recoil and make fast follow-up shots.

You might, but I certainly don't. In fact, as far as muscle alignment goes, I'd say the cross-dominant shooter could have an advantage as the slight break required in the dominant wrist and the slight straightening of the support wrist causes a redistribution of leverage in the correct direction. That is, we want the support hand doing the majority of the recoil control so that the dominant hand can relax and manipulate the trigger.

Ultimately, it's all theory and speculation. Get fit, work on grip strength, and just figure out what works for you. If you're strongly cross-dominant, grip it and rip it.

[h4444]

IMO, the "best answer": Experiment till the cows come home and find out what works best for you.

be

Ding Ding Ding.

I'm in the same boat. I'm naturally left handed, learned everything right handed. Often kidded my Dad that if he'd taught me how to throw a baseball left handed, I'd be a millionaire right now. LOL...

Anyway, I did the scotch tape thing for a while and ditched it. It worked great while shooting, but the other 99% of the time it drove me nuts when I wasn't shooting and I hated switching glasses all the time.

I tried switching to lefty,,,,that lasted not even a whole local match.

Finally, I went back to something really cheap. I dry fired like mad learning to squint just a smidge more with my left eye to force the right one to do the work and slowly got to where I didn't have to squint as much. It came with training really, you can do this in dry fire and not cost a dime, not to mention all the other nice benefits dry fire can bring.

I actually kind of like the whole being left handed but learning to shoot right handed. I can shoot really well with my left hand, it just feel like a fish out of water trying to reload and such from a left handed setup. So, weak hand stages don't worry me as much these days.

[CDRGlock]

When I was just getting started in shooting, I never realized I was Cross-eye dominant. I'm right handed and left eye dominant. I always thought something was wrong with the gun. Anyways, I was shooting with a friend and he figured out my problem. I haven't had any issues ever since. I had LASIK in 2010 and my dominant eye is now corrected for distance and my right eye is for near vision. It has further improved my ability to shoot both handguns and long guns.

[t0066jh]

I learned this from my eye Doctor, a Master class shooter. Try new glasses. Dominant eye focused on front sight. Non dominant eye on distance. Put the glasses on 1/2 hour before shooting to let your eyes adjust.

Now, focus on the target, draw your gun and watch the crystal clear front sight pop up in front of you.

It works for me and many others at our Range, Rio Salado, Mesa, AZ, where all of the best shooters come to compete.

PS. I'm not one of the best shooters.

Joe

[Ricky316]

I am right eye dominant and shoot left handed I just squint right eye slightly.

[E K]

I learned this from my eye Doctor, a Master class shooter. Try new glasses. Dominant eye focused on front sight. Non dominant eye on distance. Put the glasses on 1/2 hour before shooting to let your eyes adjust.

Now, focus on the target, draw your gun and watch the crystal clear front sight pop up in front of you.

It works for me and many others at our Range, Rio Salado, Mesa, AZ, where all of the best shooters come to compete.

PS. I'm not one of the best shooters.

Joe

Hmmm! Any issues with headaches?

[CocoBolo]

The short answer. Shoot Open Division..

[surfmaster]

Second that.

The short answer. Shoot Open Division..

[Vincerama]

+1 on shooting left handed. I got to Master shooting right handed and weak eye. Now I can see (no pun intended) that I will probably have to switch to south paw if I want to make GM. Only now it will be even harder with all the right handed shooting experience. In retrospect, I wish I had just sucked it up and started shootin left handed from the beginning. Now I have a difficult journey ahead of me to switch.

This is from an interview with Dave Seviegny

Q: I heard you shoot right handed but are left eye dominant. Is this true?

A: Yes. It’s not an issue. So long as you put the sights in front of your dominant eye it shouldn’t matter.

Now granted, we are not Dave Seveigny, but it goes to show that left eye, right handedness can still lead to Grand Mastery

The interview source:

http://www.tactical-life.com/online/exclusives/dave-sevigny-interview-faq/

[SeanN]

I'm right-handed and left eye dominant.

I learned (thankfully pretty early on so it was still easy to adjust) to shoot long guns lefty due to my left eye dominance. It has worked out well for me. I shoot handguns righty with my head tilted slightly and the sights brought up to my left eye. It works but sometimes makes gear placement... Interesting.

No idea if this is the "best" way or the most optimal way but it works well for me. Experimentation will probably help you a lot. Good luck!

[Cavy]

I'm cross-dominant (left-eyed, but shoot pistols right-handed). I just line up the sights in front of my left eye...I may also tilt my head slightly, but not much.

+1 same here. I recently got contacts set up to see front sight with left eye and distance with right eye. Then you can wear normal shooting glasses. Sounds wierd but it works.

[SoCalNoMore]

Wow, this is all great info for a newer shooter like myself. You guys must think I am all jacked up with how I shoot. I am left handed and right eye dominate. I shoot pistol left handed, but rifle right handed. Its funny that years ago I never had trouble shooting well with my pistol, but recently I am shooting, well to the right now. It seems I need to retrain my eyes. Got an airsoft setup just for this. We will see how it goes I suppose.

[Wayne45]

Ian,

I've been shooting competition handgun for about 4 years. I too am right handed and left eye dominant. In addition, I began using reading glasses about a year ago and am not comfortable at the computer without them. I use a light 1.25 or 1.5 magnification.

Here's what has worked very well for me. Firstly, I had to teach myself to shoot both eyes open, period. For quite some time I had to fight the tenancy to squint my right eye. That slows you down! Second, I have taught myself to simply turn my head slightly to the right and practice having what I call a pinpoint focus on the front sight with my dominant left eye. That's something that takes a little practice.

Draw and present the gun, pointing your nose around 22.5 degrees right and lock your left eye on the front sight. Pinpoint focus.

Next, I went to my eye doctor and had him write a prescription specifically for my front sight. For me it was fairly mild. I took that to an authorized Rudy Project Optometry store, (if your doctor is not) and had them build me two sets of lenses:

http://www.rudyprojectusa.com/technology_free_form_tek.php

One clear and one set in Racing Red, their most popular shooting lens. I use these whenever I'm shooting open sights. I still prefer to use regular glasses when I'm shooting open, as my focus is more target oriented and I just let the red dot get in the way.

[Ed F]

I am right handed, left eye dominant, my right eye has very bad vision. Two years ago when a friend introduced me to competitive shooting, he pushed me to use my left hand. He was also right handed, left eye dominant. After 17,000 plus rounds down range using my left hand is very second nature to me, but would I do it that way again? I don’t know. On the plus side, shooting weak hand is certainly very easy! On the minus side, left handed holsters are harder to find. Figuring out stages is a bit more challenging when you first start, because there are very few left handers to bounce ideas off of. I sometimes feel stages are more to the right handers advantage…yes I know that should not be the case. And last of all not all guns can be setup (and the extra cost for ambi safeties, etc) for lefties.

Just my two cents.

Ed

[HardChrome]

Practice with it and it will become second nature before you even know it.