Changing Eye Dominance, Why?

[Larrys1911]

Hello all,

I have been reading about changing my dominant eye (I'm right handed left eye dominate)

I have seen all the info on tape and dot and all, but I have yet to read WHY I would go through the trouble to do this..

Are my draw times going to improve?  Tgt transitions?

Should I even be concerned?  Its never bothered me before I just hear some much talk about doing it I wondered if I was missing something!

TIA

Larry P

[JFD]

I had the same situation and managed to get my right eye back into action in a few months.

I found that the biggest problem with the left eye being dominant is that my natural pointing ability is wasted.  This translates into worse performance at speed.

Point your right index finger at a spot across the room using that dominant left eye.  Now close the left eye and you should see that you're actually pointing that finger about a foot to the left of the spot.  The right eye is "zeroed" for the right hand, so that's where you're really pointing.  Imagine your gun taking the place of that finger...Point shooting will be most difficult when the gun is pointed a foot to the left of where you're looking.

Any error in the sight picture with the left eye is going to result in a worse hit than the same amount of error using the right eye.

Your grip is also likely cocked to the side instead of being lined up with your right arm.  Recoil recovery can suffer and the gun doesn't come up on target as fast.

While the above looks like I'm stating facts, those are only facts in my particular case.  

I do know that I started out shooting in an informal match each month.  For 4 months I could place no higher than 12th place overall.  I managed to get my right eye working and with that change I won the next two (last two for the year) overall matches, and won the overall championship the following year.  Leaving my left eye dominant would have resulted in me still farting around in the middle of the pack.

I had never noticed the left eye was a problem at the range where I could always take careful aim, but the first time I opened door to activate a disappearing target, it was obvious that something was wrong.

[Larrys1911]

JFD,

Thanks for the input, it apparently doenst bother me as much.  I have gone from IDPA SS to IDPA Master in 1 yr.

The reason I asked is everyone seems to be so stuck on being LED and RH.

I know that I have one Friend that it REALLY bothers but I have two others that are rated Master one IPSC and one IDPA

I dont Know that I have a problem. I know I CAN change it but will it really help me if I am having no "noticable" ill effects from it???

Larry P

[Luiz Francisco Ramos]

JFD

The things you said are advantages sound logical.

Let me in doubt about trying do the same...

I am crossed too. RH - LE, like you was...

How did you do the change?

What is the method ?

Don´t you loss velocity in the begining of the process?

Now, like Larry, I am acostumated, but I would like to try...

[benos]

Larry,

If you don't have any evidence of a problem, I wouldn't worry about it.

be

[Larrys1911]

Thanks Brian,

Thats what I was looking for.

The only thing I can say is that I am "unaware" of any problem that it is causing!  If you know no other way its kinda hard to know there is a problem.  

I guess I will not worry about it - then I have an excuse for not being any better than I am!

Larry P

[Duane Thomas]

Just point the gun straight ahead in your normal index. Turn your head one or two inches to the right to bring your left eye in line with the sights. The fact you're using your left eye instead of right will not change where the gun's pointed. I've been doing this for, oh, 18 years - and I do okay.

[Mayonaise]

This is discussed on the third tape from Matt Burkett with BE.  I have a couple of novice shooters coming out to our matches.    Both of these guys move their heads more than just a couple of inches and it certainly burns time.  Matt made the best suggestion I've seen, move the gun an inch or so to the left instead if moving your head to align the sigts.  Makes sense to me.  

[JohnK]

I'm an O.D. You really can't "switch" dominance. It may cause you more problems than it solves. I am not a competitive shooter, so the techniques that the masters teach to get around the problem would be the way to go.

I kinda have an opposite problem, I am right side dominent to the "nth" degree. Used to play handball (anybody remember that) with only the right glove. I have trained myself to shoot a handgun left handed with a modest degree of success, but I'll never win a match that way.

[Duane Thomas]

The problem I see with moving the gun to the side instead of moving your head is that it totally screws up your NPA, and how the gun tracks in recoil. How can you get recoil energy flowing equally down both arms if you don't have the gun centered on your body? And if you START with your head turned, how can that "burn time"? Enquiring minds want to know.

[benos]

You definitely must train long enough so your head/eye will be positioned perfectly behind your sights when your pistol hits your NPA.

I don't think your pistol being a half-inch or so to the left or right of your theoretical NPA is anything to worry about. After all, your NPA  includes your head. In reality, the most important thing is neutrality. If your entire upper body is in perfect equilibrium, the gun will track perfectly.

Try this - assume your normal position, then shift the gun about two or three inches to the left while keeping the sights pointed relatively downrange. Take a second to mentally scan your arms and grip, allowing everything to settle in neutrally. Then start firing shots into the backstop, just letting the gun return, settle, and fire on its own, (since you can't aim), and observe the hits in the dirt.

It doesn't really matter "how" the gun tracks, as long as it tracks along the same path each time.

This is not to say that sound mechanical position is not important. Keeping everything as centered as possible is not bad. I guess we're lucky our heads are on the centerline of our body. :-) Wow, that's it! Three hundred years from now the top pistol shooters will have evolved an eyeball in the center of the head, right above the nose. Think of the potential - not only for a perfect NPA, but for left/right target acquisitions as well!

be

[Duane Thomas]

But then it'll turn out that's not everyone's dominant eye - and the Enosverse' far future spiritual successor will be getting questions on "How to Make My Center Eye Dominant?"

[B.J. Norris]

No Duane, Brian will always be here in spirit, always teaching the next line of shooters The Egret......

[JFD]

Personally I don't think that my left eye had always been dominant.  I practiced enough with my left eye closed so that I first corrected the habit of aligning the gun with my left eye.  Then I found that if I was looking at the side of the gun onstead of the sights, my left eye was taking over.  A quick blink of that eye and the right  eye was able to kick in.  It took about 4 months of practice before I was able to apply this in a match, then quit worrying about it altogether.  I do refuse to sight with my left eye when shooting weak hand, don't want to get that started again.

If you aren't having any problems, and your results are where you want them, then what the heck.  Leave well enough alone.

From years of golf I learned the last thing you want to do is some unnatural thing like having to tilt/cock your head before performing what should be a relatively natural movement.  You may now be looking where you're pointing, but it can't be as solid under pressure as fixing the eye problem.  Reality could strike one day and I'm not sure if I'd remember to contort before engaging a real bad guy. That's why I think someone who hasn't already ingrained such body manipulations should give changing which eye is dominant a try.  I've known several people who have trained a particular eye and know it's quite possible for at least some people.

Again, I can only speak for myself and the few folks who pushed me into trying it.

[pimp]

All I can say is that I have been shooting almost six years and my USPSA percentage is 94.429% I have always been left  eye dominant and I shoot right handed I don't cock anything I draw the gun and it comes up in front of my left eye naturally ,I personally think I shoot faster left to right  because my right eye kinda leads the way , it feels like it anyways but I am a little slower shooting right to left . I do shoot with both eyes open though .The only thing I can think of that bothers me is I can see my brass ejecting some times, but that would stand to reason if the gun is infront of my left eye and it ejects out the right side .........???!!!I think winning is a little more than mechanics or techniques  (I don't think I spelled that last  word correctly!!!!!!)   ....................Later

[Duane Thomas]

Actually I've noticed that on the El Prez, when I'm doing it well, I can see the brass coming out of the gun. This must mean I need to keep both eyes open to do it really well, now that I think about it. My all-time best El Prez, in case you were curious: 58 points in 5.25 seconds. Of course, I had to warm up for 250 rounds first, and have Travis Tomasie standing right there telling me how to do it. Not exactly "on demand" performance there.

If I can see the shell casings coming out of the gun in a continuous stream, with only a few inches between the casings, and the same amount of space between all six casings in a sweep, I know I'm doing the El Prez right.

[Loves2Shoot]

Duane, I only have one eye to shoot with and I can see my brass coming out also, it doesn't take two eyes to do that. I think that it is more of a focus issue, when you focus hard you see "The Matrix" style.

I have no dominate eye and 20/20 vision, so I have to take one out of the equation (a flip down patch). It is the ONLY way I can see 1 sight and 1 target (it took me 3 years to figure this out.) Everybody is different, but it can be frustrating as heck trying to figure it out, good luck.

(Edited by Loves2Shoot at 9:54 am on Dec. 19, 2002)

[KevinB]

About this time last year, I put up a post about my being left eye dominant and shooting right handed (the post is still there under “Shooting technique questions, Handgun –Left eyes right hand”).  I would compensate by canting the gun over to my left eye while holding it in my right hand, but I was unhappy with that.  My recoil path was wildly inconsistent and I couldn't produce any kind of accuracy at all (at speed) with reproducible results.  I also had started shooting long guns a lot more and didn’t want to switch.

I spent many, many years in karate, and it taught me that keeping my wrists straight was the only way to deliver maximum power since energy seeks the path of least resistance.  With the “break” in my wrist, I couldn’t control anything.  I was left with the choice of either changing to shoot left-handed or trying to make my right eye my shooting eye.  I could have tried tilting my head, but at speed I would get confused and I coudn't tell which eye the gun was in front of.  I opted to take all of 2002 and shoot exclusively with my left eye taped so that my right eye would have to take over.  It worked!  The sights just line up naturally with my right eye now, even though for all other things I’m still left-eye dominant.  I’ll probably shoot my major matches this year with tape on the left eye just to be safe, but my goal is to be 100% confident by 2004.