Training to Use NON-Dominant Eye

[YukonGlocker]

You don't need left-hand long-guns. It's a non-issue to me. Anything non-semi-automatic will be fine. Any semi-automatic, just ensure it ejects sideways or slightly forward (the vast majority do), and you'll be fine. The AR ejects just fine for lefties, excepting the early ones without a brass deflector. But yes, a .22LR is great for extended practice sessions.

 

[Old rookie]

Would like some feedback on an issue I've discovered...My LEFT eye is dominant, and I've done all practice, drills, and training with my pistol using my LEFT eye for sight picture/aiming, etc. Now using my rifles/shotguns, since right-handed, I use my RIGHT eye for sighting, scope, red dot, etc. and my accuracy is good enough for where I'm at.

Question: Is there anything to be gained by "forcing" my RIGHT eye to be the one I use for all sighting, including pistols? Anyone with any similar stories or situations, please share your experiences. Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Shadowrider]

Just move the gun a couple inches left. Problem solved. (I'm assuming your are talking about handguns)

 

[NightShade]

I know of a couple ways to force eye dominance. You can squint your left eye slightly or place a piece of semitransparent tape on a pair of sunglasses or regular glasses on the upper half of the lens or just wear an eye patch on your left eye while awake for a week or two. Then it's practice, practice, practice. You may have to continue doing things from time to time to keep the dominance to stay but it should only be needed every so often if you notice a shift back to your left eye for dominance. You may still have to squint at times if you use that method or the tape method but the patch should be able to force the shift to last much longer.

The major gain that I can think of is better shooting capability if you ever have an eye injury. It's a good way to be able to stay up and shooting and still be accurate. Never know what may happen that will not be a permanent injury but cause vision problems in one eye.

 

[okieshooter777]

thats funny, i am right handed, and left eye dominate. as a kid i use to even shoot rifles right handed but lean over to use my left eye. i now shoot rifles with my right eye, but still catch myself using my left for pistols. im accurate tho.
I have shot many of deer that come up on my right side and turn left handed, so sometimes having left eye dominate helps my hunting..lol

 

[NightShade]

I am an oddball where I have a dominance shift. I naturally prefer to shoot right hand right eye but my vision will shift back and forth when I aim. In a steel challenge match I just close my left eye so I can go as fast as possible but otherwise I tend to squint my left and have done the tape trick as well. I have tried shooting left eye right hand and I have the same problem where my dominance shifts back to my right for no reason...

 

[YukonGlocker]

great discussion...threads merged

 

[RustedBeef]

Update for me:

Been practicing with a Mosin carbine I picked up left handed for a couple weeks now. It's not as bad as I thought especially since I can work the bolt without breaking the grip too much. Awkward to hold steady still but at least I can see the sights now. I always forget to close my left eye when I'm shooting right handed though, so I guess I need to work more on that.

 

[okeydoke]

no more than you can get done with a Mosin, I doubt that it matters. you can learn to use the non-master eye. I did so, and it took about a year of dryfiring to accomplish the task.