Dominant eye?

Cross Dominate

I'm cross-dominate. I'm left-eyed, and shoot right handed (pistol). Rifle, I shoot left-handed (although, I haven't shot a rifle in some 20+ years). I also shoot one-handed-left quite well. It's a fun advantage at IDPA events when you have that stage which requires shooting "support hand only."

I'm actually a left-handed person in day to day life, with strong ambidextrous tendencies. But I shoot right-handed. I also bowl right-handed (200+ average in my hay-day). And I can write equally well with either hand - but different in style - which is really odd and quirky.
 
All my life I have shot right hand-right eye. Eight months ago a mini stroke parylised a muscle in my right eye, giving me double vision. Nothing can be done for it. The right side of my glasses has been taped over so that I can see more or less "normal". I quickly adapted to shooting pistols crosseyed. Rifles are out of the question though and I can't shoot left handed because I don't have a wrist in my left arm due to a steel plate. Simply put, I am Screwed.
 
Hope this comes out right but basically, it's the eye, that works with your dominant hand. preferably, if you are right handed, your right eye should also be the dominant eye ....

This is not always the case. I am right handed but left eye dominant. This makes me prefer to pull the trigger with my left hand. I also shoot a bow left handed. For pretty much everything else I am right handed. I can shoot right hand, right eye, but I am not as accurate and need to close my let eye to do it.

I think the best way to test this is to hold your hand out in front of you with your index finger pointed up and look at the finger. Now close one eye and observe your finger, did it appear to shift? Do the same thing with the other eye. When looking through your non dominant eye you finger will appear to shift right or left. When looking through your dominant eye it will stay the same.
 
I used the finger point trick and it has worked well (i think) to determine dom eye. In my case im right handed and right eyed. Have a buddy who is clearly left handed and right eyed. I normally have no problem shooting acceptable groups with any firearm, he on the other hand tends to make every target look like a shotgun hit it when using a scoped rifle. I shoot everything with both eyes open regardless. Maybe because I was trained to shoot game and not paper.
 
Boogieman, try to get him to shoot right handed. It might feel a little awkward for him at first but he will probably shoot better using his dominant eye and non dominant hand.
 
My wife is cross eyed dominant. she is right handed, but left eye dominant. she is almost ambidextorous and frequently uses her left hand instead of her right hand if it is convenient to do so.

She shoots pistols and rifles right handed... with pistols, she lines up the sights with her left eye. With rifles, she closes her left eye and sights with her non-dominant right eye.
 
I am right handed and right eye dominant. Don't recall how I discovered the eye dominance, I have known it for a long time. Many years ago I learned to shoot pistol with either hand. Right eye left hand works for me. I suppose there is a way to make it work out. For sure either hand can pull a trigger. Play with it and see what you can make work for you.

At This point I have macular degeneration in the left eye. Center vision is about shot. Still good for depth of field and peripheral vision. Kinda the pits, but we live with what we have.
 
Cross Dominant

The cross dominant thing must be more common than I thought. I am also left-eyed/right handed. I agree that it is easier to train your non-dominant hand to work with your dominant eye. I shoot everything left handed, even pool. I still think I am right handed, though.

The pointing and closing one eye was how I always have figured which eye is dominant. I have tried shooting right handed and felt the same way as some others, why bother changing now? I think that it is important to figure out which eye is dominant because for me at least that eye has naturally tried to aim (hence dominant eye I suppose) and it would take some training to get the other eye to do it. Accidents that force you too switch are very unfortunate.

Don't agree with stance is overrated. Watching kids shoot in 4-H and stuff, the stance was very important. That was the biggest trouble my son had in the competitions and practice. When his stance was consistent and proper, his shooting was vastly improved. Archery really reinforces that I think. If your anchor point changes just a little you are way off. That has really helped my rifle shooting, learning proper stances in all positions.
 
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My dominant eye changes....if I mount a shotgun right handed.....my left eye will look at the barrel and if I mount left handed....my right eye will look at the barrel. Some of the tests I test for LEFT EYE dom and others I show RIGHT EYE? I'd rather be cross eyed dom, but no such luck! I am right handed so I tend to shoot shotguns right handed and put a small piece of scotch tape on my left lense to distract that eye and still allow me to keep that eye open for depth perception. Rifle...simple right handed..close my left eye! pistol...I shoot right handed, but close my right eye and use left eye. Drastic improvement in pistol scores by changing from right to left eye.
 
Shotgun cross dominance is a whole different ball game, I believe, since you never look at your sight and only at the target in clay games. Pistol and rifle shooting is very different, is it not, since you sight the target? I suppose shooting SG at stationary targets is more like rifle.

At least I hope cross dominance is less of an issue for pistol as I am about to get into pistols.
 
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