Long Gun And Non-Dominant Eye

B

BradS

New member
I am both right eye and right hand dominant and have spent over 31 years training with a long gun and shotgun . Since retiring, I have endured 5 surgeries in an attempt to save my right eye after a detached retina with no success.
Has anyone experienced a similar situation and succeeded in learning to shoulder and shoot a long gun with their non-dominant shoulder and eye ?
At the current age of 68, I am not feeling very optimistic.
Should I just be content with being able to shoot a handgun ?
 
Rifle is going to have to relearned left-handed.
Shotgun is simply 'pointed along the barrel' with both eyes anyway.
No change.

(Right-Handed/Left eye strongly dominant here :mad: ;) )
 
You'll still have to learn how to shoot a shotgun lefty. Both eyes should be open with any firearm. Rifle, handgun, or shotgun. But the eye behind the barrel still has to be dominate. If you're holding a shotgun against the right shoulder and are left eye dominate you are not looking down the top of the barrel, but along one side.

My brother is right-handed, but left eye dominate. We figured this out when he was in his 20's and he had to re-learn how to shoot from the other side. There was a learning curve and some frustration at the beginning. But he did master it and once mastered he quickly became a much better shot than he had been trying to shoot from the wrong side.

Age doesn't matter, it just takes time and dedication to practice. Dry fire practice is your friend. If you still have SOME vision in your right eye it is still going to be the dominate eye. You'll probably have to use a patch over it to force your brain to use the image of your left eye.

And I wouldn't worry about trying to acquire left handed guns. My brother tired that and finally decided shooting a right handed gun from the left side wasn't that hard.
 
Strong left-eye dominant here,
Still shoot skeet (and everything else right handed)

Shotgun's no big deal right handed at all.
Just align things along barrel as they align naturally -- left-eyed.
 
More than one way to skin this cat. ??!~!!!

Should I just be content with being able to shoot a handgun ?
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I had to look at your name as I thought you might be a fella, I use to work with. He shoots trap and skeet went blind in his dominant right eye. He had a special stock made with enough "offset" that worked well enough for him. Have not spoken to him lately but understand he's still busting birds. .... :)

Good Luck and;
Be Safe !!!
 
I've seen a couple left eye dominant right handed top ranked competitive rifle shooters who offset the sights near 2 inches left. Windage zeros at short ranges were about 1 MOA left from long range zeros.
 
Teaching marksman ship at an NROTC unit I don't recall ever seeing more cross-eye dominant folks in one setting.

We would keep them on their strong-arm side and tape up the dominant eye portion of their glasses. Seemed to work, and we only had them for a week at a time so trying to get their weak side arms to learn new tricks didn't seem like possible in that amount of time.


This got me thinking though; back in the early 2000s we did some cross training with Dutch Marines and their under barrel grenade launchers had a prism sight that was designed to look into with your left eye while shouldering the rifle on the right. Has anything like that trickled down into the US shooting market?
 
Hey Rob,
I would prefer shouldering the AR on my strong (right)side , but not certain if that is doable. My dominant right eye has had the lens removed during one of the surgeries, which allows all the ambient light to flood the eye. I can see light and shadows, but that's about it.
Were the NROTC members able to remove the tape on their glasses and shoot with their non-dominant eye ?
I have an Aimpoint red dot affixed to my AR. When shouldering on the "weak" (left) shoulder the dot does not align with the iron sights. Would the Aimpoint need to be sighted for my left eye ?
 
mehavey said:
Strong left-eye dominant here,
Still shoot skeet (and everything else right handed)

Shotgun's no big deal right handed at all.
Just align things along barrel as they align naturally -- left-eyed.
Click to expand...
My normal advice would be to learn to shoot left handed. However, I have a friend who's left eye - right hand dominant and he has somehow learned to compensate and is a good shot with a shotgun right handed.
 
A good friend of mine is blind in his right eye and uses his left eye from a right hand stance. What he does is he removes the adjustable comb from the rifle then lays his head across the comb. Looks odd as heck but he shoots both F class and benchrest with winning scores. If you don't have rifles with adjustable combs you could have a good woodworker cut the comb down to where it would work.
 
I have replaced the iron sights on my patrol rifle with Troy HK style battle sights and ordered an
EOTech red dot to replace my Aimpoint. Hoping this change will aid in transitioning to left hand shooting.
 
Left eye dominate right handed shooter here. Yes, I shoot everything right handed and have trained my right eye to handle same. However, if I haven’t shot for a while i revert back to left eye domination. So, I have to train again, which is no biggie.
 
I remember seeing some left eye dominant/right hand shooters learning at Paris Island back in the 80's. The PMI's had them wearing eye patches over their left eyes. I'm not sure if that is the current technique, or if there are other techniques that would suit some better than others.
 
Likely !!!

I'm not sure if that is the current technique, or if there are other techniques that would suit some better than others.
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I'm sure it is as I've seen it, in use and some Veterans have related this to me.

There is a picture out there of Binladin, shooting an AK, from the kneeling position and he has a scarf covering one eye. To me, it suggests that he was cross-eye dominant. Makes no difference now but just might support your reply.

Be Safe !!!!!
 
"I have an Aimpoint red dot affixed to my AR. When shouldering on the "weak" (left) shoulder the dot does not align with the iron sights. Would the Aimpoint need to be sighted for my left eye ?"

I think you might have to resight it in for the left eye. Many years ago I taught myself to shoot left handed. Came in handy when I was on a stand and the deer came on on the right side. Made for less movement getting on target. My rifle was sighted in for my right eye and shooting off the right shoulder. After the sight in I shot a few rounds and they were hitting about two to three inches off to one side. The was with a scope. Whether there would be more or less difference is something you'll have to determine at the range. My thoughts are there will be some difference.
Paul B.
 
Thanks y'all, replies are much appreciated.
I am considering an eye patch, as my right eye is basically useless. Think an appointment with the optometrist is in order .
 
In the OLD days, custom gunmakers would fit a "cross eye dominant" stock if requested. This stock appears "bent" (cast off/cast on) and allows for putting the action (sights) closer to the dominant eye with the butt on other shoulder.

Looks awkward, but does work.

Not easily applicable to some modern designs though.
 
A guy on another forum posted some pictures of his wife's rifle. She was right handed, but strongly left-eye-dominant. Shooting left-handed was not an option since it was a bullpup. He had machined an adapter that offset a 1.5x scope a full two inches to the left.

It looked peculiar, but he said she could shoot it just fine.

Some of the scope mount companies used to make offset scope mounts for top-ejecting leverguns and a few military surplus so stripper clips could be used. Probably not enough offset to help, but if you find some pictures it might give you an idea. I'm pretty sure I've seen some large-offset Picatinny adapters for the "tactical cup holder" crowd, but I have no idea where.
 
BradS said:
I am both right eye and right hand dominant and have spent over 31 years training with a long gun and shotgun . Since retiring, I have endured 5 surgeries in an attempt to save my right eye after a detached retina with no success.
Has anyone experienced a similar situation and succeeded in learning to shoulder and shoot a long gun with their non-dominant shoulder and eye ?
At the current age of 68, I am not feeling very optimistic.
Should I just be content with being able to shoot a handgun ?
Click to expand...

Go ahead and switch sides, even though it feels unnatural. My right eye is almost useless, and I had to switch sides during Army basic training.

That was a long time ago and it’s worked all of that time. It’s hard to do, but it can be done. I shoot a pistol with my right hand, and that took some adjustments too. But it worked itself out.
 
Maybe you could get a picatinny 45° offset rail and mount your sight to the left so it's closer to your left eye, while still being able to shoulder it on your right side. It's what I'd try before going full on lefty.
 
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