Shooting with left eye

S

spthomas

New member
I was always a right handed shooter. Right handed, right eye dominant, all my guns are right handed. Then, I got a tooth infection and it went to my system and eyes and I went blind. A year later I see well with my left eye not I do not see with my right eye.

I shoot handguns as well as ever. I still shoot right handed, but my brain and left eye work well to line up the sights sights, and I really don't notice the difference. But rifles and shotguns are a different matter. I can't do cheek weld and sight right handed, since my right eye doesn't work. So do I try to still hold right handed and try somehow to see sights from my left eye? I think I need to teach myself to shoot left handed. But then do I need left handed rifles? I have an AR I never shot. Do I need to find a left handed AR because of contrs and the ejection port throwing cases at me? I do assume bolt guns need to be left handed.

I've not tried to shoot any long guns yet.

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I had cataract surgery that went bad on my right eye but lucky for me I have always been a southpaw. I was real good with my right hand I venture to say about 85% to 90%. which was good enough to beat my brothers all the time and they shot right handed.

I reached this level of competency simply by practicing a lot on every range trip. I would make it a point to shoot at a minimum a 100 rounds more if time allowed. In order to bring the cost down I shot 22lr. The concept is the same as with any other type of caliber as far as fundamentals go. At the end of my training session I would shoot only 2 magazines if .45 acp as the 1911 is my CC gun. By doing it this way muscle memory remembers the recoil and where to aim with the firearm.
 
I am left handed/Southpaw as well. I shoot right handed rifles with dominant left eye. Cheek weld left. I grew up shooting right handed rifles/bolt. You should be able to adjust, it will just take some practice. I suggest finding yourself a bench, Bullsbag to cradle the rifle, cup of coffee and just practice a thousand times.


Sorry to hear about the infection. I have a floater myself so I can imagine your predicament.

.02

David :)
 
I see several shooters at my range shooting from the left side with RH rifles. It's possible but you will just have to try and see if you can adjust to the change.

My father lost an eye due to infection back in the late 50's or early 60's, he still drove everyday and played golf. He did have trouble judging distance tho. My eye dr wants to do the cataract surgery on both eyes in the fall, and I'm not looking forward to it at all.

Hope you can adjust to the other side so to speak.
 
Not that hard to shoot from the left side. You just have to make up your mind and do it. I can’t stand LH guns.
 
I'm right handed but left eye dominant , have poor vision in my right . I enjoy benchrest shooting with a right hand bolt , Rem.700 . Shoot hand gun right handed, no big deal just practice. That is a bummer with the infection , not a good thing to tough it out in some cases. Be Well

Chris
 
I'm right handed and left-eye dominant. Although I do shoot right handed and mostly right eye'd for rifles, I do have a couple of guns, including an AR that is set up have the scope using my left eye while holding right handed.

You'll need is an off-set rail. Below are a couple links to 45 degree offset rails. There are 90 degree offsets and 180 degree extensions that will allow you to move the scope left by a good inch.

https://www.amazon.com/Profile-Tact...1&keywords=offset+rail&qid=1587955441&sr=8-11

https://smile.amazon.com/NcStar-Wea...1&keywords=offset+rail&qid=1587955507&sr=8-44

Good luck!
 
I was taught to shoot with both eyes open no matter the distance from the get go of my childhood. And re-instructed again in my late teens to follow my Pappy's advice .~~~ And still do.
Just a opinion.
If a dominant eye shooter hasn't been taught by a instructor early in life how to overcome such habit. No doubt as time slips away the habit becomes a whole lot harder to correct.
 
Sure Shot Mc Gee said:
I was taught to shoot with both eyes open no matter the distance from the get go of my childhood. And re-instructed again in my late teens to follow my Pappy's advice .~~~ And still do.
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Several top ranked competitive shooters aim with both eyes open. But the non-aiming eye has a blinder in front of it so the sight picture is free of visual disturbances by overlapping images from the off sight eye. Their aim is not distracted and they shoot smaller groups centered on the point of aim.

That myth has been around for years.
 
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I'm right-handed but my left eye is dominant. My dad was also right-handed but his left eye was also dominant. After some target shooting right-handed with the new .22 my dad gave me, he said I should try shooting left-handed. I immediately shot much more accurately left-handed. I'm 73 now and have been shooting rifles left handed since I learned my left eye was dominant. I have also hunted with shotguns, center-fire rifles and compound bows left-handed successfully for many years.

Edited to add: I shoot my handguns right-handed but with my dominate left eye dominating the view of the sight and target.
 
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Had similar issue happen to my right eye retina problem then glaucoma. Had surgery doing lot better but still not back to full vision but I thank God for being as good as it is. I have always been left handed right eye dominant but now I had to learn to shoot left handed. Like you said pistol not bad I shoot right handed left eye. My wife blocked off my right shooting glasses lens to force my left eye to take over. Rifle takes practice cheek weld takes getting used to. Keep at it will get better. I was able to shot about 70% at 500 yard gong Saturday not bad it’s getting better and better maybe get to 90% plus someday. Funny note my oldest son is right handed and shoots left like me mixed up
 
non-dominant

My eye dominance changed from right to left due to illness after 50+ years of right eye dominance shooting.
As others mentioned, handgun shooting is not that difficult to adjust to with practice. Red dots have been most advantageous for me. I turn my head slightly to my right while using my dominant right hand with my now-dominant left eye.
Rifle shooting is accomplished with scopes.
Shotgun is another matter entirely. The best way to continue shot gunning is to learn to shoot from the other side. Right hand/right eye, etc. Your eye is your rear sight and cross dominance does not work.
Good luck!
 
If my memory serves me right, I've only fired left-handed with a rifle in my life. It happened one day when I climbed a tree stand to rest from walking a long trail loop. I just laid my slinged, .270 Rem, 700 down on the tree stand platform and sat down. Then I decided to try my deer call, so blew it and the woods came alive about 70 yards up the hill to my left.

A nice buck ran towards me and went by right behind me to my right, just behind the tree the stand was fastened to, and stopped about 35 yards from me in a little clearing where two woods roads intersected.

The rifle was in my hands, left-handed, and I pointed it at the deer, but the sling prevented my trigger finger from going into the trigger guard. After a couple of tries, I flicked the sling away with my left hand, but the buck saw that movement and bolted.

The left index finger found the trigger about the time the buck was flat-out running directly away from me. The rifle was up, left handed, the crosshairs found the deer's spine, and I quickly squeezed the trigger.

The buck somersaulted, ending up about 35 yards down a narrow woods road, then tried to get up, but had no control of his hindquarters. I swapped hands, worked the action from the right side and put a killing shot in it.

I don't remember ever shooting left-handed with a hunting rifle and was surprised that I could hit anything, and just sat there, drinking-in the excitement of the experience, and being thankful for the result. That was the most exciting time I've had hunting/harvesting a deer.
 
Went legally blind in right eye a couple of years ago. Transitioned rifle shooting to left handed. Was a little difficult at first but have become used to it and shoot well. No problem with a right handed AR shooting left handed.

Still shoot revolvers and pistols mostly right handed. Became ambidextrous with handguns about 10 years ago when I lost the use of my right hand for almost a year due to a motorcycle accident. I practice w/left hand some every range session to maintain ability.
 
Depending on the stock, I used to shoot right handed an left eyed with a peep sight... air gun and .22. I would not try it with something that kicks hard.

My problem my eye dominance isn’t right OR left...it’s equal. When I get tired, the dominance drifts back and forth.

Now I have a little circle of scotch tape on the left eye of my shooting glasses so the target from my left eye is blurry and crisp in my right eye, and both eyes see the same amount of light so my pupils are acting properly. (A black binder can mess with your eyes because your brain... yadda yadda.)

Just try laying your head across the stock and see if you can make it work. It just might.
 
lefteye said:
I'm right-handed but my left eye is dominant. My dad was also right-handed but his left eye was also dominant. After some target shooting right-handed with the new .22 my dad gave me, he said I should try shooting left-handed. I immediately shot much more accurately left-handed. I'm 73 now and have been shooting rifles left-handed since I learned my left eye was dominant. I have also hunted with shotguns, centerfire rifles, and compound bows left-handed successfully for many years.

Edited to add: I shoot my handguns right-handed but with my dominant left eye dominating the view of the sight and target.
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EXACTLY the same for me.
 
Sell your current Collection.

Offset mounts, cripple stocks are wonky

You can learn to shot lefthanded. There are plenty of LH rifles/shotguns out there now. No excuses

Dont shot longguns from the wrong shoulder, it is slower, controls like safeties and such are not correct.
And IF something goes wrong the ejection port is right infront of your face
 
Pachmayr used to make a side-mounted Pivot Mount that would allow a scope to move quite wide to the left. Weaver made one also but it may not have moved so much, as I remember, but might work, if you could find one. Either mount might allow you to Hold the rifle right handed, but using your left eye.

When I was younger, I mounted a scope on my Ruger handgun so I could use either scope or iron sights. That might work on some rifles, but would be kinda weird.
 
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