Should I learn to shoot a rifle left-handed?

G

Glock-A-Roo

New member
I'm righthanded but left-eye dominant. Shooting righthanded, I have to squint my left eye even to use a red-dot sight. When I've held the rifle lefthanded and kept both eyes open, I then understand why red-dots are so great. What a difference in field of view and depth perception.

Should I just bite the bullet and learn to shoot lefthanded? Is it worth the hassle? Anyone else been through this?

Keep in mind that my rifle training is geared towards self-defense and fieldwork, not benchrest or target competition.
 
Yes, I have been through this dilemma. I am left-eyed dominant. For years, I shot pistols right-handed and rifles left-handed. As I recall, the NRA instruction manual on rifle marksmanship recommends you shoot a rifle from the shoulder that aligns from your dominant eye. I follwed this advice. Then, due to a blood clot, I lost vision in my left eye two years ago. I sold my left-handed bolt rifles and bought right-handed ones (which are easier to find).

It took about a year of steady practice to go right-handed with a rifle. My right eye, which is fine, is not quite dominant though because my left eye is healing and I am regaining sight in it. Hence, I still instinctively shift to the left eye although the rifle is shouldered on the right.

What has helped is going exclusively to wide aperture sights. I get a flash picture of the front post (as with a pistol) and shoot. There is no more studying and steadying involved (as with a telescopic sight). I don't shoot tight groups, but I can keep it within 2 to 3 inches at 100 yards, and this feat is with an '06. I continue to practice though.

Bottom line: Shoot left if that is what your body tells you.
Learn to shoot right (it can be done) if you want a better selection of shoulder weapons.
 
Hmm - that's funny.

I'm left-eye right handed, and I shoot rifle right-handed.

IMHO (I use the aimpoints) the red dot negates the cross-dominant problem, in fact I think it's almost an advantage! I have both eyes on target, and the dot is superimposed, and I fire.

This works out for me rapid-fire at 100 yards, and with a 2x aimpoint red dot on another gun (for this one I do both eyes open for rapid-fire, one closed for extreme precision)

Are there verying degrees to which one eye can be dominant?

Battler.
 
i'd say learn to shoot laft and right handed, i learn how to shoot right handed frist then i learn how to shoot left handed. it's good if you can shoot left or right handed, so when some guy shoots you in the right arm you can still shoot him back;)
 
vital to be good from either side with rifle

less so with pistol. If you get shot, you will probably be unable to hit much regardless, so that is a poor argument. A better one is that you could suffer an injury to your strongside arm, hand, or eye BEFORE you get into an attack. A broken arm,for instance, can take many months to return to normal. With longarms, shooting around left corners of cover with right shoulder =exposing entire torso. Once it's RIFLE time, it's a bit late to start practicing, and the crap will be both serious and repeated
 
Nice thing about IDPA,they get you doing weak hand drills.Same for some of the three gun matches I've shot, many have a weak hand stage. Go for it. I'm having problems with my dominant eye and may have to do the same thing sooner or later.
 
Eye dominance does vary in degrees with people. I had a long discussion about eye dominance with my eye doctor a few years ago. According to the doc, some people may have one eye that is very dominant while others have no particular eye that is dominant. Eye dominance can also be trained.
 
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