Girlfriend is Right handed, but left eye dominant, how does this work?

[JasonB]

I'm taking my GF to the range for the first time on Sunday and we discovered today that she is left eye dominant. She is otherwise right handed, although she says she sometimes bats left handed.

Anyways, it seems almost impossible to me to get my left eye lined up on open sites when holding a rifle, just because you'd have to put your head at an ungodly angle (if you are shooting right handed, your left eye is on the top....try getting it down to the level needed to see the sights).

Anyways, my question is should we see if she is more comfortable shooting left handed or do left eye dominant people have an easier time obtaining the proper position to look through the sights with their left eye (even with the rifle on their right shoulder)?

Any advice from experienced shooters that have dealt with this situation would be appreciated.

Thanks a million.

[TonyF]

When someone is cross dominant they have no choice but to shoot a long gun either left eye and left handed or right eye and right handed as there is no way to otherwise get a proper cheekweld.

If she's right handed and she can force her left eye closed, so long as vision in her right eye is good enough she'll be fine. If she has a difficult time keeping her dominant (left) eye closed, it might prove beneficial in the long run to shoot left eye and left handed.

Shooting a handgun is altogether different. Have her shoot right handed and tilt her head to the right so she can line up her left eye with the sights.

[JasonB]

When someone is cross dominant they have no choice but to shoot a long gun either left eye and left handed or right eye and right handed as there is no way to otherwise get a proper cheekweld.

If she's right handed and she can force her left eye closed, so long as vision in her right eye is good enough she'll be fine. If she has a difficult time keeping her dominant (left) eye closed, it might prove beneficial in the long run to shoot left eye and left handed.

Shooting a handgun is altogether different. Have her shoot right handed and tilt her head to the right so she can line up her left eye with the sights.

I figured as much. I tried having her sit with a rest and look through a scope here at the house and she said it was very unnatural to keep her left eye closed. I'll have to see if she's more comfortable shooting long guns left handed instead of trying to force the other eye.

thankfully handguns are much easier to deal with for this problem.

Thanks for the advice.

[762xIan]

I have the same problem, right handed abut left eye dominant....pistols are easy...standard stances, I like the isosceles stance the best, but Weaver and modified Weaver are fine and don't matter to me for eye dominance issues.

Now...Rifles...(sigh) I shoot most of the time right handed, a piece of tape over my glasses (left eye) forces the right to take over. Some shooters use a eye patch.

I do sometimes shoot left handed, it is very hard to do and get used to, but my sighting in with the left eye is so natural, and target recovery is very quick compared to shooting right handed. I plan to shoot lefty more often and become more proficient at it.

She can squint her left eye, but I would recommend tape over the left lense on the shooting glasses.

My experience, hope it helps!

[danp]

When I first started shooting I had the exact opposite problem. I am right-eye dominant but left handed. I taught myself how to shoot right handed and now it feels weird to shoot left handed.

[Steve in PA]

My wife is right-handed, but left-eye dominant and she shoots just fine.

One of my officers is also left-eye dominant but he taught himself to shoot left-handed. He also shoots quite well.

[Holleta]

I had the same issue when I was young and first started shooting. Right handed, left eye dominant. When shooting rifles I contorted my face over the stock to line up. Worked well with the small stuff but one larger calibers came along...not a good thing.

I "trained" myself to shoot right eye dominant, it took quite a while. I'm good now, many, many years later but can still find my eye "switching" over sometimes when shooting both eyes open with a Kobra or similar HUD type sight.

A simple test you can have her do to see if she is actually right eye dominant or just has difficulty closing her left eye is this:

Have her hold a piece of cardboard with a hole about the size of a half dollar in the center at arms length and have her look through the hole and focus on an object 15-20 feet away.

Have her slowly bring the cardboard toward here face-continuing to focus/look at the object through the hole.

When the cardboard is right up against her face-which eye is centered on the hole? That will be the dominant eye.

[c3prret]

I'm the same way, my problem is age. Try having her use both eyes, just mey have to move the gun to the left a bit.

[JIMMYC308]

I am right handed left eye dominant also and had to learn to close the left eye when shooting or my shots were all off. I to this day have great difficulty shooting with both eyes open so I don't!! Just practice and it will get better.

[NineseveN]

Right hand/left eye here. For handguns, it makes no difference for me, I can tilt my head easily enough to make it work.


For rifle, I shoot with my left eye closed. I have heard of some exercises to change eye dominance, but I haven't found much on the subject yet.