Eye/Hand Dominance...

[Dave McC]

Someone asked about this via E-mail, so maybe it's time to go over it again.

Everyone has a dominant hand, for most of us is the right hand. Everyone also has a dominant eye, and it's not always on the same side.

Quick check. Stand up and look towards the corner of the room where the ceiling and walls meet. Point to it with the hand you write with.Close one eye.Did your finger seem to move? If it did, the closed eye is your dominant eye.

Mixed eye/hand dominance is one of the most common problems people have in shooting.Shooting R/H but sighting L/H is a guaranteed %^&*(. "Fixes" have included taping the "Wrong" eye side of one's shooting glasses, closing one eye and even the crossover type stock where one,say, shoots right handed but the stock is bent so the left eye is lined up with the sights.

And I'm not immune to this. Before the teachers at the parochial schools I attended got hold of me, I was probably left handed and left eyed. I'm still a one eyed shooter with BAD handwriting.

Solutions:

There's a couple of ways to address this in the shooting disciplines. I'll stick to shotgunning for the moment. All work, none are easy and guaranteed.

1. Shoot from the same side as your dominant eye. Everyone interested in "Serious" shotgunning should shoot from both sides anyways.Short term problem, long term payoff.

2. Close the off eye. I do this,the disadvantages include losing all peripheral vision and some depth perception. I've got it down to just a wink, to minimize the loss.

3.Train the non dominant eye to be dominant.This is the hardest method, IMO,but some folks do it.

4, Hardware, even tho this is a software problem. The friend who reloads my trap hulls has a device on the muzzle and bead of his trap gun that blocks the view of the bead from his left eye.It's like a little fence paralleling the rib, about 3 inches long. He says that after years of use, he still needs it for trap. BTW, he outshoots me.

A bit of tape on the lens of your shooting glasses to block the off eyes' view would also work, tho I get headaches from this.Some folks can remove the tape after a while, tho they may revert.

I think that about covers it, any questions, please ask them...

[44rugerfan]

When I got into bowhunting I discovered I was right-handed and left-eye dominant. I am trying to train my right eye to be dominant, but every now and again I find myself using the left while shooting a handgun. It bites.

[Gary H]

I find that eye dominance can be a tricky thing. I'm an Optometrist and we need to determine dominance when fitting older folks with contact lenses. Personally, my dominance is dependent upon my stance and my focus of attention. I need to wink my left eye to pick up the right and the reverse is also true. If I point and then open my eyes, the target sometimes is seen through the left eye, right eye, or right between the two eyes. Usually, dominance is established very young in life and can't be changed. Certainly, it can't be changed without a major effort. If I were to guess, I would think that I use my left eye a bit more, but I am right handed and won't change to being a lefty. I guess that I will need to wink at the clays. Hope it works better than winking at women..ah..in my single days.

[JNewell]

I am left eye and mostly right-handed. Blech. :-(

I strongly agree about serious shooting on the non-dominant side, but that doesn't solve all problems.

I've learned, sorta, to deal with it for handgun and rifle shooting (training, your #3). But I can squint a little or do other tricks to tip the balance between the eyes and the brain.

It doesn't work for clay sports, though, or at least I've never been able to make it work for myself. I need a full does of 3-D vision for that and I just can't make it work.

Reading your post, it sounds like you have this "handicap" also? Hey, I was thinking, maybe if I could get a golf cart, everything would be right again? ;-)

[Dave McC]

Glad this came back up, IMO cross dominance is the most common problem in training and shooting.

Note the starting post's date,this is 3 months old,but it may be the most important thread on the BB at present.

You might want to check the thread about Warm Fuzzies at the range, it's about a tyro with cross dominance.

One reason I may be so fond of peep sights is that they are relatively C/D-proof.

At trap, J, I hold on the front of the house. Despite my best efforts,this left eye slams shut, 40 years of a bad habit is a stone cold %^&*( to change. I do OK without it, but I'm sure it costs me a bird now&then.

[JNewell]

Ya know, I never tried trap, just skeet. Would I find trap a little easier, being cross-dominant?

[Dave McC]

Darnfino, J, the best thing would be to try trap and see.
Trap is a lot of fun, and not terribly expensive. Pumps work fine for singles, I see almost as many 870s and 12s as I do various semis.

Equipment needed, a shotgun, eye and ear protection,and ammo.

As for your problem, J, some of the fiber optic sights are visible only to the strong side eye. Bob Brister mentions in his milestone opus, "Shotgunning, the Art and the Science", the first of the "Green Worm" sights and that it's invisible to the off eye. One like that may be a good way to train your eye. Maybe Gary can add some pro advice on this...

[Ewok_Guy]

I trained my right eye to be a master like my left when I was young (about 8 or so). So I can use either one just fine, and do. Though I've not trained my left hand to work quite as good as my right, I'm still working on it.

[Gary H]

Damn Ewoks can do just about anything.