Right handed, left eye dominant

[Slide Rule]

Situation-
Went shooting with a buddy and he let me shoot his new AR-10 build. I'm more of a handgun guy but after shooting his AR I think now I am starting to see how fun they are. He just finished the build and had a scope on it. I was wearing my glasses.

I am right handed, but my dominant eye is left. It never really was an issue using pistols, but using the scope it was a little weird. So hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction

Questions-
Should I learn to shoot left handed and use my left eye when using the scope, or just wear my corrective lenses and keep using my right hand? While I'm on the subject, how about pistols, should I turn my head a little to use my good left eye? Even though my left eye is good, I find myself using my right eye. Hope this makes sense, many thanks for your advice. I shoot ok using my right eye with glasses but there may be a time where I won't have time to put on my glasses and shoot accurately. Is this 'off-dominant' eye a common issue?

The Slide

[paratroop]

Most will say shoot left handed. Two of my sisters are left eye dominant. If you stand straight with arms straight out(isosceles?) While shooting pistols, it isnt really an issue.

I always hand new shooters a rifle with a scope, and have them look through it, whichever eye they use is the dominant eye.

My one sister is actually starting to use both eyes, switching back and forth.

But shooting rifles, especially scoped, it can be hard or impossible. But i feel its important to be comfortable, and confident . So if you switch to shooting left handed, especially a new shooter, it may be too uncomfortable. So i learned a trick.

I had a girlfriend that had cerebral palsy, and she couldnt use her right hand, but she was right eye dominant. I put electrical tape over her shooting glasses on the right side. Voila! Worked like a charm!

So when everyone else is going to say shoot left handed, ill disagree, unless you can be comfortable doing so. If you get an eye patch, shooting rifles will be easier.

[SkyHawk]

I am also left eye dominant and right handed. I shoot everything right handed, period. For precision when shooting through a scope or iron sights, including pistols, I close my left eye - pretty simple. If I need to shoot two eyes open, I cant my sights towards my left eye. But when using a scope or taking long shots through iron sights, I always shoot left eye closed.

I can point shoot pretty well with pistols and long guns, so it really isn't a problem for me at close distances. And I seem to do very well shooting sporting clays, so honestly I don't worry so much about the cross dominance.

[Hairball]

I have the same issue but I do things a bit different. If the rifle/shotgun has an optic, I shoot it right handed. If not, I shoot it left handed. Might sound odd but that is how I have been doing it for over 40 years now. I also shoot my compound bow right handed even though I am left eye dominant and I don't have any issues. Back in the day when I first started shooting it was a given that if you were right handed you shot right handed so over the years I just learned to deal with it. If I met someone that was just starting to learn how to shoot, I would recommend shooting with the dominant eye.

[EspoMan]

I am right hand, left eye dominant. I shoot everything right handed. If I shoot pistol, I bring the sights to closer to my left eye (not my head, I bring my gun to my eyes). Rifles I just close my left eye and use my right eye and I do pretty damn well.

[buttfish]

Blind right eye; learning all over how to shoot; had instructor tell me to shoot right handed, using left eye. Seems to work for me.

[wrencher]

I'm left right also. Pistols, don't shoot muck anymore but when I do it's left eye and right hand. Now for rifles it right right. With red dots it don't matter both eyes should be open. With scopes I have been at it long enough that I can shoot both eyes open.

[MJB]

Shoot right eye right hand.......the rifles are more available for righties

[Kowan]

I'm left handed and right eye dominate. I can shoot strong or weak handed with hand guns.
I shoot long guns right handed. Friends of mine are like you, left eye dominate and shoot long guns left handed.

[Slide Rule]

Wow, thank you guys for the quick replies. Many thanks.
The Slide

[JDay]

You can train your left eye to be dominant.

[SkyHawk]

You can train your left eye to be dominant.

I have been wanting to retrain my right eye to be dominant. I grew up right eye dominant and my whole life I have done everything right handed including shooting. That is why shooting left handed is a no go for me. I can (must) qualify for CCW while shooting weak hand but it is not my preference.

When I was much younger (5th-6th grade?) I had a lazy left eye, and had to do eye exercises regularly to strengthen the muscle. Then much later in life (after 40) I realized my left eye was dominant - it was a surprise to find out.

Now I'm wondering what I can do to get my right eye to be dominant again.

[JDay]

I have been wanting to retrain my right eye to be dominant. I grew up right eye dominant and my whole life I have done everything right handed including shooting. That is why shooting left handed is a no go for me. I can (must) qualify for CCW while shooting weak hand but it is not my preference.

When I was much younger (5th-6th grade?) I had a lazy left eye, and had to do eye exercises regularly to strengthen the muscle. Then much later in life (after 40) I realized my left eye was dominant - it was a surprise to find out.

Now I'm wondering what I can do to get my right eye to be dominant again.

I practiced drawing and forcing my right eye to focus on the sight. After a while it becomes automatic again.

[Jayfox]

I had never noticed that I am left eye dominant.
I had grown up shooting long guns right handed, both iron sights and scoped, and handguns without issue. I use a scoped air rifle at work -- right handed, no issues. Then I took a hunter's education course here this fall and did the little eye dominance test and lo-and-behold I'm left eye dominant -- go figure!
About two months later I'm at "drill" for the CSMR and we got a crack at running through the EST 2000 weapons simulator, where they let us work some scenarios just for grins. I made hits, but I'll be honest I was frustrated with my transition from scanning for targets to getting a bead on them; something about iron sights in a darkened room against a lit screen. I caught myself sighting with my left eye while still shooting right handed. It was a weird and frustrating feeling.

[beanz2]

Learn to shoot using either eye. Once you take advanced rifle training, there will be situations when you have to shoot from the less favored shoulder, like around corners and barriers. Rifle buttstock on the right shoulder, use the right eye. Buttstock on the left shoulder, use the left eye.