Cross dominance problems

[Aluisious]

I'm becoming more aware that I have all kinds of dominance issues.

I am right handed, but left eyed. It just occured to me that I am left eared as well, because I try to listen to everything with my left ear (my radio headphones broke w/ the left earbud, which I normally listen to. With the right ear it sounds different, and worse).

I hold a hockey stick the opposite way most right handers do, and while I kick and stomp with my right foot, I step up stairs leading with my left.

Now the point of all this in context is that it makes shooting much more difficult than it needs to be, since I can't just do everything with one side. I shoot pistols and long arms with opposite eyes, left for pistols, right for long arms. This makes the "shotgun bead in peripheral vision" trick impossible for me, I'll miss using two eyes.

Does anyone else deal with this nonsense or know what causes it?

[edsel6502]

I'm becoming more aware that I have all kinds of dominance issues.

I am right handed, but left eyed. It just occured to me that I am left eared as well, because I try to listen to everything with my left ear (my radio headphones broke w/ the left earbud, which I normally listen to. With the right ear it sounds different, and worse).

I hold a hockey stick the opposite way most right handers do, and while I kick and stomp with my right foot, I step up stairs leading with my left.

Now the point of all this in context is that it makes shooting much more difficult than it needs to be, since I can't just do everything with one side. I shoot pistols and long arms with opposite eyes, left for pistols, right for long arms. This makes the "shotgun bead in peripheral vision" trick impossible for me, I'll miss using two eyes.

Does anyone else deal with this nonsense or know what causes it?

Got the same problem.

Left eye Right hand.

Teaching my self to shoot left and right on pistol. I should train my left to be my strong hand as I line up the gun and sights with the dominant eye. But right now a right handed modified weaver works for me. Both eyes open.

For rifles, I'm getting my self a .22 and teaching myself to shoot lefty. Eventually I'll get the muscle memory of shooting left. Again both eyes open

[stevie]

I am left hand and right eye dominate. I use my left hand for shooting, eating, writing but throw, bat with right.

I use a rifle right handed and am in the process of teaching myself to shoot right hand instead of left.

I am all screwed up.

If shooting left hand, all my groups tend to be low and right. I thought i was just jerking the trigger but now believe its my hand, eye coordination.

[vonsmith]

I'm becoming more aware that I have all kinds of dominance issues.

I am right handed, but left eyed. It just occured to me that I am left eared as well, because I try to listen to everything with my left ear (my radio headphones broke w/ the left earbud, which I normally listen to. With the right ear it sounds different, and worse).

I hold a hockey stick the opposite way most right handers do, and while I kick and stomp with my right foot, I step up stairs leading with my left.

Now the point of all this in context is that it makes shooting much more difficult than it needs to be, since I can't just do everything with one side. I shoot pistols and long arms with opposite eyes, left for pistols, right for long arms. This makes the "shotgun bead in peripheral vision" trick impossible for me, I'll miss using two eyes.

Does anyone else deal with this nonsense or know what causes it?

I've got the same issue although it doesn't seem to affect my shooting. I don't even think about it. I have wondered lately if it would limit my shooting skills in some way and I've wondered if I shouldn't "fix" it with drills of some sort. Good question.


=vonsmith=

[Cazach]

I have the same thing. My understanding is it is simply a matter of repetition and fine tuning of muscle control. Basically as you keep using one side to do something you develop greater dexterity and finer control than with the side that does not regularly perform the task. Think of people that have broken their writing hand and are forced to use the opposite one to write. If enough time is given, it eventually feels natural.

Short answer: train with both hands and both eyes and it eventially will become irrelevant. Eyes are little harder to get used to but it can be done.

[m1371]

I'm becoming more aware that I have all kinds of dominance issues.

I am right handed, but left eyed. It just occured to me that I am left eared as well, because I try to listen to everything with my left ear (my radio headphones broke w/ the left earbud, which I normally listen to. With the right ear it sounds different, and worse).

I hold a hockey stick the opposite way most right handers do, and while I kick and stomp with my right foot, I step up stairs leading with my left.

Now the point of all this in context is that it makes shooting much more difficult than it needs to be, since I can't just do everything with one side. I shoot pistols and long arms with opposite eyes, left for pistols, right for long arms. This makes the "shotgun bead in peripheral vision" trick impossible for me, I'll miss using two eyes.

Does anyone else deal with this nonsense or know what causes it?

Shoot with your dominant eye, not your strong side.

You can condition your body to shoot left or right handed fairly easily, but changing natural eye dominance isn't something that's easy to accomplish.

Eventually you might find yourself getting comfortable shooting either left or right handed (both handguns and long arms) to the point where the eye dominance issue stops being an issue at all.

[Aluisious]

Maybe I'll try lefty.

I can't figure out yet how to use my strong hand to support a pistol, or how to operate long arms with my weak side at all.

[m1371]

Maybe I'll try lefty.

I can't figure out yet how to use my strong hand to support a pistol, or how to operate long arms with my weak side at all.

Your stance and positioning will basically be mirror-image of what you are currently doing.

Quite a few things, such as manipulating the magazine release on a pistol, will take a bit of re-adjusting to as the manual of arms for a southpaw is somewhat different.

Take your time and practice, you'll get it.

[SigShooter]

Hmmm... Yea, I'd say I have cross dominance issues.

I am right handed, right footed and right eye dominant, have been all my life. I can hardly hold a pencil with my left hand.

Here is the kicker... Due to a childhood accident I am blind in my right eye, not totally. I see 20/400, correctable to 20/300 with a blind spot in the center of my field of vision. The best way to describe it is when I look out of my right eye, it is like looking at a TV with real bad reception, lots and lots of snow (you younger folks that don't know what TV was like without cable/dish may not understand that) with a black spot smack dab in the middle of the tube.

To give you an idea of the damage, I caught a 6" corner of an asphalt roofing shingle with my face. One of the neighborhood kids threw it at his brother (obviously missing him) and it hit me, edge on, across my eye from the bridge of my nose to the corner of my cheek next to the eye socket. It hit so hard it broke my nose and my cheekbone. It ripped part of my iris from the sclera (white part) and tore a hole in my retina (the macula in particular, hence the blind spot). I had to sit in an ophthalmologist's chair for 4 hours as he plucked the dang rocks off the shingle out from between my eyeball and socket. Upon impact both eyes immediately went into shock and shut down. I was totally blind for 4 months and had to lay in bed in a dark room the entire time. (worst summer ever!)

Anyway... I have been a shooter since I was 5 and this happened in my preteen years, so there was a lot of muscle memory and habits (good and bad) that I had learned, all being a right handed/eyed shooter, that I needed to relearn. Pistols were somewhat easy, I could still use my right hand to hold, but i had to learn to use my left eye. That was just a matter of holding the pistol a little left of center.

Rifles were another story all together. Like I said before I can hardly hold a pencil in my left hand. The first time I went shooting after the accident I felt helpless, I couldn't hold the rifle on target for the life of me. It was so bad I had my dad buy me a BB gun so I could practice in the backyard. It took me about a year to get comfortable with shooting a rifle left handed and about two to be proficient again. I still have to shoot right handed bolt guns though, because operating a bolt left handed feels to awkward.

Long story short (too late I know) IMHO sight is more important that comfort. Meaning if you are left eye dominant and right handed, try shooting long guns left handed. Eventually muscle memory (and good shooting habits) will win out and you will feel comfortable with the gun in your left hand. This is especially true (again IMO) when shooting birds (clay or feathered). It is very important to keep you primary focus on the target and your bead in your peripheral vision. This can be very hard to do if you are using your non-dominant eye. Also, exerting too much energy trying to "sharp focus" using a non-dominant eye can cause major headaches. During my recover I had to wear a patch over both eyes, the one over the left eye in cycles, to slowly force my dominance over to the left eye. I've known other cross dominant shooters that do very well with this technique.

Heck, give it a try at least. Next time you go to the range try a few rounds left handed, if it is too uncomfortable, you can always switch back. Try a few clays next time you shoot trap/skeet also.

[sierratangofoxtrotunion]

I'm inclined to suggest you continue to shoot right handed, since you're already used to that, plus it's not nearly as easy to buy a left-handed rifle. One thing I've seen people do to train themelves to use their right eye for sights or scopes or whatever is put a piece of that opaque scotch tape over the lens on their shooting glasses on the left side. Because that eye becomes blurry, you're forced to use your right. I'm the same way, left-eye dominant, and I can hear sounds clearer in my left ear.

[NSR500]

If you want to take up the challenge, you can train both sides of your body so that the difference is not so Great. It took a while but I am not proficient in all forms of marksmanship and projectile shooting sports with both sides.
From my personal experience having to wear and eye patch for 4 months for health issues also helped me train my hand/eye coordination. LOL...

[Aluisious]

I'm inclined to suggest you continue to shoot right handed, since you're already used to that, plus it's not nearly as easy to buy a left-handed rifle. One thing I've seen people do to train themelves to use their right eye for sights or scopes or whatever is put a piece of that opaque scotch tape over the lens on their shooting glasses on the left side. Because that eye becomes blurry, you're forced to use your right. I'm the same way, left-eye dominant, and I can hear sounds clearer in my left ear.

I do have luck in a way with that, in that both my eyes are potentially lazy (sometimes they are, sometimes they're not) and using that I can willfully "turn off" the left eye without even closing it.

I lose steroscopic vision doing that, however, which is bad for shooting at anything that isn't a piece of stationary paper. I hope to take up trap shooting and it promises to be interesting.

[Chappy]

Lots of good suggestions so far.

Until you can get your issues resolved, if you're using a rifle for defense, consider putting a red dot sight on your rifle, and put it as far forward as possible. If it's far forward, you'll be able to use your left eye while shooting right handed. The only true fix long term is to teach yourself to shoot left handed with the rifle. Pistols should require nothing more than canting the gun slightly to the left to allow your primary eye to pick up the front sight.

[MadMex]