Thread: shooting with the non dominant eye.

@Maca49

Before i got into a bit of competition shooting it was one eye closed all the time...spent some time watching and listening to various “top” shooters who were ranked way above me,....the conclusion,use whatever suits you best,...our eyesights,between others can be measured,other things cant....I spent a lot of time practicing with both eyes open and now it just seems like muscle memory ......some swear by it ,but ive seen one-eyed shooters ,shoot the pants off those that keep both open......

One way ive practiced is with the use of a spotting scope,whilst checking targets at a distance,any really.....check with the left eye,keep the right eye open but cover it with your right hand(blocking the vision)....then vice versa...its help me “train” my eyes ....best way i can put it.......given to me by a shooting instructor to try ..it works for me.....same with skeet shooting,I switch from left handed to right handed,as I keep both eyes open ,it trains both eyes

Originally Posted by Maca49

Well I’m right I dominant, right handed but left footed? I was taught to shoot with both eyes open? Is both eyes open not common?

There are a number of us in the same situation.
I'm left eye dominant but right handed,I used to shoot left handed as that to me was the the way I picked up a rifle to look down the sights
I bought left handed rifles for a long time, in the end though I decided to shoot right handed as with decent scopes it worked ok, I sold the left handers to make the transition easier .
Still, if I don't think about it I will pick up a rifle in say a shop and shoulder it initially on the left.

Originally Posted by Rushy

This is an interesting discussion. I am right eye dominant and while I can shoot scoped rifles with both eyes open my preference is to close my left eye. I have tried a great deal to use the both eyes open technique when shooting pistols but I just cannot do it as I see two very clear side by side sight pictures and although I know that it is the left most sight picture that is true to target I just can’t achieve quick target acquisition when shifting between targets so I shoot pistols with my left eye closed. It pisses me off because I have spent countless hours trying to get both eyes open to work for me and closing my left eye slows me down when transitioning targets from right to left.

Maybe go easy and just transition by shooting with both eyes open but the gun held low so you don't use the sights. It's a bug bear that 'point shooting' taught in the past by the FBI was not 'point' shooting as it is a method which involves actual aiming but keeping your field of view unobstructed by the pistol. Though not aligning with the sights, the pistol had to be within your field of view for it to work.

Interesting FBI 1961 instruction movie: "The Fundamentals of Double Action Revolver Shooting":

Originally Posted by A330driver

Quote: Unfortunately this led to left handed rifles.

Lol...yeah a dilemma for you ....be interested to know % of lefties or righties amongst this group....

my rifle are a mix of left and right handed. From practise, i don't really notice the difference between them when shooting left handed

Still use a browning A5 for duck shooting. the empty case shoot past my nose, but never been hit. And i got the safety changed over.

I'm left-eye, left-foot dominant but right handed. I don't hunt, just pest control usually at reasonably close range (under 150m) and prefer iron sights, as scopes always get knocked out of line for me. I shoot right handed with left eye half closed, this lets the light into both eyes and gives good peripheral vision, but keeps the sighting done through the right eye. Only works for me with receiver mounted aperture rear sights close to the eye, much more difficult with the V type sights, although I know other people make it work.

Interesting topic.

Im left handed, but shoot right handed because I can only close my left eye. I cant close my right eye at all. I have never thought of shooting with both eyes open until reading it here.

I'm very right hand and right eye dominant. Most of the muscles in my right side are bigger than the left. When I was testing my daughters rifle (left handed everything) I found I could shoot it just as badly left handed as right handed. Really surprised me. Daughter cannot shoot at all well right handed. My pick is go with whatever you feel comfortable with.

Greetings All,
An excellent book that I can't find at the moment had a drawing of the sight picture shooting an elephant with open sights and both eyes open. Shooting this way was the standard until we started using scopes. With lower powered scopes shooting both eyes open was still common but as scope power increased it seemed to die out. As far as dominant eyes go there are few of us that have a dominant eye in the true sense of the word. Most of us are either left or right eye preferred and for us shooting with either eye should be possible with practice. Same goes for handedness. Some of us are hard wired left handed but the balance are either hard wired right handed or come down somewhere in the middle. Once again the latter group, in which I find myself, should be able to shoot of either shoulder after a little practice. It is a skill worth developing. How do you think the Army got on with all right handed rifles?
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

I'm left-eye, left-foot dominant but right handed. I don't hunt, just pest control usually at reasonably close range (under 150m) and prefer iron sights, as scopes always get knocked out of line for me. I shoot right handed with left eye half closed, this lets the light into both eyes and gives good peripheral vision, but keeps the sighting done through the right eye. Only works for me with receiver mounted aperture rear sights close to the eye, much more difficult with the V type sights, although I know other people make it work.

I find I can shoot right shouldered both eyes open with a red dot, but otherwise left has to be shut to avoid crossover

Originally Posted by 300CALMAN

If you are left eye dominant and shoot archery right handed you will be sighting across the arrow unless you shut your left eye?! This is why I swapped to left hand with a bow and started shooting well. Unfortunately this led to left handed rifles.

Bring back semis...

not necessarily....Im right eye dominant but can easily use left hand bow righthanded.....its how hollywood shows old school bows used eg arrow on right side of bow for right hander...gave me quite a shock to see I was supposed to have arrow on left of bow...
and I simply wink my left eye in most shooting situations...

Provided I've got at least one eye open while aiming my shooting is passable.

I'm left eyed right-hand, for good trigger control I shoot right handed and close left eye.

Left eye dominant (shoot best left handed), can shoot with my right eye and right handed happily, I shoot with both eyes open.

I have predominantly non-binocular vision so when I shoot both eyes open I am still using my right eye to see - if that makes sense. (I can flick between the dominant eye without closing either eye as well)

I’m left eye dominant right handed shooter. I typically have to close my left eye with rifle and shotgun. When I shot pistol for a few years, I just brought the pistol across slightly and used my left eye, worked great and I could then keep my right eye open.