Left eye dominant, right handed and contacts!

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Gavin_d

Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2015
Messages
22
Hi guys. Hope some of you can shed some light please. I'm new to shooting. I've shot clays before but not much. I'm hoping to take up the sport and am currently still waiting for my licence to arrive. Am I doomed before I've even started. I never knew it's best to shoot with both eyes open. Then it dawned on me I'm extremely left eye dominant but I am a right handed shooter. I am also short sighted so I have glasses and have recently started to wear contacts which seem to be working for me. 

My questions are:

Are contacts suitable. I've heard of people saying they can move etc.

Should I learn to shoot left hand? Best to start now than switch later. 

If I stick to be a right handed shooter what are my options. Tape on left lense, slightly squint eye just before shot?  

Or or should I not worry so much yet and have a few coaching lessons  I am hoping to go for coaching at Nottingham and district gun club  

Thanks in advance everyone  

 
There are a lot of people that tell left handed shooters to shoot right handed because they're right eye dominant. 

Therefore, why not shoot left handed?! I am left handed and left eye dominant. The only negative is there are less left handed guns on the  market to buy. Apart from that, nothing! :)

Mr Solomons is a leftie, and he's a world champion so I say, shoot with where your eyes tell you to shoot! :)

 
I have shot for years using contact lenses and never had a problem with them moving.  I would much rather use contacts than glasses.

 
Before you do anything, go see a properly qualified and respected coach. They will be able to properly check if your dominance will affect your shooting and advise accordingly. It may well turn out you'd be better off learning to shoot off your left shoulder, but get it properly checked first.

If you let us know where you live, someone will be able to advise you ref the best person to see. However, you might be better off just getting a session with Ed Lyons, he's based near Wolverhampton and is very well known and respected on this forum.

 
Thanks guys! I live in Lincolnshire. Not far from lincoln it self. I've shot air rifles for many years right handed so I'm not sure how hard the change will be but would want to learn sooner rather than later if a switch was the best option. I hear a number of people say squint your left eye but at the end of the day it's a disadvantage I would rather be with out. 

Ive seen some of Eds posts. That's what got me thinking. 

Thanks all. 

 
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I'm the opposite to you (left-handed but slightly right-eye dominant) and I just shoot with my right eye closed.

It works for me, I shot 90 in practice earlier.

 
I've bought a laser cartridge so will practice gun mount. The other problem is I already have a miroku mk38 lined up that a mate is looking after for me. 

I can practice gun mount with the laser and see how I do with that. Will keep you posted guys. 

 
I'm the opposite to you (left-handed but slightly right-eye dominant) and I just shoot with my right eye closed.

It works for me, I shot 90 in practice earlier.
Whilst this seems to be a quick, easy and cheap fix, but by closing one eye you lose your binocular vision which is better for assessing target speed and angle etc.

The other important fact is that by closing one eye you make your other eye do all the work which is both unnatural and very tiring on the eye.

You are handicapping yourself and will never shoot as well as you could if you solve the problem a better way to retain your binocular vision

 
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Thanks Robert Beard. I suppose it may well work for some or they adapted themselves to doing it but I would not like to shoot with a disadvantage like that if I can find a way around it. It will always be in the back of my mind if I don't shoot so well. 

 
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Whilst this seems to be a quick, easy and cheap fix, but by closing one eye you lose your binocular vision which is better for assessing target speed and angle etc.

The other important fact is that by closing one eye you make your other eye do all the work which is both unnatural and very tiring on the eye.

You are handicapping yourself and will never shoot as well as you could if you solve the problem a better way to retain your binocular vision
Sorry I gave a quick answer earlier.

I shoot everything gun-up and I use a high-rib gun which makes target acquisition much easier, but I establish the target with 2 eyes as near to the trap as possible or where I can first see it, move the gun and at the same time I close my right-eye which allows me to gain the correct lead.  

I shoot most targets maintained lead as well which seems to work.

This is what works for me and my scores are improving, I'm not saying that it will work for everyone though.

 
I do the same - pick up the target with 2 eyes and then shut my left eye (R/H) to take the shot.  Works for me.

 
I might also have another problem. If I hold my hand up and point to an object and focus on that object then I get double vision of my finger. If I close one eye I only see one finger and the object. So I'm guessing if I shoot both eyes open them I am going to see two ribs. Maybe I should take up fishing :(  

 
I might also have another problem. If I hold my hand up and point to an object and focus on that object then I get double vision of my finger. If I close one eye I only see one finger and the object. So I'm guessing if I shoot both eyes open them I am going to see two ribs. Maybe I should take up fishing :(  
Happens to me as well, not sure if it affects everyone or just those have have dominance issues.

I do fish a bit to so that's not the answer.

 
I might also have another problem. If I hold my hand up and point to an object and focus on that object then I get double vision of my finger. If I close one eye I only see one finger and the object. 
That is normal.  What is important is which of the two fingers lines up on the thing you are pointing at.  This shows which eye is being used.  If you point at the object with both eyes open, then close one eye, then swap eyes, you should see one stays in line with the target and one moves.  The one which stays still is the one lined up by your dominant eye.

I'll also add that my brother shot air rifles right handed as a kid with me.  He never had a problem with that as he shot one eye closed.  He has a lazy right eye which only affects him when he is tired.  When we started shotgun stuff his lazy right eye gave him problems so he switched to shooting left handed quite early and it solved the problem.

 
I and, I am sure, many others suffer the same problem. My solution is to put a piece of opaque tape on the left lens of my shooting glasses which means I can shoot both eyes open but be sure that it is the right hand eye that is doing the seeing when I take the shot. I do this because closing one eye is, I find, tiring after a while. However to answer the question. If you can learn to shoot off your left shoulder this is by far the best solution and will pay dividends if you can master it. I never even tried I am so right handed, however the tape method is a widely used solution for this problem. On the point of seeing two ribs I think this is normal ... but don't worry about this you do not look at the rib of the gun when you shoot the target, you will be focused on the target.

 
I am a RH shooter that is left eye dominant, used to do as said above, shut my left eye after picking up the target. Did this for many years.

I now use these, http://www.gunsnstuff.co.uk/eye-dominance-2/eye-dominance-products/ took a little while to get used to them and keeping both eyes open, but, for me, my scores have improved now that I do keep both eyes open.

Not an expensive option to try even if they do not work for you.

 
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That kit does more or less what my opaque tape does ... but and inch wide roll of tape costs about £2.50 and you can make many hundreds from one roll.

 
Well I have completely screwed my lad up. He is left handed and left eye dominant but due to me being RH'd he only had access to RH guns when he started shooting so learned to shoot rh'd. He used to close his left eye but eventually learned to shoot with both eyes open (lord knows how) and does very well. He did try a LH gun a year or so ago but it felt completely wrong and refused to shoot it again.

Whether he has been able to change his eye dominance to some degree I'm not sure but he seems to be able to overcome it somehow but I do wonder whether he is being held back by this issue (couple of targets a round) and wonder whether to try an I-spot or similar.

DT

 
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