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Shooting...left eye dominant yet right handed

V

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  It seems that I am kind of a mutant.  I am left eye dominant yet right handed... Some say this would only effect my shooting if I were using iron sights.  I do have a tendency to shoot left, but I attributed this to snatching the trigger a little.  The question I guess if there are any mutants out there that have a problem with shooting, and or strategies that compensate.  I will say this though firing a handgun with my left hand seems to be working in my favour. 

  Cheers,

  V
 
I am similar to you, right handed yet left eye dominant. Some weapons favour right handed shooters, so you can either teach yourself to shoot right or figure out how to do it best left. If you're in the CF, talk to a qualified instructor, they may have some suggestions for you...

I personally find I favour shooting left, but find it hard to carry out weapon drills from that position  :-[
 
I'm the same way, but I just shoot right-handed.  Too old to change now..... ;)
 
I, because of damage to my right eye when I was young, learned to shoot right-handed, but using my left eye. The USMC "politely" told me I "would" learn to shoot left handed.....end of story.
 
I'm left handed and shoot left handed generally (With the C-7 this gives you the odd shell hitting your helmet and you get the acidic smoke from the rounds in your eyes every now and again)  I used to do all my drill right handed and I can shoot pretty well right handed too. Try learning both and see which works better, I found being able to shoot decently both ways was really handy in CQB stuff, it also allows you to use certain types of cover better at times.

If you are really brave you could watch the movie Fire Birds and do what Nick Cage does in that movie to fix your problem...but I'd rather cut out one eye than watch that aweful thing again.
 
I'm the same way. I experimented with shooting left- and right-handed during BMQ and eventually settled on shooting left-handed. Seems to have worked out for me since I passed the personal weapons handling test first try, despite having never fired a weapon in my life before BMQ.

Smith2-0 raises a good point though; it takes a bit of ingenuity to do certain weapons drills that way. I found the function test to be the real pain, since it is rather tricky to re-cock your weapon with your right hand will keeping the trigger depressed with the left...

Oh, make sure you get your helmet straps sorted out properly if you're going to be firing left-handed too.

kas.
 
For those of you that are right handed and left eye dominant, it all comes down to practice. When using long guns you are forced to use your right eye when shooting right handed, and your left eye when shooting left. Anything other than this is physically impossible. With ENOUGH practice one can become equally proficient at shooting with both hands. Handguns are a different animal. It is common for cross eye dominant shooters to easily sight the weapon by simply turning their head slightly in order to align the sights.

In my civvi job we are required to qualify on all of our weapons shooting from both the strong side and support side
 
I am in the same situation. Here are 2 solutions that have worked for me.
1st: Just close your left eye before you fire.
2nd: If wearing  glasses a small piece of tape or soap mark in the middle of the left lens. Experiment with size (just large enough that your right eye becomes the dominate one).
 
I'm also left eye dominant but a right handed shot. For rifles, I've just taught myself to use my right eye and I've had no issues whatsoever, at this point, all my drills are too far ingrained to switch to shooting left handed anyways. When it comes to handgun shooting, I find myself naturally gravitating towards using my left eye shooting right handed but can also shoot left handed without much of a difference. Don't worry about it too much, you'll find its not that hard to adjust. Obviously you'll either have to train to shoot left handed or train aiming with your right eye, figure out which ones more comfortable and keep practicing.
 
Thank you for all of your input.  It's nice to know I'm not alone. 

  Cheers

V
 
Has anyone considered having lefty weapons in the CF?  It would've made my life a little easier...

I suck either way though... :threat:
 
tree hugger said:
Has anyone considered having lefty weapons in the CF?  It would've made my life a little easier...

I suck either way though... :threat:


Come on that would make way too much sense. Besides that means us instructors would have to teach the weapons drills twice. One for the "normal" folks and one for the you southpaws  ;D
 
Or, we could all learn left-handed...

All the instructor would have to say is "Do the opposite of what I'm doing"...too easy!
 
People put way too much emphasis on doing things only one way.  ::)

Shooting both left and right handed is a skill every soldier should have, IMO. Especially in the current operational environment. It makes sense to make good use of cover / concealment and still be able to engage your target effectively.

With practice, it is a skill that can be developed. :threat:
 
:threat: I Guess I'm in the "right-hand-left-eye mutant club" (LOL) so no,  you are not alone.  Judging by the posts this club seems to have more than a few members.  Prior to joining my father taught me to shoot from the left so I could go hunting with him.  When I joined the Grenadiers in 1989 I was taught to shoot from the right.  Since then I have been trying to switch back and forth to build skill for shooting from both sides, and since I really enjoy riflry that has not been a problem - I'm always eager to spend more time on the range.  As for rifle IA and stoppage drills - a Sargent gave me great advice which was to always do the drills on the right. So far this has been working well for me.  I will be sure to keep an eye on this thread for comments from those of you who are longer in the tooth. 
Cheers.
Penny
 
Instead of switching sides in shooting barriers etc you are better off moving the weapon to the other side of the body and keeping the same hands.
  Its unusual intially but much faster to transition from side to side. 
 
I'm left handed, left eye dominant, and I shoot right handed with my right eye.  I tried shooting with my left, but it was awkward and my instructors told me I was not comfortable doing that so either shoot with my right eye, or shoot left handed.  Since I'd practiced all the drills right handed, and didn't think the range was a good place to be messing around, I switched to my right eye.  I still scored highly on my PWT 1.
 
I learned to shoot with both hands and both eyes. Practice makes perfect. Focusing on a specific method of shooting limits our ability to deal with
"problems" . Funny thing is that at 14 I was loading autos one handed and jacking the action off of my heel. Then I joined the CF and everything became "By the book" with all the crap and bitching that that entailed. Left handed?right handed? how about you shoot he F***ing target. The more time I spend with the CF the more I appreciate shooting with my father, and the less I care what the military wants me to do on the range.

When loading out of the right side of my vest I switch to shooting left handed, when shooting off of bipods I shoot left handed so I manipulate the bolt and brace with my right hand. If you do it enough everything will seem natural.
 
I can definitely see the advantage to shooting ambidextrous.  Its something I probably should start practicing given the opportunity.
 
  The gunfighter program really has emphasized the problem with being cross eyed because of shooting with both eyes open.  I was shown a trick from another X man soldier... was to keep the left eye shut until you can aline the right eye on the sight and than open the left.  This seems to be working with a great deal of practice.  However, that being said, the initial start of the both eyes open shooting really emphasized the left eye dominance problem.   

Does being a cross eyed shooter effect sight alignment, and if so does that mean switching from right to left eye effect sight alignment.

V
 
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