Just going to toss out a couple unusual topics I have encountered during training. Perhaps you have tried this, if not it might be worth trying.
The behind the scenes story… It was an early morning headed out to an advanced 8 hour pistol class where we would shoot between 500 and 750 rounds during the day. A friend was taking the class with me and we stopped at the paper box to grab the paper as we were leaving. I was promptly bit on my right hand 4 times by some PO’d yellow Jackets… and I am allergic. My right hand swelled up to 3 times its size, didnt need an epi-pen and wasnt going to miss the class I had been waiting for for 4 months.
The instructors had me shoot the entire course left handed using my right eye for sighting the entire day. I did really well to my great surprise. "The instructors were great, said as long as uou have the sights lined up you will hit the target. Pistol dosent care which hand it is in"
I had never really thought about it before. I had done left hand shooting before and it was ok but also tried using my left eye and it was awkward.
Never know what condition you may be in and end up having to defend yourself. This really sunk in to me. Now I practice this left hand right eye shooting at least a bit every time I shoot.
Just curious, did they give a reason for continuing to use the right eye as dominant? And did you shoot right eye open, left eye closed or both open giving weight to the right eye? Thanks for sharing and glad you were still able to complete the class and do well left handed.
No specific reason. I am at a stage where my eyesight is changing. I have a bit better vision in my right eye than my left… Maybe twice as good. I dont wear distance glasses, only reading and there I do notice a pretty good difference in vision between left vs right, right being much better.
They didnt mention keeping both eyes open, I think at the beginning I kept my left eye shut and maybe started experimenting with both eyes open maybe 1/4 way into the course and bounced back and forth from then on. Under normal circumstances I shoot with both eyes open.
So short answer is I am right eye dominant and do have better vision in that eye. I suppose they could see my frustration and accommodated it by just saying use my right eye. Since then I have started doing some shooting using my left eye, but it feels strange still and my groups reflect this.
I do practice support/off handed shooting with my .22 lr pistol (not quite ready to do it w/ a big boy caliber just yet), and I use my dominant eye when I do it. Once I get my Rami, & start shooting 9 mm, I will transition to practicing with my off hand also. Right now I am concentrating on smooth even DA trigger pull, as well as hitting the target. So far I’m doing pretty good
Well, YOU are way ahead of many people. I salute you! With todays ammo prices and availability I have resorted to .22 LR. Its just fun and much more affordable. If you have been practicing with the .22 I would expect moving to a larger caliber will be an easy transition. A bit different, but not much. When times allow, give it a try.
Keep training. During each session take a moment to try/practice new challenges. You will be way ahead of the curve.
When I shoot it is usually for fun. But I keep different challenges to myself in mind and at least give a few shots each session to the unusual shooting styles. Dont get discouraged, just do it. In time it will ll come together. In a crisis situation these skills will give you confidence and and extra level of security.
I applaud you!
I’m right there with you! Thanks for your answer. I asked because I used to be a firearms instructor, back when we were using flint lock pistols. And we would debate between instructors which method was best when switching to weak hand, dominant eye or weak hand eye. Thanks again.
I have always heard this… keep both eyes open. I bounce back and forth. Never heard a reason why but can make some guesses from experience. If I am doing slow, precision shooting, I will tend to close my left eye. If in the field I will generally keep both eyes open to stay aware of movement nearby. Cant actually distinguish anything since I am concentrating on the shot, but you do pick up on movement in the prefereal vicinity which I suspect in a dangerous encounter would be very valuable. I honestly dont know. Do you have any references to the logic? I would be very interested to check it out.
Perhaps when precision shooting or long range shooting all your attention needs to be more focussed as thete is much more to dwell.on. also perhaps cross eye dominance you hold your weapon more to that side. Just guessing, never gave it much thought
A tip that I have seen is to turn your head a little. The Boss was having some trouble figuring out if she really was right or left eye dominant. If your right eye dominant, turning your head to the left a couple of degrees ensures that your dominant eye takes over. Do the opposite if your left eye dominant .
There is a test you can do to find if you are left or right eye dominant (you can Google how to do it). I have been shooting for nearly 50 years, qualified marksman and maintained it in both rifle and pistol for my whole 20 year military career and I’ll be damned if I didn’t find out that I’m right eye dominant yet I shoot and sight with my left hand and eye lol. I’ll stick with lefty YMMV…
Been training with both right hand and left hand, my reason is you never know when, I’m a righty and found when I shoot with my left hand my right eye is still dominant. I feel I’m at about 90% accurate now with my left.
My point is TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN and also TRAIN.
Keep moving forward everyone.
And we would debate between instructors which method was best when switching to weak hand, dominant eye or weak hand eye. Thanks again.