View Full Version : I have a dilemma
Baklash
03-12-2014, 09:58 PM
I'm naturally left handed but very ambidextrous since it's a right handed world. I can comfortably shoot my CW9 with either hand. However, I am right eye dominate. I don't really notice any difference shooting left or right handed, but I'm wondering if I should stick with right handed. Are there other considerations or reasons to go with one or the other since I am right eye dominate? Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. But I need to buy a good IWB holster and don't want to make a costly mistake. Right now I'm so confuuusssssed. :confused:
b4uqzme
03-12-2014, 10:03 PM
Sounds like you should shoot right-hand dominant too.
Bawanna
03-13-2014, 12:21 AM
I have several cross dominant officers a work. Strong right hand, but left eye dominant. They all carry the handgun on the strong hand side since it's easy to shift over and sight with the other eye.
With rifle or shotgun you don't have that luxury. You need to shoot from your dominant eye side. You can retrain your body but you can't retrain your eyes.
Tough for them sometimes finding what they want in a left hand configuration.
muggsy
03-13-2014, 06:31 AM
I'm right handed and right eye dominant, but since my cataract surgery I've had to learn to shoot with my left eye. When your lenses are replaced one is for close up vision and the other is for distance. My close up vision lens was placed in my left eye and distance in my right. I can't see the front sight clearly through my right, but it'sin sharp focus with my left. Which eye gets the close up lens is something to consider if you are having cataract surgery. It's your choice.
AJBert
03-13-2014, 12:24 PM
I've got the exact opposite problem you do, left eye dominant, ambidextrous but lean much more to using right hand.
My problem was solved for me at a young tender age: Shooting a rifle right handed and getting smacked up side the head every time I went to use my left eye. Even though I am still left eye dominant I only use my right eye when shooting. When I shoot weak hand pistol, left hand, I still use my right eye just out of habit.
itsthelaw
03-13-2014, 02:02 PM
I am right hand and left eye dominant. At the age of 12, I gave myself a scar on my nose from the scope of a 30.06 that I still have today. I thought about changing hands with a handgun, but was just too inefficient with my left hand. With a subtle tilt/turn of my head, my left eye takes over. I would use your strongest hand and strongest eye with a handgun.
Baklash, no you're not making a mountain out of a molehill. It's far better to ask now, and get started on the right foot, than to develop poor habits that you'll have to reverse later.
Guns should be shot from the side of the dominant eye. This is especially true with long guns, but also with pistols. One can get by shooting a handgun with a cross-dominant eye in certain situations, but it's less than ideal. For example, when shooting from an isosceles position, the pistol is held directly in front of you and at arms-length away. It doesn't take much of a head adjustment to align the dominant eye with the sights of the gun. So in this situation, you can get away with shooting with your dominant hand.
However, when the gun is held closer to your body, as is the case in the Weaver position (elbows bent), aligning your cross-dominant eye with the sights will require you to cock your head significantly. Besides being less comfortable than looking straight ahead, in a self-defense situation, it is best to keep your head facing forward, so that both eyes can continue to assess potential threats. Shooting cross-dominant won't allow you to do that.
You state you have developed good dexterity on your weak side, so I encourage you to shoot from the side of your dominant eye (your weak hand). In doing so, you will shoot from isosceles, Weaver, or Chapman positions with equal efficiency.
b4uqzme
03-13-2014, 07:05 PM
^^^ that's what I said. ;)
Baklash
03-13-2014, 08:29 PM
Thanks for all the comments. Sounds like a consensus.....I'll go with the right side. That way I can hold a beer in my left.
Wow, that was easy!:D
WMac19
03-14-2014, 04:07 AM
My eye dominance has actually changed. I was always right handed and right eye dominant. But with my vision deteriorating more rapidly in my right eye, the left has assumed dominance.
Took a while to figure out because I only shoot handguns and only point and shoot when I do. At least now when I do aim, it kinda works. ;-)
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