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Non dominant hand shooting

Lsimpson55

Lsimpson55

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I’ve heard of right handed athletes competing at the elite level using their non dominant hand, I was wondering if there are shooters out there who shoot the same. Still fairly new to shooting, so I’m looking for helpful information from the community.
 
Lsimpson55 said:
I’ve heard of right handed athletes competing at the elite level using their non dominant hand, I was wondering if there are shooters out there who shoot the same. Still fairly new to shooting, so I’m looking for helpful information from the community.
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I am right handed, left eye dominant.
I shoot pistols right handed and rifles left handed.
I have learned to shoot pistols left handed as well and it comes extremely naturally due to being left eye dom. I’m not as proficient for me left handed but I can do it
 
I am left eye dominant as well. I shoot rifles equally well both ways and in my experience, with scopes and especially red dots eye dominance doesn't mean much. When I'm hunting it depends on which side of me the deer is as to which way I'll shoot since I am almost always on the ground, backed up against a tree.
With handguns I have modified my draw and stance to have the sights line up with my left eye and I shoot with both eyes open. It is a very subtle/slight adjustment and when I figured out I was cross eye dominant, that was my solution and I shoot a lot better now. The important part is training yourself to shoot with both eyes open. I prefer to shoot handguns right handed, but I often drill shooting weak side. I am not as fast or accurate, but I am getting better.
 
You are wondering if there are any shooters out there who shoot at an elite level ( offhanded)? I am sure that there are.
That said, how does this revelation effect you and your plans? Are you wanting to participate in gun games or are you interested in self defense/fighting skill?
 
KASHIRA-3 said:
You are wondering if there are any shooters out there who shoot at an elite level ( offhanded)? I am sure that there are.
That said, how does this revelation effect you and your plans? Are you wanting to participate in gun games or are you interested in self defense/fighting skill?
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I am dominant In my left eye due to astigmatism and wouldn’t trust my right eye at all. I’ve been shooting right handed for a while, but started playing with holding it in my left hand and seem to be more accurate. So I used athletes like Lebron( shoots left handed, but a right handed person) as an example to see if anyone in the shooting community does this too
 
Lsimpson55 said:
I am dominant In my left eye due to astigmatism and wouldn’t trust my right eye at all. I’ve been shooting right handed for a while, but started playing with holding it in my left hand and seem to be more accurate. So I used athletes like Lebron( shoots left handed, but a right handed person) as an example to see if anyone in the shooting community does this too
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If you are cross eye dominant there really are only a couple choices. You can do what I described above or you can shoot left handed. It's much easier switching hands when cross eye dominance is discovered when you are young and conversely it's much more difficult to do when you are older because you've been using your right hand for your whole life. It can probably be done though. You'll need lots of ammo.
 
Lsimpson55 said:
I am dominant In my left eye due to astigmatism and wouldn’t trust my right eye at all. I’ve been shooting right handed for a while, but started playing with holding it in my left hand and seem to be more accurate. So I used athletes like Lebron( shoots left handed, but a right handed person) as an example to see if anyone in the shooting community does this too
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I am cross dominant and I have always done just fine in any training I have received or any proficiency examination. Just speaking for myself, I would shoot with the hand that feels most natural and not worry about the eye thing. I shoot left handed and am right eye dominant. I can tell you for certain that I am not an elite marksman and doubt it has anything to do with my cross dominance. I do accept that I could probably shoot "a little" better if I was not cross dominant.

Nobody is trying to be less accurate but [if] you have been properly trained to fight and have a decent level of personal grit, I seriously doubt that a minuscule reduction in absolute accuracy ( due to cross dominance) is going to actually matter in a gunfight. This is assuming that you at least have a passible skill in regards to marksmanship. Passible being barely average to average. Fighting prowess is about many things, not just who is the best shot. If you have passible marksmanship skills, are squared away on armed fighting tactics, are resolute about what must be done and lack emotional or moral confliction.. you are probably Gold.

I would rather go through a door with someone who has lack luster/barely average shooting skills but is squared away on fighting tactics than I would some elite shooter who has not been trained to fight.
 
KASHIRA-3 said:
I am cross dominant and I have always done just fine in any training I have received or any proficiency examination. Just speaking for myself, I would shoot with the hand that feels most natural and not worry about the eye thing. I shoot left handed and am right eye dominant. I can tell you for certain that I am not an elite marksman and doubt it has anything to do with my cross dominance. I do accept that I could probably shoot "a little" better if I was not cross dominant.

Nobody is trying to be less accurate but [if] you have been properly trained to fight and have a decent level of personal grit, I seriously doubt that a minuscule reduction in absolute accuracy ( due to cross dominance) is going to actually matter in a gunfight. This is assuming that you at least have a passible skill in regards to marksmanship. Passible being barely average to average. Fighting prowess is about many things, not just who is the best shot. If you have passible marksmanship skills, are squared away on armed fighting tactics, are resolute about what must be done and lack emotional or moral confliction.. you are probably Gold.

I would rather go through a door with someone who has lack luster/barely average shooting skills but is squared away on fighting tactics than I would some elite shooter who has not been trained to fight.
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While I generally agree with this, it doesn't seem to me the OP is asking in reference to gunfighting. Sounds more like competition shooting. I also can tell you from my experience that the difference in accuracy is more than miniscule.
 
Haven’t really thought about competition shooting, or a gunfight, just a guy who is looking to be accurate when it’s needed. I’m a martial artist so I’m always trying to master a new craft/ art.
 
Bassbob said:
While I generally agree with this, it doesn't seem to me the OP is asking in reference to gunfighting. Sounds more like competition shooting. I also can tell you from my experience that the difference in accuracy is more than miniscule.
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Brother, you can get all into the weeds about the difference if you want. I stand by my general point .
 
Lsimpson55 said:
Haven’t really thought about competition shooting, or a gunfight, just a guy who is looking to be accurate when it’s needed. I’m a martial artist so I’m always trying to master a new craft/ art.
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Well, if your goal is to shoot a jelly bean off of a golf tea.. I guess cross dominance might be a little bit of a hiccup. Especially as the distances grow.. so will the variance. This is why I asked for some context.

Combat shooting and bulls eye shooting are very different kwans.
 
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We deal with cross dominance in our classes frequently-testing for it is one of the first steps in marksmanship training. Every instructor course I have attended has a component of non-dominant hand shooting, and always extracts groans from the students. Here you are dealing with vision, as well as dexterity and strength issues with the non dominant hand. Once you know you have cross dominance, it is simple to compensate for. There are several strategies. One that is used most often is to simply close the dominant eye, thereby forcing the non dominant eye to do the work with the dominant hand. Of course you lose some of your peripheral vision when you do that. Another method is to adjust the presentation of the pistol over to the dominant eye-we are only talking about a couple inches. Most recently red dot sights on pistols have come into favor. One advantage of the RDS pistol sight is that eye dominance doesn't matter-you leave both eyes open, focus on the target, and put the red dot in the middle of the target
 
HayesGreener said:
We deal with cross dominance in our classes frequently-testing for it is one of the first steps in marksmanship training. Every instructor course I have attended has a component of non-dominant hand shooting, and always extracts groans from the students. Here you are dealing with vision, as well as dexterity and strength issues with the non dominant hand. Once you know you have cross dominance, it is simple to compensate for. There are several strategies. One that is used most often is to simply close the dominant eye, thereby forcing the non dominant eye to do the work with the dominant hand. Of course you lose some of your peripheral vision when you do that. Another method is to adjust the presentation of the pistol over to the dominant eye-we are only talking about a couple inches. Most recently red dot sights on pistols have come into favor. One advantage of the RDS pistol sight is that eye dominance doesn't matter-you leave both eyes open, focus on the target, and put the red dot in the middle of the target
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Cross dominance is important with any tool like guns. Is a very conscience decision. Practice helps. Over the years have used both arms, hands and fingers to balance out grip, other muscle strength and dexterity. It also greatly helps when one hand can't quite grasp whatever tool from different positions. Even if just grabbing coffee cup with one hand or another, it helps. Now, if could just get doctors to write with correct hand may be able to decipher their writing? :)
 
I have a close friend of 60 years who I envy-he is truly ambidextrous. When I put him through a pistol course and asked him which hand, he said it didn't matter, and it didn't, he did just as well with one as with another. I think because he started using his hands interchangeably from childhood. But the dominant eye is still a factor.
 
Lsimpson55 said:
I’ve heard of right handed athletes competing at the elite level using their non dominant hand, I was wondering if there are shooters out there who shoot the same. Still fairly new to shooting, so I’m looking for helpful information from the community.
Click to expand...
I shoot support hand only all the time in competition - I don't use it as a training boon for shooting freestyle or stronghand only. It's good to force you to go through all of the fundamentals of grip and stance before addressing the trigger but it's not a boon to your freestyle shooting. Strong Hand Only can be a boon to your freestyle shooting - however.
 
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