Changing your shooting eye

[eeler1]

I've been a right handed and right eyed shooter all my life, as most of us are.  But, I went to the eye doctor, and it turns out I have macular degeneration (dry, the 'good' kind!) in my right eye, my shooting eye.  It's like having a blind spot right in the middle of the retina.  Oddly, the peripheral vision is ok, but I haven't been able to compensate by looking near, but not at, the crosshairs.  I had noticed it's more difficult to see the crosshairs but thought I was just getting old and the eyes getting weak.  Or maybe I had just become a bad shot. 

The doctor suggested shooting with my left eye!  It's been very uncomfortable, shouldering on the left side, pulling the trigger with the left hand, etc.  So I'm wondering if any of you have had to switch eyes, for this or other reasons, and can offer any advice on how to go about it? 

[Novagun]

I amright eye domibant but left handed and shoot left handed . I got a cataract in my left eye and that interfered with my shooting. I had to change to right hand shooting for a while. In the beginning it was uncomfortable to mildly painful while the neck mussles got used to tilting the head in the opiosite direction . It took perseverance to make the change but I got there. I could shoot to my standard from the right.  When the cataract was fixed I went back to left as that is natural to me  .

[airgunaut]

At least one airgunner (might've been Moke) wrote about having had to learn to shoot with his nondominant eye. Then when he got cataract surgeries done, he switched back again.

Have you tried shooting cross dominant with a pistol? It might be physically easier than with a rifle. I'm right-right dominant but do pistol practice using alternate trigger hands with the dominant right eye. In your case it'd be the normally dominant shooting hand with the subordinate eye--should be doable.

When I tried shooting rifle left-hand dominant with right eye it was so physically awkward I quit. I chose not to try left-left, but you don't have that option.

[splitbeing]

If memory serves, Tim had something to say about this not so long ago.

But memory is a funny thing.

[Nukall856]

 I do at times shoot left handed just to mix things up. It feels new and odd like I'm new to shooting, swaying POA and trying to feel my trigger the way my right hand travels on triggers. It is a challenge but feels like it can be mastered with enough practice.
 Shooting lefty last year I took out Large feathers from 35 yards. I was on the ATV when on the right I was presented with a good shot. So instead of switching positions I took the shot left handed. Good shot, feathers down. Once in a while I do shoot lefty but it is usually not as accurate as shooting from my right side. Shooting left I'm sure it can be developed like any other skill.

NVak

[airgunaut]

I do at times shoot left handed just to mix things up. It feels new and odd like I'm new to shooting, swaying POA and trying to feel my trigger the way my right hand travels on triggers. It is a challenge but feels like it can be mastered with enough practice.
 Shooting lefty last year I took out Large feathers from 35 yards. I was on the ATV when on the right I was presented with a good shot. So instead of switching positions I took the shot left handed. Good shot, feathers down. Once in a while I do shoot lefty but it is usually not as accurate as shooting from my right side. Shooting left I'm sure it can be developed like any other skill.

NVak

Switching the turn of the body sure comes in handy for shots from awkward spaces or positions. Could be a lifesaver in a true SD situation with a PB pistol.

It's good reading how people have managed to shoot in ways that are not natural to their handedness. I need to try left hand and left eye  with the rifle. This topic does not come up that often, but with age-related eyesight degradation, most of us are likely to face similar challenges.

[Novagun]

Pistol shooting is different for me. I shoot right eye but left hand.. better for me than right eye and right hand.

[lefteyeshot]

Many years ago I blew a vien on the retina of my right eye. High BP. Blind spot right where I focused on the sight or reticle. Learned to shoot left hand. That how I got into air guns. No fixing the eye so it had to work. I learned to shoot in the Army. The mechanics of it switch right over. Hardest part was trigger finger control. Natural now. I only shoot off a bench. I still shoot pistol right hand, left eye. This explains my handle. Just stick with it.

[splitbeing]

There it is! Thanks, Tim!

[airgunaut]

Pistol shooting is different for me. I shoot right eye but left hand.. better for me than right eye and right hand.

Right eye and right hand is my normal dominance, but after practicing both ways, now the left hand with right eye is as good as--or better than--the "normal way." Some days one is better than the other. The ergonomics of left hand with right eye seem more consistent.

With a rifle, not so. I will try left-left and hope things don't get too confusing.

[eeler1]

My left eye is actually dominant, I shot a bow left handed, but it didn't feel too strange because I started out that way.  I'm 20/20 with glasses in my left eye, so might as well start shooting with glasses on while I'm switching sides.  That's 2 changes at once.  I gather that switching is do-able, but will take some practice to re-train and become natural.  Starting today, if I get some time later.

[lefteyeshot]

When I was younger I was right handed and right eye domiant. Now I can see with both eye okay. I just can't see the sights with my right eye. The lower inside of my right eye view is a blurr. After about two years of shooting left hand, 2011/2013, using the thumb method, my left eye became dominat. Seems the body, brain and eye will adjust. I'm still right handed with everything else like writing.

I saw a thread here in GTA few years ago where a guy's wife was right handed/left eye dominant. He fabricated her a scope mount that placed her scope a couple of inches left of the rifle so she could shoot right hand but aim with her left eye.

[splitbeing]

When I was younger I was right handed and right eye domiant. Now I can see with both eye okay. I just can't see the sights with my right eye. The lower inside of my right eye view is a blurr. After about two years of shooting left hand, 2011/2013, using the thumb method, my left eye became dominat. Seems the body, brain and eye will adjust. I'm still right handed with everything else like writing.

I saw a thread here in GTA few years ago where a guy's wife was right handed/left eye dominant. He fabricated her a scope mount that placed her scope a couple of inches left of the rifle so she could shoot right hand but aim with her left eye.

I think Tom Gaylord's wife, Edith, has a gun set up for her that way.

[airgunaut]

The brain does adapt. I used to do a lot of photography and switched eyes when looking through the viewfinder.

[Blowpipe Sam]

I have hemispherical confusion and I don’t have a dominant hand but I am right eye dominant.  I can shoot equally well left or right handed with a rifle but I’m slightly better left handed with a pistol because my left eye vision is better and I can focus the sight picture better.  For the last two months I’ve been shooting pretty much exclusively left handed after surgery to my right shoulder.  Years ago shooting right hand biased (bolt) guns annoyed me.  Now it doesn’t bother me at all.