Cross-Dominant Shooter? Fixes, Drills, and Gear That Work

Last week we covered how to find your master eye and why it matters. If your test showed that you are cross-dominant, meaning your dominant eye is on the opposite side from your shooting hand, you are in good company, and it is very fixable. Here is what instructors and published sources recommend, plus some drills to put it into practice. See the original post: Know Your Master Eye: Why Eye Dominance Matters in Shooting.

First, Make Sure You Are Really Cross-Dominant

Run the test more than once. The chief instructor of the National Sporting Clays Association points out that he often sees shooters who think they favor one eye but are actually center ocular, meaning neither eye is clearly in charge. Those shooters would have the same trouble after switching shoulders. A few minutes with an experienced instructor can sort this out before you change anything about how you shoot.

Handgun Fixes

A handgun sits between your eyes, which makes it the easiest firearm to adjust for cross-dominance. These are the most common approaches:

Shift the gun toward your dominant eye. Many cross-dominant pistol shooters move the hands and gun in front of the dominant eye with their stance, or cant the gun slightly toward it, so they can keep both eyes open.
Keep both eyes open when you can. It is the most commonly recommended method. If you cannot get a clear sight picture, some shooters wink or squint the other eye just long enough to take the shot.
Consider your sights. A wide-notch rear sight paired with a high-visibility front sight can help, and a mini red dot lets many cross-dominant shooters keep both eyes open without any special technique.
Try a dot or blinder. A small translucent dot on the shooting-glasses lens in front of your non-dominant eye, or a small blinder clipped to your glasses or hat brim, can quiet the competing image.

A note on technique: instructors do not all agree. Some teach shifting the gun in front of the dominant eye, while some NRA instructors prefer to teach the shooter to use the hand on the same side as the dominant eye. That is one more reason to get coaching early, before a habit sets in.

Rifles and Shotguns

A rifle or shotgun is fixed to your shoulder, so the options are different. Shooting Illustrated, the NRA magazine, lays out three choices: close the dominant eye, move the gun to the shoulder on your dominant-eye side, or train the other eye to do the work. The author notes there is no cut-and-dry rule, and that some shooters do better on their strong-hand side while others do better switching, so it is worth trying both.

The NSCA instructor adds that a new shooter who is just starting out is usually best served by learning on the dominant-eye side. An experienced shooter who does not want to switch can work with winking, a dot on the glasses, or enough practice to build the right sight picture. For shotguns, shooting with both eyes open generally means the gun needs to be mounted so your dominant eye lines up with the barrel.

Drills to Build the Sight Picture

Safety first: dry fire only with a firearm you have personally verified is unloaded, with all ammunition removed from the room, and pointed in a safe direction. Then work through these:

Slow dry fire. Focus on sight alignment, a consistent head position (cheek weld on a rifle), and a smooth trigger press.
Slow, close-range live fire. Build a clean sight picture and trigger press before adding speed.
Both-eyes-open repetitions. Work toward shooting with both eyes open a little at a time. It takes patience and consistency.
Target transitions. Once your sight picture is consistent, practice moving from one target to the next without losing it.

Some shooters retrain the eye itself by blocking the dominant eye and aiming with the other. Plan on many hours of dry fire followed by many hours of live fire, and expect it to be harder than switching hands.

Recheck and Get a Second Set of Eyes

Eye dominance is usually stable, but retest after any eye surgery, injury, or big change in your vision. And if you are cross-dominant or unsure, a short session with an instructor can save you months of frustration. Tri-State Training offers private lessons in Martinsburg, WV, and we can sort out your master eye and build a plan that fits how you shoot. Call 301.988.0809, email tristatetrainer@gmail.com, or visit tristatetraining.org.

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