Team SIG Pro Shooter, Lena Miculek, discusses eye dominance and how to compensate for cross-dominance (ex. right handed shooters who are left eye dominant) while shooting the P320.
I know this video came out 3 years ago, but I do want to say it really helped my wife, who is cross eye dominate, up her game tremendously. Since I am lefty and left eye dominate, it never was an issue with me so I found it hard to teach her how to shoot cross dominance. I did watch some videos , but none of them made it so simple as this one did. Lena, you are a great teacher! Some try to be so complicated and complex in their answers and forget the KISS principle. Today at the range she was so much better than last time at the range two weeks ago that it was night and day. Thank you! P.S. We just used to do the whole make your head more tilted to make up for it which was uncomfortable, and not that good.
Watched several of her teaching videos - not sure how they were recommended to me since I don't shot - and I've come to the conclusion that she is one of the best instructors on RU-vid.
I am also cross eyed dominant. I’ve been closing my left eye for 30 years. It’s now second nature to me. I get told all the time that I’m shooting the wrong way, but it is the only way it works for me. Great tips.
Same. For some things it's actually an advantage. Running a right-handed bolt rifle with the strong hand while prone or on the bench, or stress loading of a shotgun with the strong hand while maintaining firing grip. Takes a bit of practice to get the shouldering and footwork right, but that's a helluva lot easier than switching eye dominance.
I`m the same, I find if I bury my chin in my right shoulder, that works for me, but it doesnt go well for the peripheral vision, but practiced, I can go from the holster on target quite quick, practice what you feel comfortable with and you find natural.
I’m the same way. From my military training I just got really fluent using the rifle like a lefty for my dominant left eye and had my pistol on my right and did what she said. Became a nuclear advanced designated marksman that way. Plus your eye can grow stronger the more you train it down a scope.
I've tested my dominance countless times. I am very strongly left eye dominant. But I'm right handed. I started using my left eye for pistols very early on, and it would kink my neck so bad. I was discouraged from pistols. But I started again. I started pulling the sight to about an inch right of my right eye, and I brought it left until I had a clear sight picture on my right eye. I left both eyes open on purpose, to train my eye and my hand. Now i am still very much left eye dominant, my brain switches dominance when I have a pistol in hand. It took years of practice, but I am very happy with the result.
I am now 50 and left handed. I have been shooting since I was 8-9 years old left handed. Learned about eye dominance from an instructor and found out I was cross dominant when I was 42. My solution was to learn to shoot right handed. Within 3-4 months I was shooting better than had my whole life. Today picking up a gun right handed is completely natural.
Great video! My wife is cross eye dominate and it took us a while to figure it out. I tend to close my weak eye even though all the shooting gurus say you shouldn't.
What's ironic is that I do close my left eye when shooting my shotguns but i keep both eyes open while shooting revolvers or pistols but my right eye is my dominate eye and being right handed shooter !!!!
My eyes fight for dominance. What helps me is turning my head a little to the right (right handed) so my eyes are more in line. It helps me focus a lot faster and still keep both eyes open with most of my peripheral vision.
As the Range Master at the Military Police School for pistol qualification, eye dominance was a major issue with female shooters. After testing them, similar to your video, they would constantly switch to the non shooting side mid qualification and. Were all over the target. The big problem then was that they wanted to argue with you even when the instructor was standing beside them and watch them shift eyes on the pistol. This was years ago. Hopefully there are more effective training methods now.
That's the best explanation and suggestion I've seen on eye dominance...I'm a righty with left eye dominance. That makes for lots of missed shots on quail.
Ms. Miculek: Thank you for the great tip and information. I like the tape on the eye trick and need to try this with my youngest sister while she continues to train. P..S : Love SIg products and happy to see you have a great sponsor.
About to get a 320x for carry Love this young ladies videos as much as her fathers My shooting has improved 200% since I started watching their channel Bravo!!!
Thanks for the video. It’s nice to know I’m not as much of a weirdo as I thought. I’m cross eye dominant and have just learned to shoot handguns right handed and long guns left handed. As a result, I also can do extremely well with off hand shooting with each platform. It has served me well for more than a thirty year career carrying weapons for a living. P.S. Feel free to point a fully loaded gun at the camera all you’d like. You can even fire at the camera. Why would I freak out since it is just a pair of cameras sitting on tripods?
Well she shouldn't point her gun at anything she doesn't want to destroy. I don't mind at all, but yeah... Some rules are written, and some others aren't. Could be a RU-vid etiquette that we don't know
I've seen videos where her dad describes wrapping grip tape on the front of certain trigger guards to wrap fingers around it to help with recoil control.
Great tips in this video! As a (mostly) right handed shooter with clearly left eye dominance, this became a challenge when my formerly 20/10 vision changed as I got older. My right eye has “better” visual acuity now, so training myself to use it (when shooting right handed) has been interesting to say the least. Shooting left handed, the left eye still does the job. But I’m going to employ presenting the weapon in front of my right eye, and maybe try the “cheater” thing on the left lens of the shooting glasses to reinforce the sight picture. Absolutely outstanding video, Lena! Concise, to the point, informative, and helpful. I’ll be tuning in for more good stuff. We should never be too old to learn new stuff 😎. Thanks!
Very good vid Lena. Most people don't even know about eye dominance. My brother is cross eye dominant, right handed left eye dominate he shoots rifles left handed but shoots hand guns right handed and shifts the gun to his left like you demonstrated. He bought a Dessert Eagle in 50AE and when he fires it the ejected brass hits him square in the fore head.
Ok hope this helps someone… it’s rare but you may be like me. Neither side of my eyes are dominant, so I found that wherever the target is, the closer eye is dominant one. Shooting to the left at a target the left eye is more accurate or shooting to the right the right is more accurate …. If down the center you have to pick which eye to shoot with…. If you get enough practice you will get it. I am right handed and shoot with my right mostly, what is weird though is if I hold a camera I always use my left eye. With a pistol I prefer my right side, with a rifle I prefer my left side.
I am right handed and "test" right eye dominant. With handguns I have always had a better sight picture sighting with the left eye. Using the left eye I can keep both eyes open and it just works better for me. Nice to know I'm not the only one who might have this issue.
Good explanation of having a strong non dominant eye. I'm right handed, right eye dominant with a strong left eye. Strong enough that I can shoot left handed almost as well as right handed. I shoot archery equally well on my left as my right (2 identical bows, one LH and one RH) I also can shoot 2 pistols alternating right and left like in the westerns.
Instructors showed me exactly like she did. Bringing closer to under left eye. Also tilt gun just slightly. (No wer near sideways) movie style lol. If I remember these steps I’m right on. Hope this helps others. Helped me allot. Was always low left
... this is good.. Lena knows her stuff...as a Trap shooter being right handed.. I always shot with both eyes open... it make a huge difference.. try it both ways and you will "see"..!!
I'm cross eye dominate and had trouble shooting without closing the right eye. I found turning my head slightly helps so much it. Then I started using red dot on my rifle where I shoot right handed and with my right eye and have no trouble shooting with both eyes open. So I got a RMR for my pistol and havent been happier. Red dot on pistol is probably going to be standard on pistols in few years I think.
Great topic!! When I turned 50 I had an issue with my right eye, ‘macular degeneration’ which I had a bleeder on the back of my retina. They had to do a cold laser of the bleeder to seal it and save my vision. But this also destroys that portion of the retina. I really like to shoot pistols ‘and this caused me to lose my center vision. Turns out I am left eye dominant when shooting my handguns plus being right handed and the eye problem did not affect my pistol shooting , which would have really sucked. Deer hunting I have to use the left eye looking through the scope and feels odd but doable. Shotgun I have a hard time with the swing of the gun with Skeet and Sporting clays and don’t remember attempting trap. But at least I still can pistol shoot which is what I enjoy at 62 now. Best to all and put it in the 10 ring.
I have a friend with a similar problem. He's right-handed but left-eye dominant. He still holds a rifle right-handed but looks through the scope with his left eye. Does quite well as I guess it just comes down to what you get used to.
Eye dominance is a problem for me. When I go to my range I need to check which of my eyes are dominant. Typically left is dominant, but then sometimes not. Slightly closing my less dominant eye works also. I'll try some of your other tips too. Helpful video.
I am right eye dominant however everytime i try shooting with boy eyes open im a horrible shot. Also have found im way more accurate with a revolver regardless the size caliber than I am with a semi auto. Love learning and hearing new tips.
I’m left eye dominant, right handed shooter. Pistol I can keep both eyes open and shoot with dominant eye but for rifle, shotgun and archery, I’ve always had to close left eye and shoot with right eye with very good results. Everyone just has to use what works best for themselves
I’ve been shooting for over 25 years. I was originally right eye dominant, but now that eye is losing its sight. Yes, only the right eye. Now, I’m having the struggle of learning to shoot with my left. Like she said, I have to close my right eye for me to be quick and successful. If I do not close my eye, it’s a struggle because the dominance and habit fight each other. Really sucks to shoot rifles.
Thanks Lena! I'm like you, and everyone always seems to say close my right eye and use my dominant eye only, but I close the dominant one partially which works (and still keeps enough peripheral view) but I also do this bc I want to shoot rifles right-handed so this keeps it consistent using my right eye. Great, helpful video!
Funny. I shoot shotty and rifle right hand and right eye. With pistol I need the German wink for either hand. Because I am mostly left handed(mostly because I’ve had enough casts from broken bones to have years of training as a righty) and left eye dominate but .... not enough. When I joined the Navy over 20 years ago, I was asked if I shot scope right eye a lot because it is as strong as my left but at farther distance. Like arms length plus 6” or more. And I did. I guess it’s more about how fast your eye focuses at different distances. It’s hard to explain but even when doing a task with either hand if you listen to yourself you can feel your brain separating hemispheres. I still have more than good vision at over 40. And I shoot left or right I just prefer left for pistols and right for long guns. Great video.
I'm cross eye dominate as well (right handed and left eye dominate). I either use a red dot (preferred choice) or I squint with my left eye, but don't close it, to let my right eye take over.
I’m cross eye dominant. Right handed and left eye. When I first started shooting I would close my left eye while aiming, it was only when a friend told me to keep both eyes open that I realized something was off.
Squinting your "dominant" eye while dry firing at home helped me a lot at first.. heck, I don't even know if my once dominant eye is even "dominant" now that I've gotten used to it.
Well damn, learn something new all the time. I love learning something new. I already knew I was left eye dominant and right hand shooter but, she taught me something. The first demonstration she performed, to determine dominance, I wasn’t aware of... it works! I’ve used other methods to check for dominant eye and this I’ll add to my bag of tricks😁 On another note, no denying she’s her father’s daughter. That apple didn’t fall far from the tree🙂
Cardboard tube is the best. Parents can try to talk to a child and confuse them one the two you said. If it is not going the way a parent wants, they talk to the kid. A tube goes to the dominant eye without any thought. Next problem is a left eye dominant person being told ignore the coach, I'm your parent. You will shoot right handed. Worked in sales for many years can't say how many times I have been through this.
I'm left eye dominant, but I have better vision from my right eye so I train both ways. I've found through the construction industry that I am better with my left hand if I use my left eye and better with my right hand if I use my right eye.
I like the cross eye dominance tape solution. I have two family members who are cross eye dominant and we have been struggling a little in the practice we have been doing recently.
It helped me, now it's natural to catch the front site with my right eye (right handed/left eye dominant).. heck, I don't even know if my left eye is considered to be "dominant" anymore.. Thing that helped the most is dry fire practice at home, also squinting your dominant eye a little helped at first also if not using eyewear with obstructed lense.
Being crosseye dominant has only impacted me on pistol platforms. Rifle and shotgun usually have a long enough sight radius to quickly establish that front sight or bead pretty quickly with the strong side eye despite being my weaker eye. For pistol, when I draw, I have a very slight turn of the head to my right which brings my left eye into the center of my body and allows for full peripheral vision and what I feel is a comfortable shooting platform (vice the cross body draw). It's all in how you train and the desired results but I would say that turning your head slightly versus losing that strong side eye entirely is something worth investigating further.
I’m left eye nominate but right handed. I shoot handgun right handed and make the necessary adjustments fairly easily. But, that adjustment is very difficult for a shoulder weapon. Hence, I’m the guy who shoots shoulder weapons, bow, billiard cue, left handed. I’ve developed such a good left handed trigger finger for the shoulder weapon, I have often thought of transitioning my handgun to the left hand.
I'm right handed and left eyed, so shoot rifle off the left shoulder and handgun from the right hand. In both instances aligning sights with my left eye. It's not a problem.
(R) eye dominant but (R) eye had an injury so it's a crap shoot which side grabs focus, to shoot I have to close or tape as you said. Problem is with a hammer and nails, if I get mixed signals I am off two inches to the left and my thumb pays the price.
As a novice shooter I was a dummy who didn’t understand this concept. RU-vid really wasn’t a great resource yet and this was rarely talked about. At one point I thought as a right handed cross dominant shooter I’d have to shoot left handed in order to shoot a rifle. Yeah, just rotate your head 10 degrees to the right. It’s that simple lol.
I have found out I am right eye dominate. I am left-handed. I just shot a rifle first time ever from the right shoulder and eye. First, try I hit the steel target. It feels so unnatural like I am fighting with everything. But I hope in time it will be natural as when I was doing it from my left side. And shooting pistol now I am pushing the gun out and pushing to the right learning new muscle memory.
Interesting Jeff Cooper would actually tilt his head to bring the dominant eye into the sights. I'm am a very weird semi ambi-dextrous and right cross eye dominant. No big deal for rifle shooting they both line up but With pistols I shoot with my left.
Generally speaking, right handed people are left brain dominant and left handed people are right brain dominant. I'm right handed and I tried to shoot right eye sighting. I was told about right handed left dominate so I switched and scores came right into the 10 ring and 98 scores.
i'm right handed but I'm left eye dominant,, I also do meticulous things with my left hand like working organizing stuff let's say a jar of screws I'm always using my left hand ... But I could never write with my left hand..I throw with my right arm and I write with my right arm and I'm stronger in my right arm.. The best way to find out your dominance go to eye dr...I always thought I was right eye dominant but I'm not
It would be such a blessing to be both right eye dominate AND right handed ... sadly, I'm not. If you blessed with that gift, you can shoot with both eyes open ... which makes you a much better shooter. Especially in a game like Sporting Clays.
I have no dominant side of eye or hand. In first grade, the teacher complained that I kept alternating hands when writing. I cannot shoot pistol with both eyes open, because whichever eye is aligned with the sights is then partly blocked by the sights so I automatically look at the target with the other eye, which doesn't work. I can shoot equally well with either hand, closing or putting tape over the opposite eye. Yes, those with strong eye dominance automatically ignore the other eye so do not need to close it.
That is cool. A while back I was watching the olympics where they ski, then shoot a target, and I saw a few people with small peice of tape on one side of the subglasses.
I seem to have an easier time getting a sight picture on with whichever eye the sight happens to be aligned under, and if I'm transitioning targets left to right, I have an easier time transitioning between eyes than maintaining a sight picture in either one. I'm also comfortable using either eye on a target directly in front of me, but will generally default to the left, despite being right handed. It's also quite difficult for me to acquire a sight picture with my left eye on a target to the right of me, and vice versa. I think I my eyes might be ambi. I'm new to shooting, but this seems like a pretty substantial advantage.
I'm right handed, shoot right handed, but seems im cross dominant, but use my left eye more due to my right eye doesn't see as clear as the left. Good info
my problem is. I am left-eye dominant and can draw left or right handed but most guns are right handed so they feel better drawing from the right side. Some days I shoot well left and other days I shoot better right-handed. I can't make up my mind if I should holster right or left-handed and just train until it becomes natural.
I'm left handed right eye dominate.. 🤫🤔 Use to turn my head a lil to use left eye. Or close right eye. Now I just use the right eye and been practicing to get sight picture faster.
Pay attention to which eye you bring a camera or telescope up to. That’s your dominant eye. My daughter is right handed but left eye dominant. She shoots a pistol right handed but long guns left handed.
My cross dominance changed after Lasik surgery. I went from being strongly cross dominant to hunting around for my front sight. Years after, I noticed I was squinting my left eye (right handed) from the draw just to check that my pistol was under my right eye. I still feel much less confident since the surgery. Perhaps I should try holding my left eye closed more or making an eye blind like was mentioned in the video.
The struggle is real... I write, eat left handed, bat, golf, play hockey right handed. I prefer to shoot right handed, but I am left eye dominant. The result, I shoot rifles left, and pistols right.
I am left eye dominant but shoot right handed. Actually I shoot with both hands bit prefer right handed. I feel like in the Weaver stance it's easy for me to get a sight picture with both eyes open. Simply moving the firearm in front of my left eye in isosceles doesn't seem to help. I think this is because my head is slightly angled away from the firearm in Weaver stance and I correct by looking slightly left, towards my dominant eye. I don't know if this is the correct thing to do or if I'm inducing parallax by doing this. If anyone has tips please chime in.
I’m right handed, left eye dominant and I naturally hold my rifle the way I do and I never understood why people call me a lefty shooter. As a righty, I hold the rifle similarly to how I would hold a bat. It just feels more natural as a righty to pull the trigger with my left hand and hold the stock with my right hand keeping the rifle steady. Holding the stock steady with your dominant hand feels like the correct way to do it in my opinion. Am I wrong on this?
John McPhee addresses neutral eye dominance and his solution is you rotate your head so that only the eye you want to use can see the sight. This works because though the brain takes your nose out of your vision it cannot remove it from your face. Therefore, if it is obstructing line of sight to the weapon sight then you know the eye you need to use is in fact what is seeing through the sight. But the geometry he uses is also neutral, meaning the pistol is in the center of the body. I can see how a competition shooter might not do that but that's what it is. With asymmetrical geometry this is not possible as she's discovered.
@@TimnParks Because he is in the Public eye.. I shot guns for 30 years before I learned on yoootooob you are supposed to keep your finger off from the trigger until you are ready too shoot.. I feel a little stupid never knowing that.. but learned from my Grandfather who had beeh hunting since the laste 1920's
I´ve heard, that if you shoot both-eyes-open enough, you will get used to it and the dominant eye will overtake the lead after some time. So this is not true? I´ve shot pistols left eye closed with iron sights for decades and am switching now to a red dot. I have a hard time shooting both eyes open with the dot, because they say I should shoot both eyes open. Should I skip that and just shoot one-eyed like I´m used to with the irons?
