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SOG DonationsHi People. I recently purchased my first pistol, Sig P320 9mm. It is my first experience with a pistol, I can’t shoot it very well at all. I know what my problem is but not sure of a solution. I am right hand dominate and left eye dominant . Should I learn to shoot left handed as I do with my long guns or shoot right handed using my left eye? Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks to all. Curt
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Congrats on the new handgun, that is an excellent pistol. Though I don’t personally have your issue, one of my best friends does. He is all right side dominant, but an injury left him with troubled vision in his right eye. He is able to shoot a pistol from either hand, using his left eye (non-dominant). I believe that training using your weak side is an excellent skill to acquire. Whether it be weak hand or weak eye, or both. I believe that after you start putting some serious rounds down range, you will ultimately find what works best for you. I’m sure others can steer you into the right direction. Again congrats on that handgun, cant wait for my P320…
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My son has the same issue. I taught him to cant the pistol about 15 Degrees inward, toward his dominant eye. It allows him to shoot strong hand/dominant eye. It is NOT the 90 Deg “Gangsta” hold…lol
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@Curt I wish I could remember where I saw this - either in a training class or on a video (can’t remember right now). An instructor was addressing this very issue, and I’ll try to find it.
EDIT: this isn’t the one I was thinking of, but it’s worth a look:
FYI: Gomez was awesome; all of his videos are worth watching
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Guerrero thanks for the link. I watched Gomez do his thing and it is what I have been practicing. Even though I am left eye dominant I still want to carry right handed for that is my strong hand. Once again I appreciate your help and the video link.
Curt
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@Curt I found the video I was thinking of originally. It’s James Yeager’s “Shooting Missology” (which is actually a good training video). In it, he proposes the same solution for cross dominance as Gomez:
(assuming a right-handed shooter) Hold the gun in a right-handed grip, and line up on the sights as if your right eye was dominant, then turn your head slightly to the right to bring your left eye on the sights.
Sorry can’t help you more; I don’t have this problem.
I have other problems, to be sure, just not this one.
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I am learning how to become a better shooter at poseidonexperience.com which is owned by Jesse Barnett who is a retired Navy seal in Fishers Indiana. His advise to new shooters is position the firearm to your dominate eye, instead of adjusting your head position to your dominate hand. Becoming an accurate shooter requires proper stance, grip,breathing,trigger re-set and sight picture. I would recommend that you find a local instructor.
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I was cross-eyed dominated when I was younger . My father taught me to slightly close my dominate eye to make the other take over.I have shot skeet and trap along with handguns and rifles that way for 40 years with no problems .My dominate eye has switched now.
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I have heard the instructors in a couple of classes suggest temporarily patching the L eye so the right one could take over…muscle memory will kick in as you put rds down range IMHO. Alwaya a gud idea to practic w either hand…you never know…you might need to shoot w yer L hand…say if you are a passenger in a car, perhaps sitting against the right side doors… The instructors I’ve had madeus practice shooting from both sides of a “car”…and drawing w both hands. dang hard to shoot to the right if yer only able to shoot R handed! G’luk
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This is very very common. You are not alone. If this is your problem then you shoot 3-4
Inches to the left. If you aren’t you probably have another issue going on.
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Learn to shoot with your other side so you can use your dominant eye.
Learn to shoot with both eyes open
Just turn your head a bit so you can use your dominant eye to Aim
Put Tape over your shooting glasses on your dominant eye.
Shoot both eyes open but aiming with your
Non dominant eye. Your Brain will instantly focus your non Dominant eye and make you shoot center. Do this for a while and your brain will build a new connection and in time your eye will work when it’s time to Shoot.
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I have this exact same problem. I am right side dominant and left eye dominant. Incidentally, I have the exact same pistol you do (Sig P320) and I very quickly realized that I was shooting to the left side of where I was aiming. At first I thought it was due to trigger jerk so I began working on the proper shooting mechanics. I was still shooting left so then I looked around online until I found a site that claimed that some of the Sig P320’s were defective (if you look hard enough online you can always find something or someone that will say its the equipment and not the person…ha). I didn’t really buy this because I let a friend of mine shoot it and he was dead on. I also tried different sight pictures. (attached below for reference) I also read through the link below. Then, I found the same video that Guerrero posted and put that to work and I’ve got it all worked out now. Either way, keep practicing and it’ll be second nature before you know it.
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I have a similar issue, right handed but left eyed. I’ve been practicing and training to go right eye only. It’s not as much an issue with pistols, but I find shooting both eyes open with low magnification optics on a rifle can be tricky. With pistols, I tend to angle my head and use my left when I’m not paying attention. If that works for you, it’s a solid option to consider. But if you would rather change it, just work towards that repetition and muscle memory.
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sonny-7
@Joe-Bob-0
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It’s very common and I have it. You can wear a crappy pair of eyeglass frames of any sort and blank out the left eye, or learn to shoot lefty. Or close the left eye, but that solution is the pits. We are designed to work with 2 eyes open and working.
Once I knew I had the problem I made sure the handgun was lined up with my right arm and keeping everything straight the right eye was forced to do the work. If you break the wrist you’ll be using the left eye. Then I went to a red dot and that made it even easier since only one eye can see the dot through the sight. I concentrated on using the right eye and over time I don’t know if it’s corrected itself but at least for shooting I shoot right handed and right eyed now. I think I just trained myself to shoot right eyed. It wasn’t an instant solution.
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Don’t forget dry firing either. It’s where you can practice technique (including dominant eye techniques) w/o the concern of recoil or anything else. Dry firing your handgun is really important. How much? 10x the amount of live fire is a good start and it goes up from there. You want to concentrate on the basics; trigger control, when the trigger releases the gun shouldn’t move worth a hoot. The sights should remain on target and lined up. If you do that in dry fire, when you move to live fire and do the exact same thing all shots will be in the x-ring. Years ago we would balance a penny on the front sight, the affluent would use a dime, bring the gun up and using the sights dry fire. The trigger work should be so smooth that after the hammer fell the coin would still be balanced on the sight. Today, using a spot on the wall or some such and a cheapo handgun mounted laser, or a quality laser, one can see the laser move on the wall. The goal is for minimal or no laser shift when the gun “fires”.
Just so that you know, dry firing means no ammo in the gun or even in the same room as the gun. If you want to get good then dry fire. All of the top shooters do it and even lots of us aspiring top shooters. 
Seriously though, if you learn the basics it makes things that come afterward soooo much easier. I’m far from a top competitive shooter but that’s not because I can’t shoot. I have the accuracy and speed of actual shooting down pat. The fact that I’m not a top competitor stems from age and movement. I just don’t move the way I did even 20 years ago. My point is to get the basics down so that you don’t even need to think about them. I shot bullseye competition 40+ years ago and I’ve never regretted the lessons learned there. Bullseye competition is ALL the application of the basics. I see other shooters in Action Pistol who have the speed but their accuracy really sux. IMO they’ve put the cart before the horse. One can be fast, but it’s not noise that does the job. One can’t miss fast enough to get a good score (or good hits on paper). I don’t miss but I don’t move as fast as those folks. Get the basics down pat, and if you’re young you can also be fast - the best of both worlds - speed and accuracy.
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