shooting left - suggestions?

1
Here's the situation - First, I've been shooting pistols for years and my fundamentals are basically sound. I know that shooting left is normally caused by too much finger on the trigger. That's not my problem. Recently I switched from a weaver stance to the squared up stance so I can work on shooting with both eyes open. I'm right handed and left eye dominant. When I set up square with the pistol in line with my left eye I consistently shoot left. I'm still making the same decent groups I always made, they're just an inch or two left of the bulls eye. Even when I close my right eye and really take my time I still shoot left.

Any ideas?

Re: shooting left - suggestions?

6
Agreed. I actually have this same exact problem- right handed with left eye dominance, and making the change to both eyes open took some serious adjustments. For me, it worked best to go from compressed ready to ready, pushing straight out, using the thumbs forward grip. I did a ton of drills to make sure I could condition my right eye to catch the alignment instead of my left eye. You may also find that you need to use kentucky windage a bit to adjust your POI, and as FS mentioned, if that all fails, adjust the sights.

Hope that helps.

Helpful info/vid here:
http://phoenixfirearmstraining.com/high ... sed-ready/
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: shooting left - suggestions?

9
aim a little to the right?

sorry, don't mean to be flippant. My experience has been that when I am hitting to the weak side it's because my weak side hand isn't gripping firm enough. I seriously doubt that your impact point is a result of some form of parallax between your hands and eyes regardless of which hand or eye is dominant. I often shoot left handed and am right eye dominant, just the reverse of you. When the sights are aligned, they're aligned and which eye did it shouldn't make a difference. Could it be that your right eye, even though it is not dominant, is still influencing your aim; that is, is it open?

I too was under the impression that too much finger on a handgun trigger was not desirable, as with a rifle. I was mistaken. I had a coach demonstrate that using just the finger tip introduced a rotation as the trigger is pulled. I now bring my finger to the first digit and have discover that in doing so it is much easier to pull straight back without introducing a twist into the equation.
Subliterate Buffooery of the right...
Literate Ignorance of the left...
We Are So Screwed

Re: shooting left - suggestions?

11
rolandson wrote: I too was under the impression that too much finger on a handgun trigger was not desirable, as with a rifle. I was mistaken. I had a coach demonstrate that using just the finger tip introduced a rotation as the trigger is pulled. I now bring my finger to the first digit and have discover that in doing so it is much easier to pull straight back without introducing a twist into the equation.

Interesting. I was taught to use the tip.

That was a long time ago though. I was also taught the Weaver stance and platform/teacup hold. Both are pretty outdated now.
Last edited by tapeman1 on Fri Sep 20, 2013 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: shooting left - suggestions?

12
Yeah, I think that finger tip thing is a rifle deal and I shoot rifle that way, just not handgun.

I should also amplify...I place my finger such that the outside or strong side edge of the trigger is just at the crease of the first digit.
Subliterate Buffooery of the right...
Literate Ignorance of the left...
We Are So Screwed

Re: shooting left - suggestions?

13
tapeman1 wrote:
shinzen wrote:Have you checked to confirm that you're still using your right eye to line up the sights? Dumb question, but when I first moved I had the problem of hitting my front sight with my left eye.

Why would I use my right eye? I'm left eye dominant.
Depends on grip and sight alignment. If you are right handed, and using a right handed grip, you will have alignment issues using your left eye instead of your right. Particularly if you attempt to use other stances while shooting..

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/ccm-co ... t-shooter/

Using your dominant eye as the sight window with a right handed grip is probably exactly what is throwing off your shooting. IMO anyway.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: shooting left - suggestions?

14
shinzen wrote:
tapeman1 wrote:
shinzen wrote:Have you checked to confirm that you're still using your right eye to line up the sights? Dumb question, but when I first moved I had the problem of hitting my front sight with my left eye.

Why would I use my right eye? I'm left eye dominant.
Depends on grip and sight alignment. If you are right handed, and using a right handed grip, you will have alignment issues using your left eye instead of your right. Particularly if you attempt to use other stances while shooting..

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/ccm-co ... t-shooter/

Using your dominant eye as the sight window with a right handed grip is probably exactly what is throwing off your shooting. IMO anyway.

Interesting. I was bringing the pistol across my body to be in line with my left eye. Next time i'll try leaning my head right instead like that article described. We'll see what happens.


Thanks.

Re: shooting left - suggestions?

16
tapeman1 wrote:
Interesting. I was bringing the pistol across my body to be in line with my left eye. Next time i'll try leaning my head right instead like that article described. We'll see what happens.


Thanks.

Don't even lean it precisely - turn it to the right slightly as if shaking your head, "No". Don't crick your neck or anything just adjust your alignment. If you think about, in a stance that's truly squared up to the target you should be no more contorted than you are when lining it up for right eye, you just don't notice the subtle alignment bias to your right side that you think of as normal.
tapeman1 wrote:
rolandson wrote: I too was under the impression that too much finger on a handgun trigger was not desirable, as with a rifle. I was mistaken. I had a coach demonstrate that using just the finger tip introduced a rotation as the trigger is pulled. I now bring my finger to the first digit and have discover that in doing so it is much easier to pull straight back without introducing a twist into the equation.

Interesting. I was taught to use the tip.

That was a long time ago though. I was also taught the Weaver stance and platform/teacup hold. Both are pretty outdated now.
Tip of the finger vs. pad of the finger is not a settled issue the way Weaver vs. Isosc. really is these days. I would actually say Rolandson's joint advice is the more controversial right now, though some folks swear by it.

If you want my opinion, the joint vs. pad debate is essentially about 'length of pull,' if you will - how far you have to reach for that trigger. Depending on the size of your hands one or the other may prove to work better.

Re: shooting left - suggestions?

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And you can do it without the laser...
just pick a spot on your wall and dry fire. sight the selected spot, squeeze and...very important... hold....are the sights lined up on what you thought they would be? did you see the gun twist as you pulled the trigger?

no question that the laser trainers are quite useful, but until your's arrives you can spend hours entertaining yourself and better still, you don't have to clean the thing afterwards.
Subliterate Buffooery of the right...
Literate Ignorance of the left...
We Are So Screwed

Re: shooting left - suggestions?

23
tapeman1 wrote: Recently I switched from a weaver stance to the squared up stance so I can work on shooting with both eyes open.
I'm not sure why you're changing from the weaver. Unless you're an LEO wearing a vest, it still presents the smallest target area toward the enemy.
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