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Shooting Low Left

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  • mtbbrewer74

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    I am a right handed shooter and no matter if it is my 9mm or my 45 I consistantly shoot low left. I know why this is happening. Gripping the gun when the trigger is pulled and brain over compensating. My question is how do I train myself to stop?

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    mtbbrewer74

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    Oh yeah I forgot to add that even though I am right handed, I am left eye dominant.

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    Zeroed in

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    Try shooting left handed, or start aiming with your right eye open and keeping your left eye closed.
     

    Viking1204

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    It's a challenge close your left eye when you're left eye dominant! I shoot rifles and shotguns left handed even though I'm right handed because of this!
     

    mtbbrewer74

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    It's a challenge close your left eye when you're left eye dominant! I shoot rifles and shotguns left handed even though I'm right handed because of this!
    If I close my Left eye I will be way off.

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    joraca

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    1. Dry fire
    2. Load a random dud round or two in in each magazine full without looking
    3. Shoot a .22 more, or an air pistol
    4. Wear ear muffs over ear plugs
    5. Put a piece of tape over your left lens to block your view of the target with that eye
    6. Dry fire with an aimpoint and watch for the twitch.
    7. Maybe get a trigger job and/or shoot single action pistols

    John
    NRA master in precision pistol and 2600 shooter
    CMP/EIC Distinguished pistol shot
     
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    mtbbrewer74

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    5. Put a piece of tape over your left lens to block your view of the target with that eye

    Why cover the left eye if I am left eye dominant? Is it to train me to be right eye dominant?

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    joraca

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    I shoot right handed, and at this time, I am left eye dominant. I can't merge the images I see over or through the sights and out of the left (dominant eye). Plus, with iron sights, the right eye is trying to focus on the sights out there maybe 30 inches, and the left eye doesn't have anything to look at at this distance, and, for me, only causes trouble by looking off in the distance. So I block it with a piece of masking tape the size of a dime on the range. That way, I can see the sights clearly with computer glasses and the target (round bull for me) fuzzy but clear enough.

    Other problems that can cause low left hits are holding the gun too long, or too hard. Too long (about 16-20 seconds after starting the aiming process) results in greater motion, which is a disincentive to smoothly increasing pressure on the trigger. Making the gun shoot on a cadence can help overcome this, but it is hard to fire over 3 or 4 shots with precision without putting the gun down. Gripping too hard causes tremor, another disincentive to smoothly increasing pressure on the trigger, and compounds the problem by making it more difficult to move the trigger finger. With a .45, I grip the gun until it trembles, then relax my grip until it steadies, then I try to hold that same pressure throughout the string.
     
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    SAWMAN

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    This might help recognize the problem. --- SAWMAN
     

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    Zeroed in

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    FROM some site:

    Left Eye Dominant – Right Handed Shooter

    Ouch! Not ideal but it’s not the end of the world. You essentially have three options here.

    Shoot off your left shoulder
    This sounds extreme but many people have done it with great success. Many have done it with zero success but it might be something you try to see how you get on. The benefit of doing this is that you’re shooting off the same shoulder as your dominant eye meaning you can shoot with both eyes open
    Close your left eye
    Yep, it’s as simple as that. With your left eye closed, your right eye is the only one in use so by default has to be the dominant eye. The best way to do this is to try and judge speed and distance with both eyes open and then close your left eye before pulling the trigger
    Put a small thumbnail patch of translucent tape over the left lens of your glasses
    This will allow you to shoot with both eyes open but because it’s blurred over the left eye, your right eye will become dominant
     

    TK5o

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    If you dont want to switch eyes then: hold the pistol with right hand grip but slightly canted not quite 45 degrees. Also turn your head slighty right to get a sight picture with left eye. Dont cant the gun too much or turn your head too much. Its kind of a meet in the middle thing. You should be able to get a sight picture and still keep both eyes open. Recoil impulse direction will change depending on how much you cant the gun. Takes practice to learn it

    Also the chart posted by sawman is a good start
     

    oneshot

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    Cant help you on the comp. but if you will make some time and get up with me and bring some ammo I can more then likely help you. I shoot right hand and use my left eye can split a playing card at 10 yards, if that means any thing . You need to get someone that has the same problem that has over come it. and don't cant it. 850=572=6611 jj If I can/t do it sawman can.
     

    mtbbrewer74

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    I am going to try some of these techniques ya'll gave me. If I can't figure it out I will get up with you Oneshot.

    I shouldn't be surprised that I am cross dominate, when I write with my right hand I turn it like a left handed writer. I had a psychology teacher in college tell me I write like that because I access the opposite side of the brain to write that a normal right handed person would.

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    TK5o

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    Just remember if you do slightly cant the gun. You have to reorient the above pie chart so that “north is still north” so to speak That way its still accurate
     

    Big Shrek

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    Train for AMBI and you don't have eye issues ;)

    You have to use them both for Ambi, and eventually your brain tells you it's just fine.
     

    wildrider666

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    OP#1 makes reference to a grip/firing/recoil = low left hit. Place a coin or similar object on a top surface of the handgun (further fwd the better). Using the same "firing grip pressure" practice dry firing working to improve steadiness by not knocking the coin off. Use a bunch off pennies so you don't have to bend over each time (unless your belts too tight, lol). Same principle as the lazer but with that you just make big wobbles into smaller wobbles.

    I don't think OPs issue is eye related bu I'll toss this out for consideration.
    Eye dominance only has a relation to "Level" vision and will not cause a high or low POI unless your head is tilted or you have some cockeye vision impairment.

    With a handgun:
    A. Shooting with one eye open (either one) will only require "aligned front and rear sights" to be moved together slightly on the target from natural point of aim and achieve a complete sight picture. If you have better vision in one eye (dominant or not) USE the best eye you have!

    B. Eye dominance when shooting handgun with both eyes open is not as important as with a long gun. Your not resting you face on the handgun so the position of your eyes is not "fixed" in relation to the sights. Your brain is going to default to the image from your dominate eye and it doesn't matter if your head if facing slightly left or right: it's the dominate "eyeball" that aligns. You eyes can't focus sharply on iron sights and focus sharply on the target at the same time, there is a fuzz factor, same basic thing between your dominant eye and the other eyes' brain suppressed image.
     

    joraca

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    I thought about whether the dominant eye issue might be contributing to the low left hits and decided it might. Losing focus on the sights might lead to the trigger being "slapped" per Sawman's chart above in an attempt to make the shot break before loss of alignment ability occurs. I know it is harder to keep focus while suppressing vision through the dominant eye.

    I like the coin trick. I didn't learn how to make a .45 break cleanly until I started drying firing with an aimpoint. I had fired many thousands of rounds prior to that. Dry firing with a tape-wrapped pencil held half an inch from a business card with a small dot for the aiming point is another low-tech way to see what is going on .
     

    Joeinfl

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    I too am a right hand shooter and was right eye dominate, three years ago a stroke blinded my right eye. I had to virtually learn to shoot over again. Starting with a .22 until it became natural again then moving on to a 9mm and now shoot 45s pretty well. It really does require your brain to now train on the left eye, at least in my case it did. I wish you the best of luck with this, I know it's a work in progress.
     
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