by Bree Norton

Eye Dominance in Shooting: Why You Should Stick with Your Dominant Hand

When it comes to defensive shooting, understanding eye dominance can make a significant difference in how you train and respond in a high-stress situation. While most people’s dominant hand and eye are on the same side, many shooters discover they are cross-eye dominant, meaning their dominant eye is opposite their dominant hand.

If this sounds familiar, don’t worry—you’re not alone, and you don’t need to switch hands. In fact, sticking with your dominant hand is critical for effective, instinctive shooting. Here’s what you need to know about eye dominance, why switching hands isn’t the answer, and how to adapt your shooting technique.

What Is Eye Dominance?

Eye dominance means one of your eyes naturally takes over when focusing on a target. Just like being right- or left-handed, most people have a dominant eye that provides stronger input when aiming.

Finding your dominant eye is simple and can be done with just your pointer finger:

1. Choose a Distant Object: Select a small object in the distance, such as a light switch or a door handle.
2. Align with Your Fingernail: Extend your pointer finger at arm’s length and place your fingernail over the object. Focus only on your fingernail, trying to cover as much of the object as possible. It’s okay if the object seems to peek out or even appear doubled—just keep your focus on your fingernail.
3. Close One Eye at a Time

• • • When you close one eye, the object will either stay hidden behind your fingernail or “jump” out from behind it.
  • • If the object stays covered when one eye is open, that open eye is your dominant eye.
  • • If the object jumps away from behind your fingernail, the closed eye is your dominant eye—your non-dominant eye is open and unable to hold the object in focus.

This quick test helps identify which eye naturally takes control when aiming—a crucial detail for improving shooting accuracy and adjusting techniques like sight alignment.

Why Switching Hands Isn’t the Answer

Some instructors recommend that cross-eye dominant shooters switch to using their non-dominant hand when shooting. However, this approach can cause more harm than good in a self-defense situation.

When faced with a life-threatening encounter, your body will revert to what feels natural and automatic. If you’ve always used your dominant hand for everyday tasks like writing, opening doors, or carrying objects, it’s likely the hand you’ll use instinctively when drawing a firearm under stress.

Switching to your non-dominant hand not only feels awkward but also reduces control, slows down reaction time, and complicates an already stressful situation. Instead of fighting against your natural tendencies, it’s far more effective to adapt your shooting technique while keeping your dominant hand on the firearm.

Adapting Your Shooting Stance

Cross-eye dominance isn’t a problem—it’s simply something to adjust for. Here are simple techniques that work well for both handguns and long guns:

1. Shift the Firearm Toward Your Dominant Eye

• • Maintain a proper shooting stance and grip while angling the firearm slightly toward your dominant eye. Just push slightly toward your dominate eye.
  • This adjustment keeps your head upright and naturally aligns the sights with your dominant eye.
  • Many shooters find this method intuitive and easy to incorporate into their training.

2. Cant Your Head Slightly

• • If shifting the firearm feels uncomfortable, try canting your head slightly toward your dominant eye.
  • This allows your dominant eye to align with the sights without compromising your shooting stance.
  • Be mindful not to overdo, tilt, or drop your head—maintain an upright posture for better stability and movement.

Why Some Cross-Eye-Dominant Shooters Are Told to Use Their Non-Dominant Hand

Many cross-eye-dominant shooters are advised to switch to their non-dominant hand when learning to shoot. This advice stems from the fact that when they use their non-dominant hand, their firearm naturally aligns with their dominant eye, improving sight alignment and accuracy. As a result, they may believe they shoot better with their non-dominant hand.

However, this improvement comes from aligning the gun with their dominant eye—not from using the non-dominant hand itself. The same accuracy can be achieved by keeping the firearm in the dominant hand and either pushing the gun slightly toward the dominant eye or canting the head just enough to align the sights while maintaining an upright posture. This approach allows shooters to stay with their dominant hand, preserving natural motor skills and reducing the need to relearn critical defensive techniques.

Why This Matters in Defensive Training

In a real-life self-defense situation, there’s no time to think about adjusting your grip or switching hands—you’ll react the way you’ve trained. By adapting your shooting stance to work with your natural eye dominance, you create a more intuitive and reliable shooting technique.

Dry-fire practice is invaluable here. Regularly rehearse drawing, aiming, and firing with your adjusted stance to build muscle memory. Practice from different angles, in low-light conditions, and from concealment to simulate realistic scenarios.

Final Thoughts

Being cross-eye dominant isn’t a disadvantage—it’s simply a factor to account for in your training. By keeping your dominant hand on the firearm and adapting your stance, you’ll shoot more efficiently and respond more naturally when it counts.

Have you experienced challenges as a cross-eye dominant shooter? What adjustments have worked best for you? Share your experiences and let’s keep the conversation going!

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bree Norton is a Chapter Leader Instructor with the Auroa, CO Armed Women of America Chapter. She has her own firearms training business, Arm’d And Ammo’d.

Photographs used with permission from Mitch Miller