Ayoob: Cross-Dominant Handgun Shooting

Editor’s Note: The author is shown in the feature photos holding a non-firing “dummy”/training handgun while pointing at the camera.

Research indicates that some 18% of human beings are cross-dominant — that is, their right hand is their dominant hand but their left eye is their master eye, or vice-versa.

Let me clarify some terms at the outset: I don’t use the common phrase cross-eye dominant. The reason is that when a lot of people hear that, the first two words overpower the third in meaning.

The person so diagnosed takes the term as an insult, consciously or subconsciously: “My damn gun instructor told me I’m a lousy shot because I’m cross-eyed!” Since that’s so often the case, not to mention the fact that crossed eyes actually have nothing to do with it, the term we’ll use hereinafter is simply “cross-dominant.”

In a basic shooting class, you may have noticed that one of the first things the instructor determines is the eye dominance of students. This is because they’ve seen so many of their students rolling their heads around trying to find their gun sights. 

Just Change Hands?

There are a few people who can switch their primary vision to their non-dominant eye … but awfully few. It is commonly advised that if you are right-handed with a left master eye, you should simply shoot southpaw.

You know, I can totally buy into that with long guns. In fact, I suspect most of us are shooting long guns backwards out of tradition. Is it the forward hand or the rear hand that actually supports the weight of the rifle, shotgun, or submachine gun? Of course, it’s the forward hand. Which hand tracks the moving target or swings between multiple targets with the long gun? Forward hand. Which hand works the slide of a pump gun? Forward again.

These are all strength and/or dexterity functions, and we have historically assigned them to the weaker, less dexterous hand simply on the assumption that the trigger hand had to be on the same side as the dominant eye with the same-side-dominant majority of gun users. 

With a long gun, I submit, the cross-dominant shooter has the best of both worlds. With practice, the dominant hand will run the pump gun’s slide faster if it’s forward, and the rifle or shotgun will feel a pound or two lighter, and traverse will be faster on moving or multiple targets. All the non-dominant hand has to do is press the trigger of a firearm far heavier than its trigger pull.

Moreover, the right-handed shooter firing a long gun from the left shoulder or vice-versa has another advantage: the fastest of all possible long gun to handgun transitions. When the big gun runs dry or jams, simply hold it to the shoulder (or tuck the comb of the stock under the armpit if the long gun is too heavy) and the dominant hand is free to instantly draw the sidearm to a one-handed firing position.

Handguns are different. Their trigger pull has more poundage than their weight. Sometimes there’s only one hand to stabilize the firearm. While some great instructors I respect still tell their cross-dominant shooters to use their “weak hand” with their “strong eye,” I must respectfully disagree. Asking the less dexterous hand to perform a dexterity function seems rather like pushing a rope.

Do not despair or fear that you’ll never be a good shot if you’re cross-dominant. World champion pistol shooter Dave Sevigny and national champion of the International Defensive Pistol Association Tom Yost are both cross-dominant. Both of my daughters are cross-dominant, and each won a national pistol championship while in their teens.

Let’s look at some adaptations, which will be tailored to the shooter’s stance.

Head Position Adjustment

The classic Weaver stance was inspired by Jack Weaver, analyzed by John Plahn, and popularized by Jeff Cooper. The torso is generally slightly angled in a boxer’s stance, both elbows are bent, and the gun hand pushes forward while the support hand pulls back with equal and opposite pressure.

This brings the handgun very much to the dominant hand side of the body, so the easiest adaptation is to drop the head toward that side, that is, the right-handed shooter dropping the right ear toward the right shoulder. This aligns the left eye directly behind the right hand and the pistol. The cross-dominant lefty would drop the left ear toward the left shoulder to achieve the same eye-to-pistol alignment.

Of the many so-called “modified Weaver” stances, the most effective and proven is the Chapman Method named after Ray Chapman, the first World Champion of the Combat Pistol and one of the all-time great practical shooting instructors. Ray kept the gun hand side shoulder forward with the gun arm locked rigidly like a rifle stock, the bent support arm pulling the locked gun arm tight into its shoulder socket. The cross-dominant adaptation is easier here: keep the head straight up, but swivel it to the side so the chin touches the bicep, and the opposite side eye with align with the firing hand.

In the currently popular Isosceles stance with the chest square to the target, whether the arms are locked straight out in the traditional version or bent slightly in the so-called Modern Isosceles, the gun ends up more or less centered with the head and it’s about as easy for one eye to align with the other. If that doesn’t work, use the Chapman adaptation, keeping the head erect and swiveling the jaw to touch the gun arm’s bicep.

Hand(s) Position Adjustment

The above adaptations are for two-handed firing stances. For one-handed handgun work, the most proven adaptation is the McMillan/Chapman tilt.

Captain Bill McMillan of the U.S. Marine Corps Pistol Team circa 1960 discovered that in one-handed shooting, keeping the head erect while aiming when cross-dominant brought head and neck to the absolute edge of range of movement: awkward and uncomfortable.

He determined that by simply turning the pistol’s sights 15 to 45 degrees to the left eye for a right-handed shooter or the same amount to the right for a cross-dominant southpaw brought the sights dead into line with the opposite eye with unimpaired comfort and balance.

Stationed in San Diego, he met the aforementioned former Marine Ray Chapman who was then in the Los Angeles area, and the two great champions shared techniques. Chapman adopted McMillan’s tilt because it was stronger: the hand tilted slightly sideways can grasp the pistol a bit more strongly.

In Burbank, California, police firearms instructor Larry Nichols separately discovered the same thing and found it worked well for two-handed shooting, particularly if the shooter was cross-dominant.

In Summary

If you are cross-dominant, don’t despair. The above techniques will let you be “the best handgun shooter you can be,” with your “best eye” mated with your “best hand.” And with a long gun, for the reasons stated earlier, rejoice: you might just have a significant advantage over your “same side dominant” competition!

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