Left Eye Dominant, right handed shooter

[GBA1776]

Hi, I would like to know if anyone else has ran into a very strange problem Im having. Im left eye dominant but shoot right handed ( I can shoot left but prefer right) and after installing my new scope and scope level that is leveled to the top turret, I found that the crosshairs are canted from the right to the left (the right is higher) And I only see this when I shoot "righty", but when I switch to left handed the crosshairs appear to be perfectly level when my scope level says they are. but shooting right handed "level" on the scope level looks canted about half the width of the .5 mil heavy duplex

Has anyone else experienced this?
Is this just an issue with my perception of the reticle and its my brain that cant get it right? Or will I have cant issues because my reticle isnt "level" to my right handed left eye dominant perception?

Ive "shot the box" going off of the scope level and it tracks vertically fine out to the 300yds ive tested it, but say I am getting cant error, if its 5 degrees (it doesnt seem that much) i would be .3 off at 300 yds, so less than 1moa off in the direction of the cant and since my rifle on its absolute best day ( and mine) groups just under 1moa its really hard to tell if im getting a .2 mil cant error at 300yd, I will be doing some long range stuff pretty soon so I will find out then but id llike to hear peoples thoughts or similar experiances so maybe I can save some time, money and headache trying to figure it out.

 

[fllefty]

I set up a lot of scopes for my self and friends I also shoot left handed and I encounter the same problem. TRUST your level more so for long range shooting. Thats why a level on your scope is a good idea most shooters cant their gun.

 

[bruce_ventura]

...I found that the crosshairs are canted from the right to the left (the right is higher) And I only see this when I shoot "righty", but when I switch to left handed the crosshairs appear to be perfectly level when my scope level says they are. but shooting right handed "level" on the scope level looks canted about half the width of the .5 mil heavy duplex ...

What do you mean by "looks canted"? Are you looking at a plumb line and changing between a left and right cheek weld?

How this affects your shooting at long range depends on the type of shooting. For example, if you always take one or more sighting shots whenever you change target range, a reproducible cant won't affect your accuracy. If instead you want to vary target range and make accurate first shot hits, then you need to minimize cant errors, because they vary with range.

 

[BountyHunter]

Very familiar with that issue. You have two choices that will work long term

1. Learn to shoot left handed. Not as hard as you think and best bet

2. Train non dominant eye to see equally. Wear shooting glasses with a piece of frosted scotch tape centered over dominant eye. That little fuzziness forces the brain to switch eyes but you can see very well while wearing them.

 

[Sully2]

Hi, I would like to know if anyone else has ran into a very strange problem Im having. Im left eye dominant but shoot right handed ( I can shoot left but prefer right) and after installing my new scope and scope level that is leveled to the top turret, I found that the crosshairs are canted from the right to the left (the right is higher) And I only see this when I shoot "righty", but when I switch to left handed the crosshairs appear to be perfectly level when my scope level says they are. but shooting right handed "level" on the scope level looks canted about half the width of the .5 mil heavy duplex

Has anyone else experienced this?
Is this just an issue with my perception of the reticle and its my brain that cant get it right? Or will I have cant issues because my reticle isnt "level" to my right handed left eye dominant perception?

Ive "shot the box" going off of the scope level and it tracks vertically fine out to the 300yds ive tested it, but say I am getting cant error, if its 5 degrees (it doesnt seem that much) i would be .3 off at 300 yds, so less than 1moa off in the direction of the cant and since my rifle on its absolute best day ( and mine) groups just under 1moa its really hard to tell if im getting a .2 mil cant error at 300yd, I will be doing some long range stuff pretty soon so I will find out then but id llike to hear peoples thoughts or similar experiances so maybe I can save some time, money and headache trying to figure it out.

My father was right handed and shot right handed and was BLIND in his right eye....he aimed using his left??? He had blindness of the cornea in his right eye and had it for many years but still shot well enough to shoot expert with his M1 rifle. He was the 1st Sgt of my National Guard company and many stood around to watch him do his thing when it was his time to fire on the range.

Cant ask ow he did it because he died back in 1969...but I can still remember him doing it

 

[GBA1776]

By "looks canted" I mean when I set up behind the gun is any position shooting right handed when the scope is level (according to the level) there is a very noticeable and very irritating cant to the reticle like ______+----------

If I do set it up to what appears level to me, the level on the scope is pegged all the way left. like this ---> |0__|__|___|

On a flat range if I do line up the reticle with a target stand even though it appears canted to me, but the level says its good the vertical and horizontal crosshair lines run perfectly parralell to the target

But if I set up behind the gun left handed when the reticle looks level the scope level says its level. And if i leave the gun exactly where it was and switch to a right handed position the reticle immediatley looks canted


BountyHunter, Ill try the tape on the shooting glasses because I cant shoot this rifle left handed unless I want to catch hot brass in my face after every shot, Its an AR and my "brass deflector" is more of a brass director, because it directs the brass almost straight back, its annoying because my carbine upper does deflect the brass to the side I can shoot that left handed all day

"How this affects your shooting at long range depends on the type of shooting"

Im a target shooter more than anything so a first round hit isnt "as important" or maybe i should say neccessary like it is to the hunter, but I dont want to sit somewhere and spam rounds downrange to "see where im at" and work my way to a target, hitting a 12" plate at 700yds with a .223 isnt really impressive if it took an entire mag to get that one hit , not to mention expensive . So being on target from the start is really important to me if not necessary.

I dont want to be getting cant error but hit the target by overcompensating with windage and since im getting hits belive that my wind calls are accurate when they arent

So you are saying forget what it looks like as long as I use the level on my scope I should have no issues with cant error?

Thanks for your help guys this has been driving me crazy I dont know how many times Ive rechecked the level on the scope I even bought a new bar level so I could make sure the gun and scope were both level at the same time the scope level was. And they are.

 

[FEENIX]

I too am left eye dominant but shoot right handed without any problem.

 

[FearNoWind]

I've never understood why this is a problem. I am right eye dominant but I can shoot just as well left handed, closing my right eye and sighting with my left, so I don't understand why someone who is left eye dominant can't just close the left eye and sight with the right eye to facilitate shooting right handed.

 

[GBA1776]

I've never understood why this is a problem. I am right eye dominant but I can shoot just as well left handed, closing my right eye and sighting with my left, so I don't understand why someone who is left eye dominant can't just close the left eye and sight with the right eye to facilitate shooting right handed.

I have no clue why this is a problem either, I can shoot either way and ive never ran into this before until I mounted this new scope

 

[Gray R]

I suggest you use whichever shoulder feels more comfortable and learn to use the corresponding eye. I shoot rifles with my left shoulder left eye, but handguns with my right hand and right eye. No idea how I ended up is way but I didn't fight it and now I do ok with both

 

[GBA1776]

Im Comfortable with both I routinely shoot my bolt gun left handed and run the bolt with the right, its very fast and since its not a big caliber its very accurate because recoil doesnt blow me off target. And with a good load on the bipod even working the bolt has little effect on my point of aim.

When I shoot pistol I use my left eye but hold the gun right handed, I can switch but im more comfortable right handed

The problem is I cant shoot this gun left handed without taking hot brass right in the face, Its an AR and the "brass deflector" just plain doesnt work, it actually seems to make it worse. On my Carbine upper I can shoot left handed the brass comes back hits the deflector and bounces 4 ft right and 4 ft back . On my 18" "SPR" upper where I have the issue with the crosshair appearing canted the brass comes out and hits the deflector but just spins and goes straigh back and if im shooting left handed the spent casing is super hot and spinning violently and hits either my glasses or it will hit me right in the mouth.

Once you have taken a piping hot .223 to the face 3" from the ejection port its not an experience you want to repeat, the first and last time it happened the case hit my lip right on my teeth and I ended up very suprised and bleeding.

Its hard to concentrate on shooting fundamentals and follow through if the recoil is a bit much, but its impossible to do when you basically get slapped in the face after every shot.


I am going to try try tweaking the ejector spring to make the rounds go somewhere else but, i dont look forward to getting down on the gun to test it.

Ill be able to do some shooting out to about 800 this weekend so i will get to find out if that "cant" is a problem or if its just the way my brain is interpreting what im seeing

 

[Gray R]

Yeah I could definitely see that being distracting. I misunderstood.

 

[FearNoWind]

...The problem is I cant shoot this gun left handed without taking hot brass right in the face...

When I read the initial post I thought we were working on an issue of eye dominance. Appears it's actually a spent case deflection issue. It's difficult to help solve a problem if it isn't fully and accurately described in the beginning.

 

[GBA1776]

It is an eye dominance issue more than anything the brass deflection just complicates the issue more.

when ive got the gun set up level according to my scope level and sit behind the gun left handed the crosshairs appear level.
When I set up behind it right handed, and the level says im good I see the crosshairs as canted, and its not just slight, the cant seems to be pretty bad. at least half the thickness of the .5mil heavy stadia, now the scope level says its level but the crosshairs dont look level.

Ive set it up to where my scope level says its good and the crosshairs look good left handed, If i dont move the gun and set up right handed the crosshairs appear canted right to left (right is higher than the left) even though my scope level says its level.

I was just wondering if that "cant" was going to be an issue at range, Ive only been able to shoot this upper and this scope to 300yds and say i do have a 5 degree cant, at 300yds i would be .3 in the direction of the cant, so just under 1moa. since my gun shoots about 1moa, and my home range has virtually no wind since its dug down and surrounded on all sides by a thick forest the "heavy wind" is just enough to feel on your face. so 3-4mph and coincidentally that will also push my round .3 mil at 300 yds

So with the 1moa gun and the maybe 1moa cant and the maybe 1moa wind its pretty hard for me to tell if im getting cant error because the reticle doesnt appear level.


So i dont know if this problem is above my level, or if anyone can dumb it down to my level, or if my level isnt on the level, or if im in some horrible 8th level of hell reserved for shooters who use a level, either way you level it im going level crazy..................level