[prototypicalDave]

I've been shooting slingshots for about 2 months now. I'm shooting TTF with a mini Taurus. I shoot mainly with the .7 mm 'chinese' bandsets that Pocket Predator sells and switch back and forth between 5/16 and 3/8 ammo. I'm still learning, so I figure I should try a few different combos. The first thing I learned is how overpowered bands relative to ammo weight can mess with your aim. I have also started to do an extended draw on longer slack length so I've been messing around with lighter bands as well
Despite some early success, progress has been frustratingly slow. On good days I hit a 2 inch target 2 of 5 times from 30 ft. On bad days you can't tell I'm aiming at any particular spot lol.
Anyhow, I had a simple shot youtube playlist going in the background while I was working the other day and I heard someone say "aim with your dominant eye".
"Hmm" I thought, "I wonder which is my dominant eye?" and promptly forgot about it.
I just remembered to check and according to two different methods, I am apparently left eye dominant.
"Hmm" I thought, " I wonder if I should switch to right hand hold so that my dominant eye is more in line with the top band?".
Well I tried a test pull and noticed that the band seemed to be MUCH more in line with my vision.
"WTF?", I thought and promptly did the same test with left hand hold....

That's when it hit me that I have been aiming with my left eye with a left hand hold. 🤦‍♂️ This is situating my dominant eye 1.5 inches further above the band than it would be if I was shooting right hand hold, increasing the angle between my eye and the end of the band and foreshortening the view. This is certainly not ideal!

I don't know exactly how big of a deal this is, but it explains why aiming the slingshot has never felt very natural to me and I think it probably explains a great many things about my shooting history in general. I am a terrible shot with any firearm or bow and I bet this plays a part.
So here's the questions,
1. Is this actually a big deal?
2. do I keep the left hand hold and start aiming with my right eye? or do I switch to left hand hold so that my dominant eye is better placed above the band for aiming.
3. How do you guys do it?

 

[prototypicalDave]

Of course, this shows up in recommended reading : Not Correcting for Cross Dominance
I'm still interested in what you guys think tho...

 

[skarrd]

i am right eye dominant and shoot with left hand slingshot-right hand pouch,semi floating tragus anchor

 

[Valery]

The simple rule is that the pouch is always held from the side of the dominant eye.

 

[Tree Man]

I ran into that very same problem. I decided to switch shooting hands. It was clumsy at first, but after a few hundred shots it became much smoother. My accuracy improved immediately, so it was completely worth the effort.

 

[cromag]

Shooting cross dominant just adds another level of difficulty to any activity whether it's rifle , slingshot or bow. Due to shoulder soreness I switched to right hand when shooting my bows and developed a right dominant eye while shooting that way , it can be done but takes practice and a lot of concentration. I think the two paths of least resistance are using a patch over the dominant eye until your comfortable using the "wrong" one or switching to a draw on the dominant side like Tree Man did.

You can always compensate your shooting to one side like you were shooting into a strong crosswind but what happens if you actually have a windy day?

 

[High Desert Flipper]

If you are hitting a 2" target nearly half the time from 10m, you are off to a pretty good start. I hope you enjoy. Lots of good experience here for how to improve. I have found cross dom eye shooting to be entirely doable (a long story that starts with nuns "fixing" my left handedness). In the end I think there are two base rules for improving, 1) practice, practice, and more practice, and 2) keeping it fun so you stay engaged and are motivated to return to #1.

This is a great obsession and there is a ton of experience here to be picked, hope you enjoy!

 

[Slingshot28]

I hold my slingshot in my right hand with my left eye dominant. My right hand is dominant and some say this is an incorrect way of shooting but find what suits you the best.

 

[High Desert Flipper]

I hold my slingshot in my right hand with my left eye dominant. My right hand is dominant and some say this is an incorrect way of shooting but find what suits you the best.

Yeah well, when he was up and coming the experts all said that while he was a fine player and all but that Wayne Gretzky wasn't fast enough to make it in the pro's.

 

[prototypicalDave]

Thanks for the info guys. I just tied on some lighter bands and took 20 shots using right hand hold. My right hand feels overpowered when it comes to resisting the draw and my left hand is a moron when it comes to loading up the pouch and is apparently a good bit weaker when it comes to pinch strength, plus I got my first fork hit! It's sort of intimidating to see the dent in the polycarbonate. It's obvious that I'll need to work on clean releases with the left hand. That being said, my first shot hit and I went on to hit 3 times out of 20, which is better than I would have thought. I bet if I cleaned up the release, I would be just as "good" with both hands lol. By way of comparison, I took 4 shots with left hand hold to get a hit and it doesn't seem that the weaker bands have had much affect on anything.
I think that I'm going to continue to divide up practice between both and see which one ends up winning.

 

[prototypicalDave]

Thanks for the info guys. I just tied on some lighter bands and took 20 shots using right hand hold. My right hand feels overpowered when it comes to resisting the draw and my left hand is a moron when it comes to loading up the pouch and is apparently a good bit weaker when it comes to pinch strength, plus I got my first fork hit! It's sort of intimidating to see the dent in the polycarbonate. It's obvious that I'll need to work on clean releases with the left hand. That being said, my first shot hit and I went on to hit 3 times out of 20, which is better than I would have thought. I bet if I cleaned up the release, I would be just as "good" with both hands lol. By way of comparison, I took 4 shots with left hand hold to get a hit and it doesn't seem that the weaker bands have had much affect on anything.
I think that I'm going to continue to divide up practice between both and see which one ends up winning.

 

[prototypicalDave]

Whelp. From no fork hits ever, to two in one day. Both of them happened using right hand hold and the second one happened even though I was paying really close attention to what was going on with release. I think I'm gonna stick with left hand hold. Those hits messed with my head enough that it's messing up my form even when I shoot left hand hold

My poor little Taurus 🥺