Right hand left hand zero

[OLd Man]

I shoot left or right hand but have a different zero when I do. As a kid I shot right, but couln,t close my left eye. So I learned to shot left hand and that was my dominant eye so it worked out well for me. When I started deer hunting I found right snd left was great because you don't have to turn around in a tree stand. Well since my gredel is right I shot it that way and did well 2.5" (8 shot) group on the bull at 200Yards with a little wind. I set up to shoot another round and by mistake I had setup left and shot it anyway to see how I did. I had a better group 2"(4 shot) but I had moved 4" left. Is this normal or should I be able to switch right and left. Sad part is I don,t even think about it when I am hunting.

[stokesrj]

Yes, it is normal to have that level of change when changing positions. This is most likely because your natural point of aim is not set up properly. It is very important that the gun be pointed at the center of the target when all of your muscles are relaxed. A quick way to check this is to close your eyes, relax all your muscles, open your eyes and see where the rifle is pointed. If it is not in the exact center of your target, your natural point of aim is off, your shots will tend to drift towards your natural point of aim regardless of where you force the point of aim to.
Bob

[grin&dull]

I shoot pretty much left handed only with a long gun and my son can shoot with either hand but mostly right handed. We tend to swap off on long guns and both shoot at the same point of aim, we’ve never had and issue with needing to make sight adjustments between the two of us or any others using our guns or someone else’s. So I’d think what you’ve got is a eye dominance thing, but if you can come that close with either hand you’ve got me beat I have to use an eye patch over my left eye to even think about a long gun right handed.

[LRRPF52]

I keep both eyes open no matter what I'm shooting, unless I'm shooting a rifle left-handed. The idea is to not have any muscular twitching in your face, which inputs shooter error onto the gun.

[mwilkins]

I keep both eyes open as well. Time behind an Eotech got me into that routine and now it is habit and don't think twice about it when behind a traditional scope.

[OLd Man]

I will have to work on this a bit, maybe I am canting the scope? I shoot either way with out thinking about it so it would be nice if I could get the zeros to match. At most ranges the deer wouldn't know the difference. Thanks for the input, not many people even try the opposite hand so it is hard to get advice.

[stokesrj]

There is a junior I'm training in High Power Across the Course competition that is doing quite well. He is left handed and some times shoots my service rifle, he just used it in a match last weekend and recorded a 196-11X at 600 yards with it. Comparing his log book with mine his no wind zero is 1.5 MOA left. Many juniors have used my rifles and none have proven to use corresponding zeros. A rifle is a flexible instrument, not rigid as we tend to think of it, influenced greatly by our hold.
Anyway, as I was reviewing log books I thought of you and your situation. It seems perfectly normal to me.
Simply knowing and compensating for it is all you need to do.

Bob

[Whelenon]

Next time on the bench I will be using this info, anything to improve my groups. Great stuff, thanks.

[65hunter]

and if you are shooting threw your domonate eye you wont even notice anything from the other when it is open