My son is left eye dominant and right handed

[BDW]

My son has just recieved his first BB gun. He is right handed but is left eye dominant. He is shouldering it on the right but looking down the barrel with his left eye. Before I try to teach him, I would like to know what to do from someone that shoots that way? Switch shoulders and teach him left hand? Or close his left eye? he has problem doing that now and i have fought to teach myself to shoot both eyes open after closing one eye for years. Being right handed and right eye dominant I dont want to teach him how i shoot to find out latter he will have to retrain himself.

I think that when he latter picks up a handgun it will not be as much of a concern, correct?

Thanks Brian W

[AlamoShooter]

Im not much good ...but I am right handed and left eye dominate. Your boy should be useing glasses for bb gun ..so put a small piece of scotch tape over the left eye of the glasses, that he will use when he shoots his BB gun.

Get him to look at what he wants to hit first and thin bring the gun up to his face and thin push his shoulder up to the gun.

for hand gun I just bring the gun farther over ot my left eye, but thin Im kind of slow.

Start him off whit the question "What is fun? shooting your gun ? or hitting what you want with your gun? " Get him to agree in his own words that what he really wants is to hit something, not just shoot at it.

Thin go into ..this is how you do it if you want to hit. Plenty of shooters are switch dominate in the eyes. When the gun comes up to the face and blocks off part of the vision the other eye takes over. It a problem with clay shooters shooting moving targets. most of the time that never gets diagnosed as the reason for the misses.

Jamie

[AikiDale]

Do a search for this, there are many discussions here on this topic. Our host, Brian Enos, won a lot of matches and $ being so gifted.

[LadyinBlue]

I've been a Hunter Education Instructor for 15 years and have seen several kids come through the class with the same problem. Once we have determined which eye is dominant then we encourage them to try to shoot left-handed if they are left eyed. I understand that this is a right-handed world and doing anything left-handed in that "realm" can be difficult. However, being a righty and shooting lefty does take some time to get used to so why not train early and get the fundamentals behind you. Shooting the handgun right-handed and using the left eye is more common than you know. I shoot pistol right-handed but left-eyed...long guns I shoot left-handed because I cannot see the sights at all with my right eye. I have become quite adept with my hands in the "wrong" place but I've done it for years now and it feels normal. One problem I've encountered recently while shooting 3-gun is in a shotgun/pistol stage where I use a glove on my right hand to keep from get burned on the shotgun (left-handed) keeps me from getting a positve grip on my pistol (right-handed). I have to take the glove off...something to consider with switching between the two. Also having 2 trigger fingers.

Not sure if that helps but my 2 cents anyway.

[Blueridge]

I am right-handed and left eye dominant myself. For me it has always been natural to shoot rifles and shotguns with my right eye, and shoot handguns with my left eye. I shoot archery left-handed though. It comes down to comfort in my opinion. I found out at a local IPSC match that I can switch to using my right eye with handguns if I have to. I was having some trouble with my left contact lens, and without thinking about it switched to using my right eye.

I suggest that you try having him shoot both ways, and see what is more comfortable for him.

[Ron Ankeny]

My brother is left eye dominant and right handed. He shot rifle and shotgun right handed for over 15 years by closing his left eye. Later on he switched to shooting left handed. Even after all of those years, he told me making the switch was the best move he ever made. As for handgun, in an e-mail fabout a week ago Dave Sevigny said, "Yeah, I’m left eye dominant and right handed. It’s not a big deal at all."

[sargenv]

I'm right handed and left eye dominant and didn't figure this out till I'd had some years behind me. What I did on the skeet field (started out shooting shotgun a LOT) was I shouldered the gun, closed my left eye, took a bead down the barrel with my right eye, and then opened my left eye and I was able to eventually train myself to point/aim with my right eye. This took a few years of twice a week shooting skeet. By the time I picked up a handgun, I'd already trained my right eye to pick up the sights. Every once in a while a situation presents itself where I have to shoot on my now non dominant eye (left) and well, I don't have near the problem as some people do. I tried the tape thing and it just confused me, so I did the shut one eye, line up, and re-open once target is aquired and it works pretty good for me. Otherwise since he is young, probably try to do what others teach, but if later it becomes an issue, maybe try my method.

[Hoofy]

Everytime he picks up a gun, have him shoulder it left handed.

I used to think that my Dad was nuts for shooting "wrong handed"

He said,"that's how I was taught, besides, I'm left eye dominant."

Well, I should have listened to him instead of being a rebelious teen.

Now when I shoot, I see my avatar. Quite a handicap.

[ChrisStock]

Do a search for this, there are many discussions here on this topic. Our host, Brian Enos, won a lot of matches and $ being so gifted.

True on both counts

I am in thw same boat, and it's no big deal. Pistols I shoot RH, just scooch it over a bit until I have a good sight picture, and I shoot rifle/shotgun LH, as my left eye is THAT dominant. I am able to switch back and forth with long guns, and shoot either way, but I am MUCH faster acquiring targets when shooting LH. I am self taught, so what the hell do I know? Just babbling from 30+ years experience.

[ragsproshooter]

Stay away from putting tape over the left eye!!!! This will just make things very difficult later. If he is cross dominant, teach him to shoot left handed with a long gun. If you try to fight the dominance issue, you will loose everytime.

[benos]

I don't feel there is only one correct answer to this question. Since we are dealing with people there are just too many variables. The biggest being the strength of the individual's eye dominance. Just the variable in that one factor makes one answer impossible.

I am right-handed and left eye dominant. But my left eye is just slightly more dominant, say about 60 Left/40 Right. So for many years it was no problem for me to shoot with my left eye either squinted, closed, or "taped" (transparent tape over the non-shooting eye's lense). Before I discovered the taping trick, I did a lot of good shooting with my left eye squinted or closed completely.

Since my dominance is not that strong, to shoot a rifle, I'd close my left eye just as I was focusing down on the sights. With a shotgun, just squinting my left eye a little worked real well; but after years of practice I eventually taught my eyes to shoot most all clay targets with both eyes open without getting double vision.

And as was said, with a pistol, cross-dominance is not as big of an issue. It's pretty easy to shoot right-handed and left eyed.

And not only is dominance strength a factor, especially with a pistol, each eye's "focusing speed" may come into play at some point. Which is not something you can be tested for at your average eye doctor. As I got older, I noticed I couldn't focus on the sights (from a target focus) as quickly with my right eye as I could with my left eye. So I started shooting pistols with my left eye (taping the right eye's lense), but still shot rifles and shotguns with my right eye. (Because re-focusing speed is not a factor for most rifle and shotgun shooting.)

I could go on an on on this topic forever.... I dug this up from a post a made a long time ago:

I've trained for over 20 years, much of the time attempting to shoot with the perfect "theory" of shooting with both eyes open. I literally tried forever. OK, obviously I didn't try it forever, but I did try for a really long time before accepting what my body had to offer. Even though we all look like "people," we vary widely as the number of people themselves. Along this path of experimentation, I quizzed various experts on vision. One such individual went from USPSA beginner to Master in 6 months, and fortunately, for all who know him, Dr. Kerry Pearson is an optometrist. He assured me that vision is highly subjective, and that just as some can shoot a pistol with both eyes open, many cannot or will never be able to. After untold hours of experimenting, on myself and others, I'm convinced he is correct. I've shot some pretty quick runs over the years, aiming with the theoretical limitation of one eye. The trick is to keep your eye(s)/vision moving.

be

[p99shooter]

I'm right-handed and left-eyed. I rececently started shooting rifle with iron sights, and shot right handed. After reading this thread, I tried shouldering the rifle right-handed and keeping my left eye open.

Not good. My left eye is much stronger, and it super-imposed an image that "tricked" my mind into thinking the sights were in alignment. WhenI closed my left eye, it was way off.

I then shouldered the rifle on the left. What a difference! I can keep both eyes open. It also looked sharper. Only one bummer: I have floatersin my left eye, which sometimes come into my field of vision. I will continue shooting pistol right-handed, but will certainly give shooting lefty with the rifle a try.

Thanks!

[BDW]

This weekend was the first chance we had to try some of the suggestions. I have him using right eye with right shoulder and left eye with left shoulder. He seams more natural on the left shoulder but has a problem with the heavy trigger pull with his left hand. I think he would go to left handed if i can get the trigger pull manageable. If there is time this week end we may go to the range and try a 22rf with a better trigger and see if he can pick one side. Since he is only 7 he doesn't have any problem trying the different ways.

Also being a future 3gun champion, shooting a shotgun left handed and loading strong hand could be an advantage.

Thanks Brian

[aedavis]

I am right eye dominant but left handed. I shoot long guns off my left shoulder, with or without optics. I shoot handguns left handed but using my right eye, if that makes sense. I don't see a problem with this and if I do my part, I put rounds on target.

Being a lefty as a shooter is a hassle, and if you teach your son to shoot long guns left handed, you subject him to a very limited availability of lefty guns. The situation is improving, but I'd let him shoot both ways and see which feels more comfortable or natural to him but I wouldn't recommend pushing him to lefty long gun.

Allan

[gm iprod]

My brother is severely left eye dominant. He shoots long guns lefthanded and handgun right handed. I learned to shoot lefthanded to teach him how to shoot, neither of my parents were into guns at that time. I can now shoot lefthand / lefteyed with long guns but I am way better right handed.

Shooting lefthanded is only a real problem with bolt guns. US manufacturers are shocking unless you want 270 / 30-06 length actions. If you want to use 223, 243, 308, 7mm-08 or long magnums you are going to be limited in your choices. Savage seem to be about the best alround for lefties. Others are catching up, but real slowly.

If you are running lever action, auto or pump it don't matter.

I would borrow a left handed bolt 22lr (Savage, Anschutz & CZ452) and see how he goes, if he has troule manipulating the action try a semi-auto until he manages shooting lefthanded and then work up to a manual gun. I work in a gun shop and see large amounts of left eye dominat people struggle trying to shoot right handed and getting frustrated. Get them onto a left handed firearm and they take a little time to learn the mechanics of manipulating the lefty firearm and then once they have that under control the shooting is usually way better for them. I believe it is easier to train your hands than your eyes. Everything else they do (except shooting) they do left eyed. It is insane to suddenly learn to use the right. As Brian rightly pointed out, the less dominant, percentage wise, your "wrong" eye is the easier it is to train the non dominant eye to cross over. My brother is so severly dominant he just can't manage right handed even when he closes his left eye.

[jhe888]

Since he is a new shooter, you should start out with trying to get him to shoot from the left shoulder. Handedness isn't really a huge issue in shooting, so it should not be a problem. If he can't switch, then try the eye taping, etc.

[S&WIowegan]

I am right-handed and have shot righty all my life. I became left-eye dominant when my right incurred a severe retinal detachment. The retina was repaired but not good enough so I close the right and shoot isosceles left-eyed. I shoot optically sighted long guns right-eyed but iron sight long guns require using the left shoulder. That's easy at the range but hell to get used to in action.

I think your son should work on shooting lefty if he can. If it's too frustrating for him, let him shoot one-eyed. Eyes both open is over-rated in my book.

Bob.

[dvc40jim]

I spent 3 years as a Drill Sergeant, and another 3 years as a civilian teaching basic rifle marksmanship to new Soldiers. Many have had no experience shooting at all. It is not uncommon at all to find cross dominance and many don't even know that they are. Almost without fail those Soldiers who have a hard time with Army qualification standards are in that boat (not everytime but I would say 95%). 100% of those Soldiers I have worked with and switched them to shooting with the other side, have very quickly picked up new task and gone on to qualify.

One of the advantages I see with learning to shoot with his dominant eye is that if and when he does decide that shooting with both eyes open is better for him, it is much easier to pick up that skill.

As young as he is, learning to shoot everything "weak" handed should not be an issue for him and might actually prove in the long run to be a huge benefit when it comes many of the variables we see in competition.