Right Handed but Left Eye Dominant

[Schaaf]

Anyone ever run into this? I noticed my son is in this boat.

Is it easier to teach him to shoot a LH rifle from the beginning or will your eye still look through a scope alright?

 

[thusby]

My neice had this problem too. We ended up switching her to left hand shooting. She almost naturally wanted to bring it up left-handed to her left eye but would switch to the dominant right hand at the last minute. It was pretty easy to correct and now shooting left hand/left eye is working well.

 

[rwc101]

Yep. My mom is that way. Couldn't figure out why she shot wide every time when teaching her how to shoot my .22. Had her switch to shooting left handed and started shooting better than I could have imagined. She found shooting a right handed bolt action to be annoying, so I think a left handed .22 will be under the Christmas tree this year.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Go left handed.

Then force him to learn to write with his left hand. Right handed people are witches.

 

[riv3rbanks]

I am in this boat as well. I shoot both rifles and bows lefthanded and it just feels natural to me even though I am right hand dominant. It's better to side with the dominant eye over the dominant hand in shooting. The only problem is the limited availability of LH rifles at your local gun shops, but shooting an RH rifle lefty isn't the end of the world either.

 

[Schaaf]

We shouldn’t be pandering to these freaks.

 

[406LIFE]

Teaching hunter ed, I find about 1-2 in every class are cross eye dominant. My suggestion is to shoot a gun on the same side as the dominant eye. So if left handed, but right eye dominant, shoot on the right side.

 

[Stretcher_Jockey]

I’m in this boat. It’s always been much easier for me to shoot LH. My Dad realized I was left eye dominant at a pretty young age and just steered me into shooting that direction almost from day one even though my natural inclination was to shoulder on my right side.

One strange thing about me though is I shoot a handgun better than any other weapon and hold it right handed but use my left eye. All other weapons feel more comfortable nowadays left handed, but not handguns.

 

[Ben Lamb]

We shouldn’t be pandering to these freaks.

Love is love, you neanderthal.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Man, this is something that I have found out over this summer both my son and daughter and my wife have this issue. Looks like daddy needs to buy a couple new toys.......dang.

 

[----]

Have you considered getting a different kid?

 

[BRI]

I'm left handed but right eye dominant. Shot left hand guns, bows, etc all my life and I've struggled with the sight picture all my life. The right eye naturally wants to take over the sight picture. I think I've become an OK shot but it would be way better to just start out shooting with your dominant eye.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Have you considered getting a different kid?

This is the kind of thinking that helped us beat the Germans after they bombed Pearl Harbor. Huzzah.

 

[Schaaf]

Have you considered getting a different kid?

I’ll run it by the wife

 

[TwistedSage]

Use dominant eye to shoot. Figuring out dominant eye was one of the first things we did in basic before getting weapons. I am left handed right eye dominant. It felt weird for about a week, now it is second nature. Shouldering or using my left eye to aim is very foriegn.

Using non dominant eye will severely effect accuracy and repeatability.

 

[pwrwgn57]

As others have said, go with the dominant eye. I was taught to shoot right handed but I'm left eye dominant. You can learn to adjust to the cross dominance issue, but it's much better to go with the dominant eye to start, especially with shotguns.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I'm cross eye dominate, right handed left-eye dominant just like your son... actually two of my buddies are as well, just have him shoot lefty. It's way easier to train your less dominate hand to do something than rewire your eye dominance.

You will definitely need to get him a left handed bow, but I've managed to make right handed guns...rifles and shot guns with an ambidextrous stocks are obviously the best. Tikkas, Remington 870s, etc. the worst are weatherby's.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Start him out shooting lefty. I'm right handed and left eye dominate due to an injury. As an adult I tried to make the switch to lefty, but I usually shoot right handed. I'm not even close to being ambidextrous shooting, but under certain situations I do switch to shooting my right handed rifles, left handed.

 

[SFC B]

I am RH dominant and left dominant. Through into that that my vision is measurably better in my left as well. Didn't really learn how to shoot until I went into the Army and Uncle Sugar wasn't wasting any time with any "learn to shoot lefty business". So I just had to learn to shoot with my left I closed. I have no problems at all. I also like completing all of the functions associated with shooting (cycling to bolt, switching the safety, reloading, shouldering and cheek welding) with my dominant hand.

 

[3855WIN]

Ruger #1 and Browning BPS are good for those trying to work out the problem.