Right Handed Left Eye Dominance

[DaavG]

Morning All,

My 8 year old boy is right handed but seems to be left eye dominant (and left footed). Discovered this via the Daisy Red Ryder he got for Christmas.

How do I proceed with him? Teach him to shoot left handed or patch his left eye and shoot right handed & right eye?

Long term goals will be shooting rifle, O/U shotgun and handguns, right now the Daisy...

[Vaal]

I'm also cross eyed dominant. I shoot handgun right handed, but aim with my left eye and nearly press my chin against my right shoulder. I always shoot with both eyes open. I'm shooting long gun out of my left shoulder.
The only problem is if you do multi gun shooting stuff gets crowded on you right side (pistol, sg caddies and rifle mags compete for space on that part of your body). LoL
Btw I can do right shoulder shooting also (better than most can do weak shoulder shooting) but I have to close my left eye and then the focus isn't good and you use the peripheral view on the left side.
Let him decide what works best for him.

[ady]

I can relate. I'm right handed and left eye dominant.

I find what works for me is shooting a rifle and shotgun out of my left shoulder and using my left eye to aim with. I shoot with both eyes open. I haven't gone the left hand rifle route, because my right hand is co-ordinated and works the bolt or shotgun very well.

I shoot my handguns with my right hand and aim with my left eye. I also shoot handgun with both eyes open.

I tried the patches and found they didn't work for me. Experiment with him and see what he favours and then work around that. I have seen some guys getting their son to shoot a rifle out their right shoulder and try aim with their left eye. I can't see how that is comfortable.

[DaavG]

Interesting thanks. He is currently shooting right handed using left eye but his alignment is very out of kilter. He had a couple pokes using his left hand on trigger / left eye aim and it seems better but he is not used to left hand - leaning this way rather than patches on his left eye.

He would obviously need to learn to use right handed rifle bolts at some point

[Desperatezulu]

Confirm eye dominance with optometrist first - assuming it's left eye dominance, find out what options there may be. My understanding is that eye dominance can be switched with training in some cases. If that is the case, then converting to right eye dominance would be the ideal long term solution.
If eye dominance can't be altered, then it'll be a case of learning to shoot left-handed with the long guns.

Most rifles have fairly straight stocks, so RH action isn't the end of the world, although the (lack of) cheek swell may be a hindrance. You can probably make a plan with a DIY cheek swell.
O/U shotguns also tend to have minimal cast, so should be ambidextrous. SxS do tend to have a lot of cast, especially older guns, so probably best to steer clear of those unless willing to get the stock altered.
Handguns appear to be the trickiest to solve - I am not expert enough to offer a solution. Maybe a red dot sight would simplify things? But that's tending towards a complex and expensive solution for a kid at this stage.

[ady]

Nothing will be ideal, unless you get a left handed rifle. I gave up on that exercise, but i make it work. I un-shoulder the rifle and work the bolt with my right hand and then shoulder the rifle again, unless I'm shooting off a bench, then i just work the bolt with my right hand, while the rifle is still on the rest.


I also bring my hand gun up to my left eye and that lines up nicely.

[DaavG]

Nothing will be ideal, unless you get a left handed rifle. I gave up on that exercise, but i make it work. I un-shoulder the rifle and work the bolt with my right hand and then shoulder the rifle again, unless I'm shooting off a bench, then i just work the bolt with my right hand, while the rifle is still on the rest.


I also bring my hand gun up to my left eye and that lines up nicely.

You made me realise a mate shoots right handed long rifles left handed, using his left over the top to work the bolt if still shouldered..

[Roguemeister]

I am right handed and shoot left eye. I got myself a left handed rifle, as it is also a work rifle so it is just that little bit quicker when it needs to be.

Coming from someone who has one, if it’s going to be a rifle that he keeps for a long time, investing in that left handed rifle is worth it. If it’s to take to the range every now and again, and for others to use too, then stick with the right handed rifle and ket him just shoot it left handed. Zastava make some left handed rifles that aren’t expensive at all.

For handgun, i taught myself to shoot left handed, it was tough at first but once you build in the muscle memory it feels perfectly normal. It even makes shooting with your ‘weak hand’ that much easier


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[Welshman]

I'm right handed, born with a lazy right eye (10% vision), so guess which is my dominant eye.

I've shot handguns right handed for 35 years.
However, I shoot right handed rifles & shotguns "left handed" since adapting that way after getting an air rifle at age 9.

This includes working the bolt on a rifle with my right hand (support hand), while the trigger hand repositions slightly in between shots to temporarily support weight of rifle.

Sound crazy, but comes natural to me ..

[Trundle]

I shoot cross controls as well.


Handguns are right handed.

Bolts are a bugger, semi's are much betterer.
I have learned to shoot both left and right handed with long guns. Now it makes no difference.
Accuracy (for what it is) is consistent out of both shoulders.

Cross controls is not an issue with guns as long as you learn/teach what to do.

FWIW, I have shotties set up for left shoulder and semi's / bolts for right shoulder. However I'll often swap shoulders as needed with zero confidence or accuracy issues.

That said most of my longun hunting is sub 100m, at rabbits, at night. I'm on a raised blind and needing to swap shoulders is vital when you are trying to keep your noise signature low. However with the RHD outbreak I've been very quiet on the rabbit front.