Eye Dominance

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danprkr

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Took my buddy's son and nephew shooting yesterday evening. His son is 12, and is right handed but says he's left eye dominant. So, he wanted to shoot left handed. I've heard that it doesn't really matter about eye dominance. The theory being that a straight line is a straight line is a straight line. So, a straight line from the submissive eye through the sites to the target should produce a hit. Problem is I can't recall where I heard that. I'd hate for this kid to have to spend extra on lefty firearms when he doesn't need to. And, I'm now curious.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
Cross eye dominant shooters can simply tilt their heads if they want when it comes to handguns. For long guns, I don't see why he couldn't just use his other eye, but in the end it's his choice.
 
I'm right eye, right hand, but I'd rather use my weak eye rather than hand if I had to. I'm not sure where you heard the saying either, but your eye just looks in one direction whereas your hand does more complex things. I'd rather use my coordinated hand for that. Plus in the kid's favour as you said, it would get him using standard right-hand equipment.
 
I'm left eye dominant and shoot right-handed. With a handgun I use my left eye, but I trained myself to use my right eye with everything else. Like most physical activities, it just takes practice. I started by dry-firing a broken BB gun using only my right eye to concentrate on the front sight. For about a month I did that, "shooting" various objects around the house. Then I moved up to fiber-optic sights on a .22LR and a piece of scotch tape over the left lens of my glasses. Fiber-optics are a hell of a lot easier to see than black steel. Took about a week before I didn't need the tape anymore.

When you're cross-eye dominant you see the "wrong" target using iron sights. Instead of seeing a strong target image to the right and a ghosted image to the left, I see the opposite. The left-side target is always visually bolder than the right. It was simply a matter of teaching myself "not that one, stupid! the other one!" But with a handgun it doesn't matter: I can simply hold the handgun a tad to the left, while turning my head a tick to the right to keep my left eye in line. Learning to shoot the fuzzy, faded object on the right with a rifle took the most practice. Its also why the "iron" sights on my firearms aren't iron, but fiber-optic. Put the green dot just under the faded image on the right and whap! Dead-center every time.
 
Test him, draw a dot on piece of paper, have him focus on it about 2-3' from him face, the eye that the dot moves is the non dominate eye, I am left eye dominate and actually have some difficulty shooting both eyes open, but I have learned to compensate as I am too lazy to learn to shoot left handed,

That being said, I know a number of people who are left eye dominate and they swore that they shoot better, even if it is their off hand, but I shot well (expert on m-4 qual) with my non dominate eye and didn't want to mess that up when I was in. I did get the the begezuts smoked out of me in basic for shoot right handed with my left eye aiming, really funny hold. Works better on a crossman airgun.
 
I'm a believer in using the dominant eye.
I'm left eye dominant & shoot guns (strong side) left handed. As a kid I shot bows left handed as well, until getting frustrated at the lack of options for us leftys. (mid seventies, not nearly as big an issue now)
Looking back, I should have continued with my dominant eye.
Closing or squinting my "good" eye to shoot a bow is a PITA. Especially in low light conditions.
 
Cross-dominate here.

As meytind mentioned, I tilt my head a little to the right when shooting handguns, standard long guns get fired from the wrong shoulder with no issues - as long as it not a bullpup.
 
I'm right handed and left eye dominant also. For me, I can easily shoot either left or right, but I align the iron sights much quicker with my left eye. I've shot so much with my left shoulder that it feels abnormal to use the right.

Regarding buying a lefty-specific rifle, I wouldn't bother.

Here is how I see it:

Assuming he's target shooting or hunting with a bolt-rifle:
---if he is using a sandbag/rest he doesn't even need to break his cheek weld, just cycle the bolt with his right hand.
---if he is shooting off hand it is a little more complicated. He either needs one very strong left hand, or has to slightly break the cheek weld (takes a little practice).

If he is shooting a semi-auto, just make sure there is a case reflector (or whatever the proper term is). It's standard on most modern rifles.

Best Regards.
 
I say let the kid shoot however he wants. Then ask him to try shooting with the other hand just to see which he is naturally more accurate with then point out the obvious (from your perspective) As for me I'm going to work on shooting holding the weapon both sides just in case the defecation hits the oscilation. @Zach S: FN F2000 & Keltec RFB both fully ambidexterous forward ejecting bullpup rifles.
 
+1 Cross dominant. Right handed, left eye dominant.

I shoot handguns sighting with left eye, long guns with right eye.

Guide him thru picking the way that works best for him.
 
i have the same thing, right handed left eye dominant....


when i first started shooting i learned to shoot left handed.....then i decided to switch back to shooting right handed......now i have the ability to shoot equally well with both hands.

...however if i do shoot to long right handed, i will get spasms in my left eye from struggling to keep it closed.
 
I'm sort of in the same boat in that neither of my eyes appears to be dominant (yes, I do a test every time I say this because it sounds crazy, and sure enough my eyes always operate symmetrically, and yes I can see just fine). I see two sight pictures (two of everything in the near field only) and have had to train to automatically pick the correct one. It's not hard for me because the correct picture is always closer to the middle of my visual field, whether I'm using my right or left eye (the eye closest to the sight becomes "semi-dominant"). I'm right-handed, so I usually use my right eye, but I switch to my left eye when shooting left-handed because the correct sight picture is centered without having to tilt my head. I'm not sure exactly what cross-dominant shooters see, but all I'm saying is that it may be possible to train yourself to use the correct sight picture. You could always close your dominant eye, as an alternative, although I personally prefer to keep both eyes open for better situational awareness and because it's more comfortable.
 
I had no problem with that--I shot handgun with both eyes open
& I put a scope on all my rifles to focus my right eye.
Problem solved.........................................................:)
 
I'm cross eye dominant. I tend to use a modified Weaver stance with pistols, and shoot long guns left-handed.

The only issues I've ran into are loading an M1 Garand is basically impossible if you're lefty and have brass fly in front of me with my AR.
 
4H teaches that eye dominace determines left/right. I don't agree with it though, just teach the kid to close that eye and he'll be off to a better start.
 
Left eyed-right handed is me.

I have absolutely no problems with right hand rifles/shotguns.

Left handed rifles, many times, sell for much less on gunbroker than the identical right handed rifle so he may not pay a premium price for his guns. Just a thought. :cool:
 
I'm left eyed & right handed as well (lots of us, I see!).

When I was 5 an older neighbor kid let me shoot his BB gun. I put it against my left shoulder and he said, "No, that's wrong." I ignored him and proceeded to out-shoot every one there, all kids several years older than I.

Nobody's ever said anything about it since.
 
Thanks guys. I had heard of this phenomena, but this is the first I've met anyone who had it in person. I was a bit taken aback, as I'd never taught anyone like this, and now I'll have to figure that out as well.
 
targets at 12 oclock
shoulders are square to 1:30 ( toes pointing in that dirction also)
as the gun in the strong hand comes on target
and the shooter looks at the target
the gun will be under the left eye.
 
If you're a right-handed shooter and you're left eye dominant, (me) shift your head.

And if it's a rifle... learn to shoot with both eyes open. ;)
 
Start right

I'm also cross eye dominate and shooting a long gun is not as important as pistol.my whole life i've shot strong hand instead of eye but do to right hand shakes i shoot pistol with my weak hand.so much easier i wish i had started strong eye. In our right handed society i' m wondering how much influence school had in making me right handed.acquiring target and shooting straight is what it's all about.my advice is start strong eye.
 
I have studied and taught Martial Arts for better than 20 years. Although practice is done on both sides; I have never known anyone who was equally good on both sides. I finally began to practice and teach off the dominant side. Students learned the material twice as fast and became proficient sooner than before I started doing that. I tend to think that shooting is best done from the dominant side too; right or left. Maybe favoring one eye over the other has more to do with vision than nerve/muscle function and balance ?? Maybe.
 
I have a friend who is right eye dominant (tested it) and right handed.... and he still insists on shooting left handed..... the world is a funny place
 
Also right handed left eye dominant. I would teach the youngin' to shoot left handed with the long guns. He will have a difficult time learning it right handed and I doubt if he will ever shoot with both eyes open. This will cost them depth percetion which is importnt in shooting.
My father detected mine early and switched me to left shoulder. When firing a bolt gun, I simply keep the rifle on my shoulder, take palm of right hand, raise bolt, still using the palm, push back, then using thumb side of palm push forward and down. It can be done surprisingly fast. Cheek remains on stock. Levers, bolt, pump, and my righty AR does not cause any problems.
I shoot skeet, trap, and sporting clays with both eyes open.
Pistols are simple. The head is tilted the distance from one eye to the other. Most never notice it.
Being involved in a number of competitions, I can always tell the individual that is left-right and someone is showing them to shoot right handed. Can you say awkard.
I shoot with a guy who says he cannot tell when he takes the test. B.......T! If someone is truthful, it will work every time.
Who knows a proper test to detect dominant eye?
 
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