Help with Right handed / left eye dominant teen shooter

[gte150v]

I am right handed but left eye dominant as well. I would have her to do the hand-triangle test to confirm that she is actually left eye dominant rather than just can't close her left eye while her right remains open. I had her same situation with not being able to close my left eye and keep my right eye open, and over time I've been able to work on that. I still shoot rifles and shotguns left handed though because I am left eye dominant.

For pistols, gripping with either the left or right hand works for left eye dominance, but I find it easier to bring the firearm up to proper alignment with my left eye using my left hand. But maybe it's because I've been conditioned to shoot rifles and shotguns that way.

One added bonus for lefties is it's more of a challenge to collect left-handed rifles which I enjoy!

 

[wkdwdg66]

Hi all.
My eldest daughter is old enough to get her minors permit and shoot handgun at the range. All good till the point where she starts to shoot and only manages a few hits .
Its her first visit to the range and i'm standing behind her , so I cant see that she has both eyes open, trying to shoot right eye.
Later at home we were talking and I just asked her to close her left eye, as it turns out she cant but she can close here right .
back to the range and would you know it , Right eye closed and she has improved remarkably.

So is this OK.

I have no experience with this and would appreciate some guidance .

Teach em to shoot left handed

 

[unleashed]

Now we're doing patches over a dominant eye....f'ing brilliant

 

[T3ninja]

I haven't read through all of this, so I'm not sure it has been mentioned. I used to shoot a lot of 3 gun and USPSA and I have ran across a few people with this same problem and they've either taught themselves to shoot left handed/weak side

OR one that I've seen more people do,

Take a piece of tape scotch tape that's not quite perfectly clear, but clear enough to see though and put that on your the shooting glasses. You'll (she) will still be able to shoot both eyes open but it will force her to use the non dominant eye.

Either one will take a lot of time to get used to, I guess it will be up to her to decode which one will be a smoother transition for her.

 

[dickvon]

Hi all.
My eldest daughter is old enough to get her minors permit and shoot handgun at the range. All good till the point where she starts to shoot and only manages a few hits .
Its her first visit to the range and i'm standing behind her , so I cant see that she has both eyes open, trying to shoot right eye.
Later at home we were talking and I just asked her to close her left eye, as it turns out she cant but she can close here right .
back to the range and would you know it , Right eye closed and she has improved remarkably.

So is this OK.

I have no experience with this and would appreciate some guidance .

I teach hunter education for Washington WDFW and find that 5-10% of the students have cross dominate eyes. One of my boys is also cross dominate. It dosent seem to be a big problem for rifle and pistol where the shooter is aware of their issue but it is the "kiss of death" for shooting a shotgun well. We incurage new shooters to learn to shoot from their dominant eye side. It seems to be easy to make the transition. It just takes a little time and practice.

 

[skipglo]

Hi all.
My eldest daughter is old enough to get her minors permit and shoot handgun at the range. All good till the point where she starts to shoot and only manages a few hits .
Its her first visit to the range and i'm standing behind her , so I cant see that she has both eyes open, trying to shoot right eye.
Later at home we were talking and I just asked her to close her left eye, as it turns out she cant but she can close here right .
back to the range and would you know it , Right eye closed and she has improved remarkably.

So is this OK.

I have no experience with this and would appreciate some guidance .

It's much easier for handgunning for sure but make sure she holds the gun in her left hand too. With the two handed grip she should have a very easy transition! A lot harder for a rifle but since she is just starting....she has no bad habits to overcome and should adapt fairly easy her too. It's just practice and time now......

 

[jnwise]

Hi all.
My eldest daughter is old enough to get her minors permit and shoot handgun at the range. All good till the point where she starts to shoot and only manages a few hits .
Its her first visit to the range and i'm standing behind her , so I cant see that she has both eyes open, trying to shoot right eye.
Later at home we were talking and I just asked her to close her left eye, as it turns out she cant but she can close here right .
back to the range and would you know it , Right eye closed and she has improved remarkably.

So is this OK.

I have no experience with this and would appreciate some guidance .

I am right handed left eye dominant as well. I can shoot a pistol right handed using both eyes open. But I have to shoot long guns left handed.

 

[shirasbc]

I shoot a left handed thumbhole stock with a right handed action...

I am much faster and more coordinated with my right hand but am left eye dominant... for me this solution offers the best of both...

Wayne York at Oregunsmithing did these stocks for me... reasonable priced... super high quality stocks

 

[sfdoc2000]

I shot both civilian and military competition since age 12 and now have passed the #71 birthday. Won numerous titles in smallbore during high school and college. EIC's in National Guard in military comp. Was completely right side dominant. Had six successive retina detachments in the past 1 1/2 years and nine surgeries leaving the right eye centrally blind and the left eye 20/40 at best. Taught myself to just move my pistol to the left keeping the weapon aligned vertically, not rotated, and use the left eye for sight alignment. Really, trigger control is the most important thing in pistol shooting anyway. With so much previous muscle memory at my age it was nearly impossible to teach myself left handed shooting so learned right hand posture with left eye sight alignment. Recently shot 50 round course for our Sheriff qualification course (required to do this for our Search and Rescue group). Only two 8's and all rest 9's and 10's at 15-25 yards with Glock 19. Every shot considered a vital hit. The two head shots are on purpose. Shooting with left eye is great.

 

[bengineer]

One of my boys is right hand left eyed. He shoots both eyes open with handguns and red dots and his left eye stays primary. He shoots scoped guns right handed with his left eye closed (all my autos and turn bolts are right handed). Shotguns he also shoots right handed but left eye closed. I have shown him how to switch the primary eye and he seems to be taking to it. He is a first year shotgunner running around 50-60% hits.
As we work this eye thing, he is learning to focus with/on his convenient eye.Your brain is tremendously powerful and with practice you can learn some pretty amazing things. This isnt a technique i would have him use tomorrow on a charging lion, but on stationary targets of all types, you can see whether it is working or not very clearly.
I showed my son how well he shot on paper targets both left and right handed and with each eye. 4 targets. He acknowledged his best was right handed and right eyed, so he went with it.
I have a bunch of kids; this one understands what i am telling him and can do it. The next one, not so much. Maybe your daughter can do that with you and her shooting. Or maybe you get her comfortable shooting a lefty gun left handed to keep on track with her instinctive eye.

 

[blueprairiedog]

I am left handed and shoot right handed with everything because I am right eye dominant. It doesn't take to long before it becomes natural to shoot with the other hand .good luck

 

[ProudTata]

My grandson started shooting airsoft @ 3 years old and discovered he was right handed/left eye dominant shortly after. He taught himself to shoot left handed and never looked back. He cut these cards when he was 11. Two with a .22 rifle we built and one with a .22 pistol, at 25 yards from a bench with a 10 mph cross wind. I've tried shooting left handed to get a feel for what he does and it is extremely awkward for me. He has adapted very well to it.

 

[Mike Matteson]

That's great that people are taking the time to teach how to use their dominant eye to shot with. Shooting with both eyes open needs to be learn with either open sights or scopes. You are cutting down the field of view by 50% or there about with shooting with one eye open. You are a lot safer by having both eyes open when using any firearm. It takes a little time to do this. If you ever become a combat solider it's a must.

 

[Treeslug]

Being nice enough to teach both left and right-hand shooters is a great thing. Teaching a left eye dominant/right-hand person to shoot left-handed is a bit of a curse. I am right eye dominant and left-handed and I shoot very well left-handed, but that does not eliminate the difficulties of finding left-hand rifles, semi-autos with ambidextrous safeties, and being able to reload double-action revolvers without switching hands to accomplish the task. Single-action revolvers are not quite as cumbersome, but this is still a right-hand world and there are too many necessities of life that are not made for left-hand people. Just sayin'. I also have astigmatism in my right eye so I am double cursed.