Right handed, but left eye dominant

[338weatherby]

Both my sons are left eye, right hand. They are 6 and 9. I am still figuring out this question. I believe I am going to end up with 1 of each, a right and left shooter.

Neither kid can easily control/wink his eyes well. The 9 year old is worse and I have him working on shooting lefty. The 6 year old can control his eyes better and wants to shoot righty.

Have him shoot what feels natural I think.

Both of my daughters are Left eye dominant. The older one is lefty for writing and other fine motor skills but is right handed for sports. When she started shooting she went straight to left hand without me saying anything. I bought her a LH Savage and she's good to go. The little one on the other hand (pun intended), is right handed but left eye dominant. I still haven't figured out what is best for her. I may put her behind a LH rifle and see what happens. She shoots well right handed but does take too much time looking through scope. Myself, same boat left eye dominant and right handed for the most part. Dad started me right handed and that's my comfort. Stinks though that I need to close left eye when using a shotgun. Sometimes eye fatigue hits during long range sessions due to closing it.

OP - I would direct your son to left hand.

 

[Baboltin]

I'm right handed left eye dominate, I have got in the habit since I was 12 hunting and shooting that no matter what I close my left eye. I was told I should shoot left handed, tried it and couldn't do it. I deal with it by creating a habit of always closing my left eye no matter shooting a pistol, rifle, bow, etc. i know that isn't proper but it's what's works for me.

 

[megastink]

Thank you all for the advice. It sounds like I should source a left hand action and stock for my son. Thank you all again!

 

[Janno05]

I was 14 when I finally had someone tell me about eye dominance and made the switch to shooting lefty after shooting right handed since I was 5-6, it made a huge difference in my comfort and accuracy. I really wish I would have started at your kids age.

 

[Paul Spaulding]

I had the exact same issue with my son. When shooting off his right shoulder, I noticed him leaning all the way over the scope to look through it with his left eye. Switched the rifle to his left shoulder,moist groups went from 6" at 50 yards to 2" immediately (shooting a .22). He has shot off that shoulder ever since. I would absolutely start your son on his dominant side. Otherwise it will be a constant struggle to overcome what his brain is telling his eyes to do.

 

[driftwood]

I grew up shooting left handed and am right handed. Had an injury to my right eye as a child. Been shooting now for over 65 years and it's as natural as writing with my right hand. It has never caused any problems for me other than when I was a younger man I couldn't find left hand actions. Shoot both right and left hand actions with the same ease.

 

[neilbfree]

I too am right handed, left eye dominate. Been shooting lefty since I was 6. For shotgun, get an over/under. For rifle your bolt choices are limited to maybe two choices at your LGS or a custom but a lever action or semi auto generally works fine (just make sure to wear safety glasses). Black powder is a real PITA. The percussion cap will spatter hot stuff on his cheek - make extra sure to wear good fitting safety glasses for black powder. Archery is also a pain to find a lefty in the correct size. The good thing is that he will probably grow up to be a better shot than you - All of us lefty's are better shots than righty's. You might consider starting him with a lever action .22 (I still have my Browning BL22 from 50 years ago) or look into a left handed Vudoo or RimX bolt 22.

 

[JTinMO]

I'm right handed, left eye dominant as well. This always has been a major problem for me and I didn't understand it until about 10 years ago, to be honest. I am so set on shooting righty this late in life I don't see how I could adapt to a left handed gun. I just have to either close my left eye or squint it to force my right eye to take over.

 

[The Oregonian]

Both my sons are left eye, right hand. They are 6 and 9. I am still figuring out this question. I believe I am going to end up with 1 of each, a right and left shooter.

Neither kid can easily control/wink his eyes well. The 9 year old is worse and I have him working on shooting lefty. The 6 year old can control his eyes better and wants to shoot righty.

Have him shoot what feels natural I think.

I used a pirate patch on my son that helped early on bc he couldn't wink well either. He is right handed and right eye dominant but this was just to help him cover his left eye.

 

[JustMe2]

Your test of left eye dominance is wrong. Just because he holds the scope to his left eye means nothing. To test eye dominance, he needs to hold one finger up with his arm extended out in front of him. Then with both eyes open, he needs to align his finger with a distant object. Without moving his hand or head, he needs to close one eye at a time. The eye which doesn't cause the target object to move off his finger is his dominate eye. Do this test before selecting a firearm.

 

[STNDBYnSNDIT]

It's funny just went through this with my wife. I started her hunting though she shot odd times before we met. She always sorta struggled to shoot but was good at it and always took instruction well. One day a few months ago she was really struggling, wasn't till she looked through my binos and complained one was fuzzy. Anyway l
Got her to get behind the rifle lefty and then started pinging gongs like no ones business and proceeded to ask me why I didn't tell her to shoot that way in the beginning lol. Quick solution for us was a LH bolt for the Blaser R8, long term is either another R8 or another custom...or boh

 

[skipglo]

I built a rifle for my son who is currently 4 years old, but will start shooting next year. He's right handed, so I built him a little 16" 6 Creedmoor on a Savage action. Its a great little rifle. However, the other night we were playing around looking through an empty paper towel roll and I noticed he kept putting it up to his left eye. I ran downstairs and grabbed one of my scopes and told him to look through the lens and tell me about the lines he saw. He put it up to his left eye again.

So now I don't know if I should teach him to shoot righty, or if I should build him a lefty rifle instead. I wouldn't mind building a new rifle. I love that whole process and then it would free up a new action for another build that I don't need. What should I do here?

I would wait awhile..
He's only four....watch him awhile longer and start with a pellet gun open sights and see what does with it. You can't change eye dominance and you wouldn't want him struggling with a scope.

 

[mnoland30]

I'm right handed and my dad noticed I was left eye dominant at a young age. He had me play with my toy guns left handed. I don't believe that is the right answer. I don't believe it matters if you're using a scope, and who on this site doesn't? I could not shoot worth a darn until I bought a pistol and started using my right trigger finger. At that point, I could shoot that .22 pistol better than my .22 rifle. I believe trigger accuity is more important than eye dominance. I also never learned to shoot with both eyes open. I can shoot just as well right handed as left, which was handy when I hurt my shoulder. Left handed guns are more expensive (doesn't seem to be an issue for most on this forum) and harder to find. I learned to shoot right handed bolts, and by the time I actually bought a left handed gun, it just didn't feel right. I couldn't find a lightweight rifle (that I could afford) in a left handed version.

I'd say buy a single shot rifle like a Contender or Encore or Ruger #1 and see which way he shoots better. Or put a scope on a pellet gun and see.

 

[Radman]

I built a rifle for my son who is currently 4 years old, but will start shooting next year. He's right handed, so I built him a little 16" 6 Creedmoor on a Savage action. Its a great little rifle. However, the other night we were playing around looking through an empty paper towel roll and I noticed he kept putting it up to his left eye. I ran downstairs and grabbed one of my scopes and told him to look through the lens and tell me about the lines he saw. He put it up to his left eye again.

So now I don't know if I should teach him to shoot righty, or if I should build him a lefty rifle instead. I wouldn't mind building a new rifle. I love that whole process and then it would free up a new action for another build that I don't need. What should I do here?

I shoot either, always switching hands when I switch eyes. Does it matter? Recently I bought a rifle from a close friend. I KNEW the rifle was a shooter. As I began shooting I saw that the windage was off. Just before I started adjusting I remembered that he was right-handed, left-eye dominant. Out of curiosity I switched hands & immediately began popping bulls eyes!
That's all I'll say about that....