My son is right handed; left eye dominant

[txcharvel]

My youngest has the same issue...right handed and left eye dominant. I cringe watching him shoot a rifle, even though he's already a decent shot for a 9 year old.

What has been hard for him is shooting a bow. He actually came up with the idea of using an eye patch to force him into using his right eye. It's really worked for him. The brain adopts to the change instantly and it's helped him learn to switch to his right eye and close his left to look through the peep.

Where the left eye dominance really helps when you're right handed is golf. He already has a killer short game

[Salty1]

I am in the same situation and have been for many decades. I found out I was left eye dominant while in Basic Training and had to shoot much more accurate than as a kid just plinking around. I switched to my left side for the M-16 and everything just fell into place. Back then the M-16's did not have the brass deflectors on them and had many a hot round go down my back, they do burn skin. For handguns I found that for me the best way was to stay right handed and just move the handgun over a slight bit to my left side so the eye easily looks straight down the sights. I would let him try both ways and see what he is most comfortable with and not force him to a specific way since this is supposed to be fun for him at such an early age..... Best Wishes..............

[AlaskanInTexas]

Thanks for all the advice - very helpful!

[Charlies.Contingency]

Being that I had no choice about only being anle to see out of my left eye, I too have faced this delima. I completely right handed in everything I do except shooting long guns now. I have found on several platforms, there can be an advantage when shooting left handed on right handed long guns, especially shotguns and bolt action rifles. There are a fewplatforms that are impracticle to shoot off handed, but mainly due to ejection ports being too far back, shaped stocks, and right hand controls in odd places.

There are advantages and disadvantages, but I highly suggest traing with the dominant eye, regardless of which hand they shoot from and/or are dominant with. If you go left handed though, you don't have to shoot a left handed gun, and they can be more expensive. My main thinking on a left handed gun, is that Others may not be able to shoot my gun. Dependin on your situation, that may be disired or avoided. My wife and I share and swap guns all the time, and I have no doubt that she can use every gun I own, because I won't buy a gun unless both of us can use it, though she doesn't have to care for my everday carry choice, she still shoots its when we practice too.

Common Pros:
Ease of loading with dominant hand.
Easy to push safety on. (Most shotguns)
Harder turn off safety, tends to require a more intentional change. (Most shotguns)
Ability to draw handgun while still holding long-gun.

Common Cons:
Some safety's are not accessable to left handed shooters.
Bull pup are generally off limits.
Some carbines have one sided mag release buttons making for funky mag changes.
More expensive "left handed" models.
Some semi-auto's may be undesirable to shoot due to ejection ports.

My son is in LE and carry's a Glock. He is right handed and left eye dominant He simply just twists the pistol to the left - problem solved.

I (was) law enforcement, and I carried a glock. What do you mean he "twisted" it? When I sight, I do it just the same as anybody else, but I align it to my left eye, Im not sure why somebody would need to tilt their handgun to alogn with their left eye.

[mloamiller]

I am the same way. I grew up shooting rifles left-handed, but when I started shooting pistols as an adult, always did so right-handed. To me, that's just normal and it feels weird to shoot a rifle right-handed (just as weird shooting a pistol left-handed).

On a related note, my uncle always shot rifles left-handed. As a kid, his dad (my grandpa) gave him a .22 bolt-action rifle, but it would often eject shells right in his face. My grandpa was somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades, and his solution was to screw a small piece of metal to the barrel right behind the ejection port. It was just enough to deflect the spent shells away from my uncle's face.

[The Annoyed Man]

I, too, am/was left-eye dominant and still am right handed.

It doesn't seem to have hurt your skeet game any.

[PaJ]

I am also right handed / left eye dominant. I grew up bird hunting and always closed my left eye when shooting a shotgun. One day my dad was taking pics in the blind and asked, "do you always close your eye when you shoot?" I remember thinking, "Don't you?" I didn't know any other way.

Today, I'm trying to learn to shoot long guns with both eyes open but still naturally close my left eye. I know it's not ideal, but it has always worked well for me before. I don't see that I'm going to truly "fix" it now. Since taking up the pistol, I have learned to align my weapon so that I am looking through the sites with my left eye by simply moving the gun a little to the left and turning my head a little to the right. I cannot always get my first aim as quickly as I'd like, but I'm fairly accurate. A lot of my dry fire practice is simply learning to find the sites and target quicker.

[Setxjeff]

I am also right handed, left eyed. I shoot pistols right handed but aim with left eye and shoot long guns left handed, have do it this way for over 50 years so the trigger control is ingrained. Perfect score on the CHL shooting test so I guess it works. For the problem with the right Eye, I do close it because it gets blurry vision when sighting a weapon. I shoot bows lefty. Still haven't bought a left hand rifle yet, plan on doing that one day. Mainly shoot lever guns because they are easier for either hand.

[nightmare69]

I'm also right handed and left eye dominant and I shoot just fine.

[remington79]

I'm right handed and left eye dominant too. I just close my left eye when I shoot a rifle. I have to close my left eye if I use a scope or iron sights. For pistol I keep both eyes open. My pistol also "twists" in my hand. Twist isn't a good way to put it but its the best I can think of. I'll try to explain. I shoot pistol with both eyes open however, if I close my right eye or my left eye you can tell that the sights are lined up with the left eye.

[nightmare69]

I keep both eyes open unless I'm looking through a scope. It took some getting used too but it works for me.

[Wtxchooter]

I am right handed, left eye dominant. Additionally, the vision in my right eye is substantially worse due to an oddball astigmatism. I was frustrated by shooting through most of my youth until my parents saw a movie called "Firebirds" and realized that was my problem. I started shooting left handed with rifles and shotguns in my teens. Once you have started the other way, it's hard to make the transition, but very much worth it. I didn't start really shooting handguns until I was in my 30's. Handguns I now can shoot ambidextrously, but am better with my right hand, both eyes open. It takes lots of concentrated practice to overcome existing habits if they are already in place, but it is worth the effort.