Right handed & left eye dominant

P

PWK

New member
My son just completed the hunting safety course required in Texas and now is anxious to go quail hunting in S. TX at my brothers ranch. The instructor said that since he is left eye dominant he should learn to shoot left handed. Is this possible and how difficult is it to make the switch? Any suggestions? I realize it may take lots of practice to switch. Or is there a good technique that allows a left eye dominant person shoot right handed?
 
PWK,
I, too am right handed and left eyed. I have a small piece of scotch tape (about 1/4" square) on the left lens of my shooting glasses. It is placed on the lens so that when the gun is mounted my left eye is blocked from seeing the end of the barrel. I still have good peripheral vision with the gun mounted. It is not really distracting with normal vision since the tape is placed high on the lens for shooting and I use the middle of the lens for normal vision. You might want to give this a try since it is very inexpensive and easy to undo if you do not like it.
 
I too am left-eye right-hand (the worst of all possible combinations when it comes to guns.) I am strongly right handed, but have had no difficulty learning to shoot left-handed. In some ways, it seems to work better -- for offhand, you are supporting the weight of the gun with your stronger hand, which makes things a bit steadier in my case.

I have put many rounds through a standard Remington 870 with no problems. The only difficulty was teaching myself to wrap the left hand around the trigger guard a bit forward so that I could operate the safety quickly.

One advantage of being a southpaw wingshooter is that you can walk through a field next to you right-handed buddy and have your muzzles pointing well away from each other. Less to worry about that way.

The only real disadvantage of shooting left-hand is that the selection of good bolt guns is somewhat limited. Most autoloaders eject far enough forward to not cause problems (this includes the M16A1). Lever-actions and single-shots aren't a problem.

Like most things in life, the major obstacle to shooting off-handed is your own doubt. Try it.
 
When I was instructing, we told the cross dominant they had some choices. Shoot from the side the dominant eye was on, shoot from the strong hand side and learn to use the weaker eye,or close the dominant eye. The last was least recommended. Many shot shoulder arms from the dominant eye side, and handguns otherwise.

Also, every one who has an interest in defensive shooting should familiarize themselves with off side shooting. It's something you may NEED to know. And for most folks it's not all that hard. I'm not especially well co-ordinated, but our old agency handgun qualifier of 300 points could see me shoot in the 290s RH, 270 LH, and I could qualify past 90% with the 870, shot LH.
 
This may not help with the shotgun to beging with, but I am left handed but have only shot a bow right handed this really screwed me up switching back and forth. Since my left eye is dom. Then a buddy suggested I try a "red dot" scope where you leave both eyes open. I've have since tried this and now shoot bow, rifle, and shotgun with both eyes open and have no trouble adjusting back and forth.
 
I, too, am right-handed, and left-eye dominant. Strongly left-eye dominant. Since I learned to shoot, I've always mounted longarms left-handed. I agree with the above poster regarding the stronger(right) hand being well-suited for supporting the weight of the gun. I didn't have much trouble with the service rifle(M16A1) with a deflector installed, and no trouble with an 870. Whatever works best for YOU.
 
I am left handed and right eyed.I can shoot with either hand,but I prefer to shoot left handed.I just close my right eye a little bit and my left eye takes over.This is why I always perfer low powered scopes so I have a wide field of view on rifles.I shoot a bow right handed so there is no problem there.I was so clumbsy with the bow when I started shooting one I just decided to learn right handed.I couldn't shoot a bow left handed at all.also It is strange but my right hand has always been stronger than left.I would probably be better off if someone had made me shoot right handed when I was a kid of six years old instead of letting me shoot the way it felt most confortable.Ironically I own no left hand boltactions. I learned on an old army mauser to snap the bolt during recoil with my right hand while the rifle was still at my left shoulder and could never get used to working the bolt with my left hand.I can shoot a bolt gun faster than 90 percent of the right handed shooters I have ever seen shoot for speed and accuracy.It is what ever you get used to.Don't be afraid to expeirment.But if you are just starting out shoot from your strong eye side if you can I believe you will be better off.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I've joined a skeet club just south of Houston and will be getting my two teenage boys lessons there. I talked with the instructor a while about the left eye/right handed son and he strongly suggested shooting left handed and that it was only a matter of practice so I am encouraging him to do just that. Neither has been shooting much so this will keep them from learning bad habits.
 
My son was right-handed and left-eye-dominant. I started him shooting on his left side. First with a youth Mossberg shotgun because it had a thumb safety making it pretty ambidextrous. Then a left-handed 870 Wingmaster. (Recently Remington came out with a left-handed express.) I would have gotten him a Browning BPS, as it is ambidextrous, but the Remington seemed to fit him better. I think it was a little shorter, and I got the Remington for him when he was about 13 1/2. He is 17 now. He doesn't get out to shoot much, he is busy with school sports. But he shot his first 25 out of 25 in trap this year. His mother and sister are all right-handed and left-eye-dominant. My eyes are about equal...no strong dominant eye. I shoot on my right side and use a Magic Dot to block out my left eye. A peice of tpae on the left eye side of the shooting glasses will do the same thing as the Magic Dot.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by arnie:
My son was right-handed and left-eye-dominant. I started him shooting on his left side. First with a youth Mossberg shotgun because it had a thumb safety making it pretty ambidextrous. Then a left-handed 870 Wingmaster. (Recently Remington came out with a left-handed express.) I would have gotten him a Browning BPS, as it is ambidextrous, but the Remington seemed to fit him better. I think it was a little shorter, and I got the Remington for him when he was about 13 1/2. He is 17 now. He doesn't get out to shoot much, he is busy with school sports. But he shot his first 25 out of 25 in trap this year. His mother and sister are all right-handed and left-eye-dominant. My eyes are about equal...no strong dominant eye. I shoot on my right side and use a Magic Dot to block out my left eye. A peice of tpae on the left eye side of the shooting glasses will do the same thing as the Magic Dot.

[/quote]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by arnie:
My son was right-handed and left-eye-dominant. I started him shooting on his left side. First with a youth Mossberg shotgun because it had a thumb safety making it pretty ambidextrous. Then a left-handed 870 Wingmaster. (Recently Remington came out with a left-handed express.) I would have gotten him a Browning BPS, as it is ambidextrous, but the Remington seemed to fit him better. I think it was a little shorter, and I got the Remington for him when he was about 13 1/2. He is 17 now. He doesn't get out to shoot much, he is busy with school sports. But he shot his first 25 out of 25 in trap this year. His mother and sister are all right-handed and left-eye-dominant. My eyes are about equal...no strong dominant eye. I shoot on my right side and use a Magic Dot to block out my left eye. A piece of tape on the left eye side of the shooting glasses will do the same thing as the Magic Dot.

[/quote]
 
Thanks for the info.
You can edit your post by clicking on the edit post icon just to the right of the date stamp which is just to the right of your username on your first post. You can also use this to delete your post. I think only you or a moderator can delete posts.
 
right-handed, left-eyed

I found out I was "crosslateraly dominant" at age 8 when my dad bought be a BB gun and I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn I was standing in with it. We did the "eye test" and found my left eye was dominant. I have since shot rifles, bows, and handguns left-handed. Some semi-auto rifles fling empties at my face and semi-auto handguns are tricky but everything else works. I stick to pumps, bolts, levers, single-shots, and revolvers. I was told that any finger can pull a trigger but you you should aim with your best eye.
 
Why not have him learn to shoot with both eyes open????? I think that would be easier to learn than having him switch sides! Besides, aiming a shotgun????? I am not trying to be a wisenheimer but your not gonna shoot many quail aiming at them!
 
I am very right handed and left eye dominant. I learned to shoot left handed and do everything else right handed, no big deal, in fact not only can I shoot right handed if I have too, it feels strange anymore to shoot a gun from the starboard side. Just a matter of learning and practice, Why fight it, make it simple for the lad. Shooting with both eyes open won't solve anything. If you are cross dominate, it just gets more difficult to shoot. I have no problem shooting shoulder arms left and everything else right handed.
 
I am right handed but also strongly left eye dominant. Like others I simply shoot rifles left handed and pistols right handed since the dominant eye does not matter (much) with pistols, except that it can cause you to expose more of your face during tactical situations.
 
Me too. My dad made the suggestion when he was teaching me how to shoot. He's left eye dominant / right handed as well. As I recall it felt natural right from the start.
 
Me Too!

mbirds wrote:

I am right handed but also strongly left eye dominant. Like others I simply shoot rifles left handed and pistols right handed since the dominant eye does not matter (much) with pistols, except that it can cause you to expose more of your face during tactical situations.
Click to expand...

Same for me. My dad observed that I was left eye dominant when I was 10. I've been shooting lefty now for 45 years. NO problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top