Cross-Eye Dominance – Shooting

My son is only 4 but he’s starting to become a pretty good little marksman. We were shooting this past weekend and I noticed him switching eyes. So, we did the eye dominance test and I figured out he’s left eye dominant but right handed.

I feel there are a lot of advantages to shooting with both eyes open, so to give him this option I’d have to train him to shoot left handed. He’s extremely excited to shoot anytime he can, so as eager as he is now would be a great time to teach him one way or the other. Thoughts?

Attachments:

1. 

   Grackle-Blastin.jpg
   

2. 

   Pair-of-Rabbits.jpg
   

I’m cross eye dominant like your son, only complaint is finding left handed guns to shoot. But being raised shooting a RH gun left handed has made me proficient at managing it without purchasing a whole new set of guns…yet. Not sure why, but I shoot a bow RH, and guns/hockey/pool/everything else LH. Also, due to left eye dominance and a couple shoulder surgeries I’m basically ambidextrous now too, so I have that going for me, which is nice.

I have to ask what your 4-year old is shooting? My 6-year old is average-sized, and even a “Red Ryder” is a little unwieldy for him (much to his dismay).

Sorry, I can’t help out with your question.

Overcoming cross-eye dominance for some is easy, but others struggle without consistent practice. Plus, once your son gets older and possibly evolves into pistol shooting, he will begin to run into even more issues. Try taping over the shooting glasses on his dominant eye with a semi-translucent tape. It will get him used to keeping both eyes open while shooting and still being able to see the sights effectively. Some people quickly evolve with that tactic, but some still struggle, like me. I’m cross eye-dominant and found this to be a huge help, but without consistent practice, the reaction to squint or close the eye comes back.

Being he is only 4, I would possibly have him try shooting left handed. It will be awkward for the first few times, but he may get the hang of it in a hurry, which will eliminate the problem for the future. He’s got 70+ years of hunting ahead of him, might be worth adapting now before his motor skills are carved in stone. I’m a firearm safety instructor and see a handful of kids in each class that struggle with finding the sights until we try off-hand shooting. They will surely say it’s awkward to hold the first few times, but the comfort their eyes get is worth it in the long run as they adapt.

I should also note that I have never owned a left handed gun and I have never found it as a disadvantage in competition, hunting or target shooting. Auto-loading shotguns sometimes have a powder blast, but I always wear safety or sunglasses when waterfowl hunting (like we all should, but many don’t).

Get him going left handed now and you’ll thank yourself later. I have a good friend that does everything right handed except shoot because he’s left eye dominate. He shot right handed for years when he was younger because nobody checked his eye dominance and as soon as he switched to left handed it was night and day difference accuracy wise. Keep a gun in his hands and the switch will become effortless. Love seeing youngsters out enjoying what I got to enjoy when I was their age. You don’t see that much anymore. Keep up the good work!

Can’t see any damage in learni g it early, I waited till my mid twenties to learn/get used to shooting left handed and it’s real nice being able to shoot pretty much 360 degrees with minimal movement.

BigWerm wrote:

but I shoot a bow RH, and guns/hockey/pool/everything else LH.

So how do you know you’re right handed? Right just feels more natural? Being you do most thing left handed, in your opinion should I help him do most things left handed as well?

Basically in the end he won’t know he was right handed at one point?

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

I have to ask what your 4-year old is shooting? My 6-year old is average-sized, and even a “Red Ryder” is a little unwieldy for him (much to his dismay).

He shoots a full sized Gamo… way to big for him! We use a rest or dads shoulder. He can handle it as long as the gun is supported. (Much to my sons dismay he’s not hunting by himself yet anyway )

404 ERROR wrote:

It will be awkward for the first few times, but he may get the hang of it in a hurry, which will eliminate the problem for the future. He’s got 70+ years of hunting ahead of him,

Thanks for the pointers. He already doesn’t care which hand I have him use. At this age everything is so new to him he just goes with it.

Joe Scegura wrote:

So how do you know you’re right handed? Right just feels more natural? Being you do most thing left handed, in your opinion should I help him do most things left handed as well?
Basically in the end he won’t know he was right handed at one point?

I guess I don’t KNOW I’m right handed, I may have just been trained to write and throw right handed… But I’m pretty sure as I’m right hand dominant with everything that doesn’t require eye dominance. If you have the option athletically Left handers have an advantage imo, but nurture can only go so far before nature decides anyway. My wife is a lefty, so I’m hoping my son is a power throwing left handed pitcher, but he will probably end up playing soccer, band or something else outside of my master plan

Jeff Schomaker wrote:

Keep a gun in his hands and the switch will become effortless.

That won’t be hard! He’s already saving his pennies for his own hunting stuff!

Feathers wrote:

If he is right hand dominant he will actually be better at shooting long guns lefty because the dominant hand will be guiding the gun.

Good point!

404 ERROR wrote:

Auto-loading shotguns sometimes have a powder blast,

Something I’ve never considered. Is this an issue? Does the powder hit your arm and redirect to your face?

BigWerm wrote:

If you have the option athletically Left handers have an advantage imo, but nurture can only go so far before nature decides anyway.

If my boy has my athletic ability he will be hunting and fishing

Joe Scegura wrote:

Something I’ve never considered. Is this an issue? Does the powder hit your arm and redirect to your face?

This is the main issue shooting a RH gun Left handed, the shells eject across your face and will get some powder in the face/eyes. Not a huge deal in my experience, but definitely want to wear glasses for any semi-auto’s.

Joe Scegura wrote:

Something I’ve never considered. Is this an issue? Does the powder hit your arm and redirect to your face?

Only ever noticed it shooting SX2/3 variants, Rem 1100/11-87 and most semi-auto .22LR. It’s not super common, but it ROYALLY SUCKS when it happens. Surely not something I would want a child to experience.

I prefer right handed firearms over the LH variants as long as the safety can be switched. Large, non-reversible safeties can be accidentally activated by large gloves while shooting.

Joe Scegura wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Merican Eagle wrote:</div>
Auto-loading shotguns sometimes have a powder blast,

Something I’ve never considered. Is this an issue? Does the powder hit your arm and redirect to your face?

My leftie wife shoots a right-handed Rem 1100, and she’s never complained.

I’d do some research on how his eye dominance will change with age. I’m pretty sure most kids don’t develop a strong dominant eye until they go through puberty. Basically eye dominance can switch back and forth as they develop and isn’t very pronounced.

Joe Scegura wrote:

So how do you know you’re right handed? Right just feels more natural? Being you do most thing left handed, in your opinion should I help him do most things left handed as well?

Basically in the end he won’t know he was right handed at one point?

No. There is no connection between which is your dominate HAND and which is your dominate EYE. Shooting just makes it important that you hold the gun in the stance that allows you to sight with your dominate eye.

It won’t change anything else your son does right handed.

One of my kids is right handed but left eye dominate. Archery teacher tested this first thing and started him shooting left handed right from the get-go. It took about 5 awkward shots and then he was fine with it.

The brain of a kid has a tremendous capacity to re-map and do activities that would throw an adult into a tailspin.

One of my uncles discovered at the age of 40 that he was not the gawdawful shot he thought he was. He was left handed and right dominate eye. He re-learned to shoot shotgun right handed. By his account it was hell, but after about 2000 rounds he finally got to where he was good with it. He is now an excellent shot.

Grouse

Only sucky part is if he takes up bowhunting lol, a little bit harder and more money for left hand bows.

I shoot left and right handed, you get use to it the safety switch can be a bit of a pain.

tswoboda wrote:

I’d do some research on how his eye dominance will change with age. I’m pretty sure most kids don’t develop a strong dominant eye until they go through puberty. Basically eye dominance can switch back and forth as they develop and isn’t very pronounced.

This could throw a wrench in my plans. I’ve never heard of this… I’ll have to do some research.

Charles wrote:

Only sucky part is if he takes up bowhunting lol, a little bit harder and more money for left hand bows.

Only thing I’ve ever had a problem with is the re-sale value on a LH bow. Which is a plus if you buy used bows…I’ve got a 4 year old PSE that I cant even seem to get $200 for fully loaded! I just saw the same bow sell for $450 in a RH…

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

No. There is no connection between which is your dominate HAND and which is your dominate EYE. Shooting just makes it important that you hold the gun in the stance that allows you to sight with your dominate eye.
It won’t change anything else your son does right handed.
One of my kids is right handed but left eye dominate. Archery teacher tested this first thing and started him shooting left handed right from the get-go. It took about 5 awkward shots and then he was fine with it.
The brain of a kid has a tremendous capacity to re-map and do activities that would throw an adult into a tailspin.

This is what I’m hoping for. Left hand shooting and right hand for most other things.

Like BW said nurture as much as you can but nature has the final say.

Thanks guys!

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

No. There is no connection between which is your dominate HAND and which is your dominate EYE. Shooting just makes it important that you hold the gun in the stance that allows you to sight with your dominate eye.

There is definitely a statistical association between dominant hand and dominant eye. A right handed individual is more likely to be right eye dominant than a left handed individual.

I’ve never heard of an eye dominance change. I started shooting when I was 3 and have many friends that did the same and none of them changed. Also about the right hand auto loader for a lefty. I hunt with 4 guys that are left handed and they all shoot right handed guns and always have. Never once heard one complain about it.

I can say up until I started seeing my current optometrist (who also happens to be my wife) that I was prescribed the same correction for both of my eyes, but the left eye is weaker uncorrected. Since she started treating each eye individually I have definitely noticed a shift towards a much stronger left eye dominance.

I’ll ask here about a change in eye dominance but my suspicion is it’s more an issue of proper correction (or maybe lack thereof) that is taking over what should be than it is a real change.

Edit – she says the above is most likely the case and it’s common for eye dominance to be confused as vision clarity, often the dominant eye may have poorer vison clarity (was in my case).

(Side note, I shoot bow right, at this point I think it would be harder to overcome 25 years of shooting that way than any benefit of changing, but if you start then out that way, then that’s what they are used to).

My son had the same situation. I consulted a military expert thru a friend. His strong recommendation was to train him to use his right eye with blinders if the left side dominance was weak. My son was strongly left eye dominant so that didn’t work out. His opinion was that cross eye dominant shooters could be good marksman with consistent and constant practice but never as good as a talented same side shooter. I also have a friend with same issue. The advice I got has been spot on with him. So,…try to switch him over if possible. Don’t worry if you can’t. Practice makes perfect.

BTW, my son never got all that interested in hunting but was sponsored by Frito Lay for a few years in Halo war games. Cross eye dominance was not be an issue on the screen,…lol.

captddh wrote:

His strong recommendation was to train him to use his right eye with blinders if the left side dominance was weak. My son was strongly left eye dominant so that didn’t work out.

How do you go about figuring out how strong someone’s eye dominance is?