New shooter, how critical is it

So my son is soon to be 11 and we’ve started shooting some (20 ga mossberg with an adjustable kicklite stock I added so we can both use it) and he’s a pretty dang good shot for a 10 year old already. When starting him I did the same my father did and had him hold the gun left amd right handed and right handed felt better so thats what we did. However he is left eye dominant (but right handed). I was similar when I started, left eye and hand but left handed just didn’t feel right so up until about 15 years ago I only shot right handed (now can shoot ambidextrous) (my dad for reference is 100% left side everything). So question being how hard do you push to shoot the dominant eye? Or better off taking the same route I did and shoot what’s comfortable until ready to re-learn it the ‘right’ way?

Dominant eye is critical. I am a lefty, taught by righties. Really struggled until I switched sides. Now have vision issues in my left eye and had to switch to shooting right handed (after 50+ years). Doing OK with handguns and rifle, still a work in progress on shotgun.

Im right handed but strongly left eye dominant. I shoot shotgun with both eyes open. Handguns I sight with my left eye. With rifles, the scope compensates. There’s many ways to solve the problem.

poomunk wrote:

So question being how hard do you push to shoot the dominant eye? Or better off taking the same route I did and shoot what’s comfortable until ready to re-learn it the ‘right’ way?

Are we talking wingshooting here, or shooting a rifle/slug gun?

I have one son who is right-handed but with a left-dominant eye. Go with the dominant eye and have him shoot left-handed.

The current thinking from wingshooting and clay target coaching is for new shooters to keep both eyes open, but the dominant eye should determine how they shoot.

Now before some rifle shooters step in here and say it doesn’t matter, yes, I know you can learn to compensate. For rifle shooting, it is much easier to learn to compensate because you have the time to be deliberate when using a scoped rifle. Shooting something on the fly has to be a lot more instinctive.

Yes! It IS awkward at first. But what will really p!ss you off about kids is that that awkwardness WILL wear off in about 30 minutes and then they’ll be like they were doing it that way all their lives.

Whereas if you or I were to try to switch, it would take about 3 years of dedicated practice. I’m not making that figure up, I’ve known 3 guys who switched as adults because the “dominate eye” thing wasn’t a concern back in the day and they grew up as terrible shots because of it.

My uncle Greg was the worst shot (by far) among his 5 brothers and he was the butt of jokes his whole life until he went to a wingshooting clinic at the age of 45. The coaches immediately sent him to the “special area” where he and 2 other guys in the class of about 20 got the bad news: You’ve been doing it wrong your whole life. You literally have to start over.

It took him 3 years before he said it finally felt “right”, but where he couldn’t hit a bull in the ass with a handful of rice before, he is an absolute monster on the sporting clays course now.

So basically start them off right now because correcting it later is a bugger.

Rifle/slug shooting grouse. If he wants to start wing shooting I need to find someone WAY better than me to learn from (it wouldn’t take much).

Left handed. Go with the eye.

Start him left handed. If he decides to do any shooting sports he’s going to want to start on the same side as his dominant eye. Also make sure the gun fits him well.

I’m right handed, left eye dominant and shoot left. Have him do the same, it will be a very marginal pain now, but will send him on the right path going forward for life.

As Big Worm said only I’m Left handed Left eye dominant but shoot all rifles/shotguns left handed how ever for hand guns I shoot right handed but use left eye never a problem.

My oldest son is the same way as yours poomunk. After talking with other people we started him out shooting left hand right away at about 6 or 7yrs old. Both gun and bow and at first it was a little awkward for him but he picked up on it quick since he didn’t really have a chance to learn it any other way. Now at 16 every time he shoulders a gun doesn’t matter what kind of gun he does it lefty just out habit.

I’d recommend sticking with the dominant eye. Initially it might feel “off” for him since he’s not left-handed. Like most physical things that will get better with repetition over time. Something you could work with him on is get a good, stabilized position shooting from a picnic table or something similar to work on pulling the trigger with that hand, support hand placement, etc. Once that seems comfortable he could start working on shooting from a standing position.

ALWAYS shoot the dominant eye and work on shooting from that side. Be darned sure about the dominant eye however. Tape off his shooting glass on the other eye. Start the new shooter with an air rifle at 10 yards using iron sights and stress basic marksmanship fundamentals.

I’m another righty with a dominant left eye. I shoot left. Strongly strongly recommend your boy shoots lefty.

Side note, Browning BPS guns are great for lefty’s.

You can change dominant eyes with some eye training. Keep that pirate patch from halloween and start training.

Yep, for a shotgun I suggest shooting lefty. If it were a rifle with a scope it really shouldnt matter, but getting him used to using his dominant eye will be very important to avoid frustration. It doesnt really matter if he has a left handed gun its just more of a distraction when shells eject so dont worry about that.

I am a righty with a dominant left eye and I am kind of all over the place on this. I shoot bow left handed as my Dad has the same situation as I so we only ever had left handed bow’s around the house. I started shooting guns with either hand. I have only right handed rifles and shotguns and if I am in the field I shoot right, if I am shooting trap/skeet I shoot left. I shoot pistol right also. Seems to work just fine for me but I were to do it all over again I wish I would shoot only left.

Previous note about the Browning BPS is spot on as they are great for either hand and a quality pump gun.