With pistols, it doesn't matter. Hold the gun in front of the dominant eye. This is awkward for one handed bullseye shooting, but no problem for anything else.

For rifles and shotguns (and especially shotguns), teach him to shoot from the strong eye shoulder. This is by far and away the best solution.

If he has to shoot from the opposite shoulder, then block the vision of the strong eye. Use an eyepatch or opaque dot on his shooting glasses. Then the strong eye doesn't take over.

But shoot from the same shoulder, that is really best.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Move the gun slightly off center behind the dominate eye.

This. Unless you're from eastern KY or SE Oklahoma.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Move the gun slightly off center behind the dominate eye.

Simple: that's it for handguns.

So it is written, so it will be done.

Thanks all!

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Move the gun slightly off center behind the dominate eye.

This, I am cross eye dominate and shoot with a Chapman stance...I put my chin against my shoulder when I working on accuracy. It comes naturally after while.

With rifles I shoot with my right eye as Uncle Suger taught me....works fine even with RDS eyes open.

I shoot pistols left eyed by tilting my head to where my nose/brow ridge blocks my sight of the pistol. Alternately I could just close my right eye but I find the tilt much easier.

I shoot rifles right handed and right-eyed. Never had an issue. Always qualified expert on every weapons system when I was in the Army.

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
Greetings all. My son is cross eyed dominant; so says his ophthalmologist, as well as experiences. This, simply, is not debatable so please don't focus on "are we sure." He's longed to shoot "average", but I can't seem to figure out how to make adjustments to my methods to facilitate his accuracy.

So, how do you all teach a right gander with a left eye dominance?

I am one, I shoot a rifle lefty, a handgun right handed but adjust my head so I can see the sights with my dominant left eye.

Some people force their off eye to become dominant, for me this did not seem like it was necessary.

We discovered my older son had this situation at Camp Merz NY when he was in the scouts.

The instructors quickly identified that my son was a right-hand dominant, left eye dominant shooter. This discovery enabled them to correct his shooting position and before we knew it he was nailing his targets and qualified with a 43 and 45 out of 50. During open shoot he was able to blast "dragons" and "flies" in the competitive shoots.

The Camp Merz NY Scout shooting range group has had a 100% success rate for a number of years.

Many thanks to the firing range staff in those days- John Gilmore and Dirk Simmenson…
The chief rifle instructor John "Happy" Gilmore is a former marine CH-53 pilot who spent some years in NC at New River.

Before we knew it my son was nailing his targets and qualified.

I pile on with slightly off center behind dominate eye.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Move the gun slightly off center behind the dominate eye.

This. Put the gun in front of the dominant eye.

Also, learn to shoot with both eyes open from the beginning. An early instructor had me close my right (non-dominant) eye and it hs been a real hassle getting over that. The brain processes faster with input from both eyes and you have a wider field of view, better peripheral vision with both eyes open.

I have shot left handed and it is okay, but I do better shooting right handed with the gun in front of the left eye.

ETA: This is pistol only. Long gun he may have to shoulder on the left or close an eye unless he is running a red dot.

quote:

Originally posted by sakata8242:
Pistols: Turn the head slightly to get the dominant eye to line up with the sights.

Long guns with iron sights: I learned to shoot left handed

Anything with a red dot/holographic sight: I've found it doesn't really matter which hand I use - with these kinds of sights, you focus on the target and your brain superimposes the dot over the target.

^^^^THIS^^^^
Sakata shoots the same way I do.
All long guns lefty unless it's a right handed semiauto with a faceblaster can on it...then it needs to have an optic so I can use the right shoulder.
Doesn't matter what kind, I use red dots and scopes both eyes open. (handguns too)
I have to think about it if I want to close my right eye when shooting.

ETA: I can **not** close my left eye and shoot unless shooting with both eyes closed is an option.
Tried for 60 years to close my right eye without closing my left...it ain't happening.

I'm cross eye dominant and taught myself to shoot as a lefty, but I can shoot equally as well right handed by closing my left eye slightly.

I practice shooting both hands and carry both ways. But I prefer to shoot left handed because it feels more natural even though I'm right handed.

He's just going to have to be patient as he trains himself to shoot with whatever hand he chooses.

I am a cross dominant shooter, and this topic is near and dear to me. It is one of the reasons I worked to become a firearms instructor at work. Too many insteuctors, who are otherwise good or even great instructors, spread a lot of BS on this topic

I've said it many times before, this topic is overblown in the minds of too many people. It has ZERO relevance in pistol shooting, and is a minor issue, addressed in shooting long guns.

This question came up on the forum recently, and here is what I wrote then:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...030055944#1030055944

Please bear with me, as this is a little long.

I am a “cross dominant” shooter. I am primarily right handed, although I do many things fairly well with both hands, and very left eye dominant. This means my left eye wants to do all the serious work.

You will hear many opinions on “cross dominance,” but unfortunately much of it comes from people who are not “cross dominant,” and therefore don’t really understand what they are talking about, or from people taught by the aforementioned people and have not learned diffferent. The amount of misinformation about cross dominant shooting, was one of the reasons I became a firearms instructor at work, so I could help others who were struggling to shoot well, partly due to ignorance about cross dominance.

For shooting pistols, cross dominance has no practical impact, despite what many misinformed people might say to the contrary. The rear sight is far from the eyes, and the gun is not “welded” to a shoulder (like a long gun would be). Therefore, all the shooter needs to do is line the gun up in front of the dominant eye, and go to work, regardless of which hand is the “strong hand.”

For long guns it’s a different story. The rear sight is often much closer to the eyes, and the gun is lined up naturally with the eye that is on the same side the gun is shouldered. That means you must sight with the eye on the same side the gun is shouldered. So for cross dominant shooters, there are really two practical solutions, especially those who have one very dominant eye, like I do. 1-Shoot strong hand, and close the dominant eye, or 2- shoot weak hand, and keep both eyes open.

For some shooting with a long gun closing an eye is not a big deal, but in some situations closing an eye presents a problem. For example, trying to pick up doubles in skeet, or when doing close quarters battle (CQB), both of which greatly benefit from maintaining a wide field of view.

Because I primarily write with my right hand, the well-meaning, but ignorant, people who taught me to shoot as a kid, insisted I shoot right handed, and close one eye. I sucked at skeet, and dove hunting (unless shooting singles). When I got into LE, the advantages of having both eyes open when clearing for threats was explained, and evident in training, and I was encouraged to try shooting long guns on my weak hand side. I picked it up easily, and have stuck to it ever since. The only real problem I’ve had is when using a Remington 870 shotguns, as the safety is only easily/quickly manipulated when shooting right hand. On my rifle with an ambidextrous safety it’s no problem at all.

So my recommendation is, if your son will ever do anything with a long gun where shooting with both eyes open will be a significant factor, then I suggest you try to teach him to shoot long guns on his “weak hand” side, sighting with the dominant eye. Hopefully he will be able to do that. I freely admit for me it was very easy, but again, I’ve done lots of things with either hand all my life, so some might say I’m slightly ambidextrous. Regardless, I think it’s worth trying to teach him to shoot long guns with his dominant eye, and weak hand. Even with people who a very dominant with their strong hand, I’ve had good luck getting people to switch to their weak hand/dominant eye, for long guns.

Good luck.

My daughter is right handed and left eye dominant.

It was easy to notice on the first day we took her shooting at 6 years old.
Let her should left handed from that day forward.
She shoots pistols right handed.

Now she is all grown up and still shoots just fine with no issues.

Posted this before seeing DMF’s post.
Glad to see a firearms instructor confirm I did the right thing with my daughter.

My dominant eye changed at some point in my life. It started out as my right eye and has since been my left.

I have to close my non dominate eye in order to aim properly. You might try that??

I'm a righty who is left eye dominant. Didn't know anything about eye dominance until I started shooting. To make things worse, I have a very difficult time winking with my left eye (I had to learn to do it and I'm still not good at it). What that means is that my natural instinct was to close my right eye and aim with my left eye. As a result, all my shots hit to the left.

So... I learned to shoot with both eyes open (aiming with my right eye). If you have tritium night sights have him practice aiming in low light conditions or in the dark (following all the safety rules of course).

You will see two sets of sights until you get used to it. The image of the sights on the left is the image from your right eye so that's the image you want to aim with if you're a righty.

After I learned how to shoot with both eyes open I had to learn to shoot through a scope. That's a whole other story.

Good suggestions in this thread,been left eye dominate my whole life,shoot pistols right or left and rifles left only

I am right handed, left eye dominant.

I have no problem, just use the David Caruso head-tilt to line up sights with left eye while shooting right handed.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Move the gun slightly off center behind the dominate eye.

Would you explain a little more? My oldest son has the same problem as mentioned by OP.

I had the same problem and if I practiced more I would have solved it much sooner.

Shooting pistols not a problem since you don't have to shoulder them, but a rifle or shotgun I couldn't on command or trying with

all my might close only my left eye shooting righthanded. Had to do it with both eyes open for years.


Bought a red dot sight to avoid the hassle and bam soon as I install it I can on command now close my dominant left eye at will.


So I say just keep at it you'll eventually be able to over come it. Shooting left handed might work for some it's extremely

ackward for me unless I had to due to say injury and was forced to.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dfens,

I was an instructor in the Service, if I had a sailor who was right handed and left eye dominate, I taught them to shoot left handed with the M16 or shotgun...with a pistol I let them try either hand and whatever worked better, we went with that.

My littlest one is the same way. He's too small to hold a full sized rifle yet and we bench a 22 on a pickle barrel and I have him shoot lefthanded.