Ok. My son is 4. I know it’s young but he wants a cricket rifle. I notice him sighting in on his toys he holds it right handed but uses left eye.

I know he’s young but should I try to teach him to shoot LH while it’s still new to him?

I’m a lefty so he will have some stuff handed down to him that will fit. a

I found out my son is left-eye dominant right before a little league all star game. Makes sense, he's always batted LH. He shoot rifles left handed and pistols right handed with his head tilted farther over.

No, I don't think so. I'm righty but left eye dominate. Shooting pistols is a non-issue. When it comes to rifles teach him to shoot right eyed.

I actually find it an advantage now as it's very easy to shoot both eyes open with rifles with my dominate left eye open and the right eye looking through the optic.

quote:

Ok. My son is 4. I know it’s young but he wants a cricket rifle. I notice him sighting in on his toys he holds it right handed but uses left eye.

I know he’s young but should I try to teach him to shoot LH while it’s still new to him?

I’m a lefty so he will have some stuff handed down to him that will fit. a

Get an eye examination. It may not be cross dominance.

If he is indeed cross eye dominant, it's a lot easier to learn to shoot lefty when you're young that when you get older.

I'm a right hand shooter, left eye dominant. Makes breaking clays a little harder, but I'm not changing at this stage of life.

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Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
No, I don't think so. I'm righty but left eye dominate. Shooting pistols is a non-issue. When it comes to rifles teach him to shoot right eyed.

Although I’m not cross-dominant myself, this was my immediate response to the question. Teaching right-handed cross-dominant shooters to shoot left-handed used to be, and perhaps still is, the accepted mantra, but I finally asked myself Why? If someone can be taught to perform a complex manual task like shooting by switching handedness, why can’t they learn the much simpler task of using their other eye to line up the sight(s) and target?

Shooting from either shoulder is something that’s taught in any good law enforcement patrol rifle training for proper use of cover in some situations, and the hard part is the shoulder and hands switching, not switching eyes.

I will say for a lot of years I shot with my left eye closed as a kid, while looking through scopes / sights with my right while shooting righty. But when I made the decision to shoot with both eyes open, it only took a couple of range sessions for it to 'click'.

And now, when shooting RDS equipped rifles, my right picks up the dot through the Aimpoint and I 'see' mostly through the left, with the dot meshed on target.

It's really the best of both worlds.

For pistols it's a complete non-issue, you line the sights up with your left eye.

The other thing about shooting left-handed is that many long guns are decidedly unfriendly to lefties. Yes, there are ways of compensating, including finding one of the few mirror-image models, but again why go to that trouble?

Yes. He is young and it will be easy for him to shoot lefty. It is more important to use your strong eye.

People make a mountain out of a mole hill with this. I am cross dominant and despite this managed to earn a distinguished pistol shot badge and leg points with rifle using my non dominant eye.
It is NOT the big deal people make it to be.

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Originally posted by jhe888:
It is more important to use your strong eye.

I am curious what you mean by “strong” eye. I’m not aware that people necessarily have better vision in their dominant eye than their nondominant eye.
Is that what you mean, or something else?

If he is left eye dominant, I'd switch him to left handed shooting for sure. I work with 4H shooting and we always switch kids over. It makes shooting handguns and shotguns a lot easier. You can move a handgun over to use the opposite eye, but that what work open sighted rifles or shotguns.

All of these suggestions are fine and good if he has perfect vision in both eyes. As I mentioned earlier see an optometrist or opthamalogist. I am left eye dominant and right handed because I am nearly blind in my right eye. These conditions are best diagnosed in childhood so they may be corrected.

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Originally posted by sigfreund:
The other thing about shooting left-handed is that many long guns are decidedly unfriendly to lefties. Yes, there are ways of compensating, including finding one of the few mirror-image models, but again why go to that trouble?

I’m a lefty and am finally treating myself to LH specific rifles, so it won’t be an issue at our house.

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Originally posted by captain127:
People make a mountain out of a mole hill with this. I am cross dominant and despite this managed to earn a distinguished pistol shot badge and leg points with rifle using my non dominant eye.
It is NOT the big deal people make it to be.

totally agree

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quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:

quote:

Originally posted by captain127:
People make a mountain out of a mole hill with this. I am cross dominant and despite this managed to earn a distinguished pistol shot badge and leg points with rifle using my non dominant eye.
It is NOT the big deal people make it to be.

totally agree

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It is true that there are adaptive strategies, and some people adopt them with success. Including me.

But, if you have a new shooter who doesn't already have a handedness preference to overcome, teach him to shoot left handed. Both hands are involved in shooting, so it isn't like writing or throwing a ball, where choosing the off hand is a big disadvantage.

My left eye dominance is strong. Unfortunately, I learned to shoot righty, before I knew it. I have tried to switch, especially with a shotgun, but my habits are hard enough to break that I can't stick with lefty shooting. It would be a big help to my shotgunning if I could, though.

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.

I am cross dominant with a stronger left eye while right handed. Because of this I shoot handguns right handed and long guns left handed without any issues. It really isn’t a big deal once he trains himself to hold the rifle in his left hand comfortably.

However, I would encourage you to have his eyes checked by an optometrist. In my case being left eye dominant was exacerbated by a lazy right eye that could have been treated if caught earlier.

My daughter is cross dominant. I taught her to shoot right handed with left eye closed. We’re both horrible with a shotgun and she’s not much of a pistol shooter. She has been quite successful as a right handed shooter. Pretty good two eye open with red dot as well. Just one example and not sure I was right or wrong, but it works for her.

It will all depend on the person. I am left eye dominant and shoot everything right handed just fine, I particularly love shooting clays, but that is me. Whatever is most comfortable for the shooter and makes it a joy as opposed to a job is my philosophy, but then again I am in Texas and the heat might have effected my brain. LOL