Cross eyed dominance.

[3fifty7]

My wife is cross eyed dominate. Right handed left eye dominate. She has taken to pistol shooting quite well and since I put a red dot she has been shooting her .22 more comfortably. Now we are trying to move onto shooting a shotgun in hopes of shooting a little skeet and a little duck hunting next year. We tried once and she got discouraged quickly before even shooting, just trying to look down the barrel.

I'm at a loss and we need help.

 

[Saintsfan6]

My cousin is the same way, he has always shot left handed due to eye dominance. He started shooting young and always shot lefty, he is very proficient now although he is right handed and left eye dominant. So if she is relatively new to long guns, I would say teach her to shoot left handed.

 

[rabiddawg]

I saw a buddy of mine put a piece of tape over the left eye lense of a persons shooting glasses. It helped her tremendously.

I think with a lot of practise she could have overcome this.

 

[dk.easterly]

Shoot rifles and shotguns LH. It seems to be easier than switching eyes.

Does she shoot with one eye closed or both open? That can make a huge difference.

 

[Bigchillin83]

haa my wife is the same way, I found that out a while back while we were at the range and let her shoot one of my scoped guns, she never knew it ,lol.. she shoots a pistol good and does ok with a red dot, but that's about as far as she has made it also

 

[3fifty7]

Shooting with both eyes open.

With a pistols she turns her head to the right pressing her chin into her shoulder/upper arm to aquire the sights with her left eye.

Similar with her .22 and red dot but instead of cheek contact with the stock she makes more contact with her lower jaw and chin.

As said we did not get far at all with the shotgun. I will let her hold it left handed and see how that feels. I do not believe the tape blocking her left eye vision will work because it's a pretty strong dominance, but I'll keep it in mind to try.

 

[dad-e-o]

I have seen the tape, paint, fingernail polish, etc covering the dominant eye of the shooter's glasses work many, many times, especially with shotgun. With rifle and pistol you have a front and rear sight, with shotgun your eye is your rear sight. Try it - it works.

Regards,
Dad

 

[CHW2021]

My daughter is right handed with left eye dominance,pistols are not an issue, but for rifle/shotgun she shoots left handed. It is a matter of training the hands to hold the gun. If your wife is a beginner this may be possible, it would be more practical to set up long guns just for her and set up sights for her vision. A scope on a rifle would be an aid, on a shotgun try a fiber optic type front sight and work on her hold for the gun; she can not hold a long gun and cant her head about as with a pistol. Stance and fit will be the most important things for her.
Let her find what is comfortable and work from there. A .22 rifle and a 20ga. shotgun would be my suggested training/starter guns for her.

 

[Jack]

Shoot it left handed. Training your hands to do something you've never done one way or another is easy, retraining your eyes to work differently than they have your whole life is much more difficult.

 

[LCPL 4]

All good points above. She should start shooting left-handed before any bad habits form.

1) Rifle - shoot left-handed. Use a piece of scotch tape or use sand paper to scratch up some cheap safety glasses on the RIGHT lense to force focus from the left. Do not have to go overboard.

2) Shotgun should be shot with both eyes open and shouldered left as early as possible. Most strongly cross dominates ppl who shoot from the weak side get discouraged fast.

3) Pistol - she should use the left eye and practice shooting both right and left handed - single and both.

 

[Craig8sm]

I shoot right handed but have to close or otherwise block vision in my left eye or it will take over. With both eyes open I physically can not focus with my right eye, even if I close or squint with the left to get the right eye sight picture as soon as the left opens more than a slit, I lose the right eye sight picture and instead pick up the front sight from the left eye basically looking at the side of the pistol. It's frustrating and I feel like I am wasting my time trying to fight against myself so I go to one eye, or tape the left lens. Maybe I should fight through this, or change my draw stroke to align to the left eye, but I can not draw lefty, that's out.

 

[Barry J]

My son shot right handed all his life. When he joined the Army, they made him shoot left handed. He shoots much better now.

 

[Jack]

I shoot right handed but have to close or otherwise block vision in my left eye or it will take over. With both eyes open I physically can not focus with my right eye, even if I close or squint with the left to get the right eye sight picture as soon as the left opens more than a slit, I lose the right eye sight picture and instead pick up the front sight from the left eye basically looking at the side of the pistol. It's frustrating and I feel like I am wasting my time trying to fight against myself so I go to one eye, or tape the left lens. Maybe I should fight through this, or change my draw stroke to align to the left eye, but I can not draw lefty, that's out.

Just bring the pistol over, you'll see instant improvement.

 

[bjeepin2]

I shoot right handed with both eyes open it took a little getting use to but it can be done with the hand gun I use my left eye long guns I use my right eye but always try to keep both eyes open unless shooting into the sun or bright lights.

 

[Renegade]

My wife is cross eyed dominate. Right handed left eye dominate. She has taken to pistol shooting quite well and since I put a red dot she has been shooting her .22 more comfortably. Now we are trying to move onto shooting a shotgun in hopes of shooting a little skeet and a little duck hunting next year. We tried once and she got discouraged quickly before even shooting, just trying to look down the barrel.

I'm at a loss and we need help.

There is no hard-and-fast rule, since everyone is different and not everyone has the same degree of eye dominance. Just let her do whatever comes most naturally. The main thing is not to force anything that makes her feel uncomfortable, just because someone says one way is right and the other is wrong. I found a great write-up by Kirsten Joy Weiss, in response to a similar question:

First let me tell you a little secret. I'm not sure this is a word, but I'm "ambi-dominant". There. Now its a word. I started my competition career being right eye dominant but, for whatever reason in recent years when I've tested it, my left eye takes over whenever it wants. Now, I'm sure at minute levels there is one eye that is stronger than the other because opticians say there's "no such thing as true ambi-dominance" (or even a word in the dictionary--YET) but I have little consistency in which eye is dominant on any given day. Fast forward past all the reasons "why" and we come to this fact: It. Doesn't. Matter.

Oh no, I can just hear the keyboards clicking in feverish disagreement.

But the fact is, for rifle shooting it really is a non issue. Actually for any manner of accuracy discipline where one eye will be covered, eye dominance is mostly irrelevant. Your brain will automatically switch to the uncovered eye as its "dominant" eye. Since your son is starting fresh, though, he has a few options.

1. Learn as a lefty
2. Don't worry about it, shoot with his left eye covered.
3. Retrain his eye-sight.

1) Your son is naturally right handed, so it will be much more comfortable for him to start with right handed motor-skills. But he is also young enough to learn left-handed, it will just take a little longer. When my father was younger (around your sons age), he had an unfortunate eye injury in his right (dominant side) eye. He had to get a fixed lens, which allowed the most light to enter (chosen so he could be ready for low-light hunting situations) but makes him very sensitive to bright light. In his case, he has no choice but to shoot rifle with his left eye. He re-trained himself at that young age and shoots rifle left handed without a problem. However, he shoots shotgun right handed with both eyes open. My point is that there's more flexibility than people might think in the eye dominance debate.

2) Like I said earlier, it really doesn't matter, if the dominant eye is covered. Use what's called a "blinder" - anything that blocks the vision of the non-shooting eye. This not only rests the inactive eye so there's no mental strain, it also focuses the visual, blocking out unnecessary distractions. Blinders don't have to be fancy. He can put masking tape over the left lens of his shooting glasses, cut a rectangular piece out of a plastic jug and attach it to his back site, or even tuck it under a hat or headband. I use the headband/plastic piece technique. Either way, a blinder will solve the dominance issue.

3) Re-training the eye is probably the hardest option. There are techniques and programs out there. But even when the eye dominance is "switched", it can easily switch back in day to day life. Better to work with the grain, instead of against it.

My suggestion is see if your son is comfortable learning left handed. If he is, why not have him shoot that way? It will have the side-benefit of exercising his brain for more mental and physical flexibility in the future. If he's not, don't force it and don't sweat it. He'll do just fine with his left eye covered. I wish you both a great time together at the range!

 

[Craig8sm]

Just bring the pistol over, you'll see instant improvement.

explain please?

 

[Jack]

Shoot with your head in its normal position, but put the pistol in line with your dominant eye

 

[edman87k5]

My son is right handed and left eye dominant. When shooting, he uses and eye patch over his left eye and shoots right handed using his right eye. Same with his bow.

 

[Craig8sm]

Shoot with your head in its normal position, but put the pistol in line with your dominant eye

Yea that's what I thought you meant with that. Been working on that, feels really unnatural and I feel like I'm regressing in my shooting so I get disheartened and go back to one eye. Guess I need to stick with it.

 

[gwpercle]

I was right handed and right eye dominant all my life. A few years ago lost sight in right eye. Now I'm right handed left eye dominant . Tried everything to adjust. Shooting a handgun is no problem, hold in both hands, or right hand , shoot with left eye. No big deal here.
Shotguns and rifles are a whole other story....easiest solution, shoot left handed, left hand on trigger and sight with left eye.
I don't have two eyes so the "shoot with both eyes open" doesn't work. Sometimes trying to force shooting with non-dominant eye just doesn't work either.
Try shooting the shotgun / rifle left handed , with left dominant eye sighting and see how it feels. It didn't take long for me to adjust, it's not as hard as writing with your left hand. I might mount a red dot on shot gun just to see how that works !
Gary