right handed shooter with left eye Dominate

BobbyRiv

BobbyRiv

Joined
Jul 25, 2015
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Livermore, Ca
Has anyone ever had any experience with a right handed shooter who is left eye dominate? this past Saturday I took my wife, a friend of ours, my step-daughter and a friend of hers out to the local gun club to do some target shooting. My step-daughter and her friend are both 15 yo, female and new to shooting. Both teenagers were shooting our S&W MP15-22 rifle. Anyway my stepdaughters friend is right handed and left eye dominate. She laid her head down on the top (comb) of the butt stock to look with her left eye through the sights. It was the strangest thing I ever saw, kind of looked like she was doing some yoga stretching exercise or something. I didn't pressure her in anyway, we did discuss what she was doing though and she told me she couldn't focus good enough with her right eye through the sights. At 25 yards she hit the black 6 times out of 10 shots. I just let her go with it at that point. just wondering if anyone had any suggestion for me. Both girls want to do more shooting, actually they are very excited about shooting.
 
Register to hide this ad
Maybe she just needs a corrective lens, as either eye if 20/20 should be able to see the sight picture OK. If that's not the case, have her relax, ust the right eye to sight, but keep the left eye open and on the target. This will help her see the target better and also be more comfy.
There's a good piece in this month's American Rifleman on lefty problems.
 
As I "see" it there are not too many options. 1. work on learning to shoot left handed. 2. Close left eye and shoot with the right eye. I cannot shoot with both eyes open, as a left eye, right hand shooter. Glasses or contacts may bring right eye to see sights clearly.
Right handed shooting with the left does not work for rifles and shotguns. It can work for handguns with changes in stance, but has limitations.
Good luck with this challenge.
 
I am left handed and right eye dominate. The only thing I do right handed is shoot a long gun simply because of the eye thing.I taught myself at an early age to shoot right handed and could never go back. In my experience there are three options. for this girl. Shoot with the left eye closed. Shoot with both eyes open with a dot placed of a pair of glasses covering the left eye or learn to shoot left handed.. Don't let her shoot as you describe-she may get good at it and bad habits are hard to break.
 
This has been up before. The overall best shooter in this large county is right handed & shoots with his left eye. He holds his pistol a little sideways -like a gangster hold & blisters a target with one hand. He is so good with a shotgun he shoots a 410 against 12s 16s & 20s & wins in skeet. I am right hand but kick a football with my left foot. Nothing wrong with us-everyone else is screwed up.:p:)
 
Last edited:
I have the same condition as CAJUNLAWYER. When growing up I batted right handed and threw left. I was a pitcher. Shooting was always done right hand, but it was long gun only. Having recently ( 6 years ago) begun shooting handguns in earnest, I have learned to shoot left hand, as that arm is much stronger, and am at ease with that now. I also learned to bat lefty, and am stronger that way, more home runs, but have a better average as a righty. A person will work it out if they have the need. However, finding vintage left-handed stocks, like Roper or Sanderson, can take time, dedication and luck.
 
" she told me she couldn't focus good enough with her right eye through the sights."

I too, am left eye dominant and right handed, but I have no problem with "focusing" either eye. The problem (which is the nature of eye dominance) is that my left eye leads and the right follows. So... if I were to point at an object some distance away with both eyes open, and then close my right eye (without moving my finger) the finger remains on target. If however, I close my left eye then the finger appears to "jump" to the left about 3 inches.
And yes, I do the same thing the girl you mentioned did when she aimed the rifle- I move my head over the comb so that I can aim with my left eye. Yeah, I am not a good rifle shot by any means but it doesn't affect my pistol shooting any, since the cheek positioning issue is not a factor; it just looks a little weird because I have my head cocked to the right a little to aim. I shoot with both eyes open, by the way. I just could never adjust to shooting a rifle left handed, so I have no constructive suggestions to offer for you. It seems since she is young that she might be able to train herself to shoot left handed though.
 
+3 on the right eye, left handed. I was/am the only lefty in my family so shooting long guns was never a problem, learned right handed. My dad was not a pistol shooter so depending on what the game is I shoot with either hand. When I shot bullseye, I shot lefty but shot Action pistol right handed and PPC using whatever hand I could shoot best in position, left hand, right hand and both hands as needed. I always wore a righthand duty belt as an LEO but if a pistol is laying on a table, I will pick it up lefty and put it in my right hand to holster it. I do practice with both hands with my CCWs, by that I mean R/L and two handed and sometimes carry concealed on my left side.
 
I'm also right dominant but left handed in everything except shooting. I was taught to shoot right handed as a kid. I agree with the advice given.
 
She should have her eyes examined , regardless of which eye is dominant, she should be able to focus one with the other closed
Right handed left eyed here , I shoot handguns and long guns right handed
 
I am left-handed, very left handed, but I now shoot long guns right handed. I taught myself to do this, when I was almost 40, because I wanted long guns without being restricted to whatever was available in left hand. I had ambidextrous guns like the Savage 99 and Ithaca 37, but I wanted bolt guns, and autos. You don't find left hand Garands, or 03A3s. Who wants brass spit back in their face, not me. my eyes fortunately are pretty close, but neither is really good. I wear glasses, and shoot most rifles with a scope. I can handle the 1911 fairly well even without an ambi safety.
 
Last edited:
I'm also left-handed, and right-eye dominant. My shooting instructor diagnosed the right-eye dominance when I was in high school. I shot rifle and pistol right handed after that. That has changed somewhat since cataract surgery.

Since I'm right eye-dominant, the lens implant for my right eye is a bit more distant dominant. This works all right for long guns, but now I'm starting to become a bit more left-eye dominant with handguns. My pistol sights are a bit more clear from my left eye. I can shoot either way, but in dim light my left eye wants to take over.

Shooting left-handed works out all right, since I've always practiced with both hands for self-defense purposes.

An eye test is in order for your step-daughter, but if she's so left-eye dominant, she'll really need to shoot left-handed, if at all possible.
 
my oldest brother is left eye dominant, but he is right handed. He does shoot left handed & when he played baseball, he batted right handed.

Back in the 1950's, we had a 1st grade teacher here that discouraged left handed kids from writing with their L hand. That continued until a younger cousin went home after his 1st day of school, with a red & swollen hand & upon hard questioning from his dad (who thought the kid had badly misbehaved) told his pop that the teacher whacked his L hand with that metal edged ruler any time she caught him using it....

That caused Uncle Jun to call the teacher's husband (a friend& lodge bro) post haste ... this never happened again with any other kid. But there are many older guys here that are L eye dominant but use their right hands. I picked up the nice little Browning take down .22 auto rifles & the Ithaca mod 37 shotguns because I liked them & how they handled.......... My left handed kids love the bottom eject... & the fact that they'll be able to switch the safeties over if they want to, when they inherit them... but so far the grandkids are all R handed.
 
I have been instructing my other half who is right handed and left eye dominant for while now. Handgun, she's doing well,
gun in right hand, left eye through sights. Long guns, way different story Right handed, and trying to shoot left handed,
body posture and stance so contorted I'm amazed she can hit anything at all, she's not a kid, and maybe if caught early it would make a difference. Frustrating for her and me as I know posture and stance is paramount to becoming an accomplished long gun shooter.
Makes me thank my stars for being born right handed and right eye dominant.
 
Lost my right eye vision due to a stroke there, being right handed it took a lot of practice to get back to form with a handgun, shotgun shooting so so, rifle not at all. Practice practice practice!
 
  • Like
Reactions: M1A
Jar Wrench is right handed, left eyed, and hits the target in the throat at 500 yards.

I tried teaching her left handed and it didn't work so hot. She figured out how to adjust just fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top