Eye Dominance and Shooting

Bait O' Eggs · 10-24-2002, 06:25 PM

I am probably going to pull the trigger so to speak on a gun for my boy for Christmas this weekend, thanks for all the suggestions.

I know he is a southpaw and that has created several problems with looking for a left handed youth gun, or a gun that shoots equally well left and right handed. Not a lot of choices out there for a little guy. :depressed:

I remembered something about eye dominance and shooting, and tested my boy tonight and he is left eye dominant also, that pretty much sums up he will be shooting left handed. While checking my boy, my wife discovered she is right handed and left eye dominant. I have always tried to help her shoot, (not always with the most patients

) but I could never understand why she couldnt do better than she did. I think I have been trying to make her shoot right handed while she is left eye dominant. She never seems to enjoy to shoot, the gun is to loud, it kicks to hard, I am afraid, ............ I think if I tried to do it left handed she may do better and enjoy it more. I understand why she dont like it, she couldnt hit the proverbial side of the barn.

Is it more important to shoot eye dominant or hand dominant? I know we have some serious s h o o t e r s on this board who probably know the answer to this.

For those that dont know how to test which eye dominat you are. Take a piece of paper and cut about a 1 inch hole in it. Hold it out arm length and look at an object on the wall across a room with both eyes open. Then close each eye one at a time and see which eye the object on the wall is still seen thru the hole in the paper with. No moving of the paper or your head.

If you can still see it with both eyes, your hole in the paper is to big.

SLEDDER · 10-24-2002, 07:31 PM

Roy, What I was told while being trained as a @@@@@@ was shoot the weapon with the most comfort to the shooter as possible. Hand dominant is my answer to your question. Don't want to tell people what I was trained as considering the current situation.

Scott

Gobbaworms · 10-24-2002, 07:36 PM

Speking as a lefty(left hand dominant and left eye dominant), do what's comfortable.
I shoot right handed with a rifle and have tight groups (as long as its not a paper target-long story). I actually feel in more control having my strong arm (left) forward, steadying the rifle.
I shoot my bow left handed, entirely due to hand dominance/strength. I haven't had a "robin hood" but have broken plently of nocks.
Growing up in a right handed world, there are some things that I absolutley cannot due left handed, like use left handed scissors, use a left handed reel, etc...
I know it doesn't give you a straight forward answer. And if anything it says if there is a technically correct way of doing it, there is always an exception. Maybe let him try shooting right handed. He will likely get more enjoyment being able to swap with you and friends later. As you noticed, lefty stuff is somewhat limited.
That's exactly the problem I have with golf. Love the game but can never try out my friends new whiz-bang driver and you always seem to get nicked a couple extra bucks for the same right handed club.
I don't know what sort of firearms you have, but you are welcome to borrow my right handed 10-22. Very unintimidating way to see if he could hit anything.

fishin · 10-24-2002, 07:41 PM

My father made me switch to left handed when I was still using a pop gun (No it wasn't yesterday!). I'm right handed and shoot left eye dominant. So I'm now in the world of limited left hand rifles. Which is a bummer, considering how much I love to shoot.

I didn't see which rifle you decided on but one piece of advice... if you decide on something besides a lefty bolt make sure the safety is lefty friendly. Some of the rifles I've inherited from my grandfathers I would love to shoot but the safety is in to awkward of a spot to carry comfortably or be a quick reflex to switch off when it's time to get serious. Even though the rifle appears to be ambidexterous (lever actions, pumps, semi-autos).

Flatfish · 10-24-2002, 07:43 PM

If we are talking shotguns the simple answer is to teach the student to shoot with their dominant eye.While left handed may seem weird to you, either handed is awkward to begin with for most s*******.The single shot shotgun is a fine either hand way for the gun.It is possible for some to shoot a shotgun very well by simply closing their off eye.But there are many pitfalls in this thinking since we are starting Jr. BOE from scratch we might as well stack the deck in Jr.s favor.Mrs Boe may do better as well.If you think recoil is an issue(if she talks about how hard it kicks,it is an issue)go to a lighter load.If you handload this is easy.If you know someone who will handload for you have them do it.Beg borrow and bribe.Just get some light loads to practice with.I shoot skeet every week and am at 7/8s oz. now.I am looking at dropping to 3/4 and slowing the velocity down to keep recoil in check.Basically it will be a 28 guage on a 12 guage platform.
If we are talking rifles here,have the student close their off eye.While it is not proper,until we get quite advanced in the art of managing a rifle,1 eye will do just fine.Have Jr. shoot from her/his(didn't pay attention to gender and it does not matter.It applies to both)dominant eye.All long guns are to be fired from this side.Handguns are the same as rifles.Although I have a friend who is left eye dominant/ right handed.He shoots right handed and crooks his head way over and looks at the sights with his strong eye.Gets some funny looks, but he is a fine shot . There are always exceptions to the rule.But it is usually harder to be an exception than not.
Hope this helps.
Mark and the Jedi Duck Dog.
PS Get a coach for Jr. if at all possible.It would put him/her way ahead of most.Maybe even ahead you in a short period of time.

bigshark · 10-24-2002, 07:54 PM

Hi BOE, hope your season is going well and you are about to get some serious duck hunting in not too far in the future. I'll take a swing at your question and tell you my thoughts. Eye dominance is key to being "all you can be". By that I mean for competitive shooting. For a little hunting it is not quit so serious. For example: With the rifle your wife will brobably feel most comfortable shooting right handed as she is right hand by nature. The key here in my opinion is that when shooting a rifle she closes the dominate left eye and only has the right one to see through so there is no problem with the "shot". That said, before getting the sights on target she may have both eyes open and that initial effort to get the rifle in the correct position is more difficult because when she closes the dominate left eye, everything in her sight picture jumps to the right for her(the barrel will be left of what she saw when both eyes were open). To help her a little have her close her left eye early, before mounting the rifle to the shoulder.
With the shotgun she will have a great deal more trouble as she should shoot with both eyes open. Again, the use of one eye open will help her with the problem. The effort to switch to the left side with both eyes open is really worth the effort if she will try. It will not be easy for her if she is truly right handed. I switched some years back to the port side when I lost my right eye to too much abusive recoil. You know that macho crap that some of us are just too proud to learn by any other way than being hurt. The switch was attempted almost two decades ago and I have never been able to mount the shotgun in a smooth automatic fashion I did on the starboard side. My point is that it could be harder for her than a reasonable fellow would think. I would hope that if she has not had years of training that motor-memory movement she might be able to pull it off with
less effort. Anyway, I'm sure glad you have the grey matter between the ears to sense there is a problem and she will need extra effort with extra patience. Hope this will be helpful.

[ 10-24-2002, 09:31 PM: Message edited by: bigshark ]

fishwhenican · 10-25-2002, 05:56 PM

I am right handed and left eye dominate. I shoot rifles and shotguns right handed and right eyed. With handguns I use my right hand and move the gun far enough to the left to use my left eye. Really it works, I shot good enough to be "B" class in IPSC with a stock gun, "A" class with a compensated pistol. The rifle is no problem with either a scope or open sights. My son who is also right handed and left eye dominate shoots the same. We can take each others rifles and they shoot the same point of impact, but a friend who is right & right, hits low and left (I think) with our rifles. I tried, when I was a teenager, to shoot left handed I couldn't do it very well so I continued to shoot right handed. I wish I could shoot a shotgun as well as I can shoot a rifle or pistol, maybe if I shot with both eyes open?
Shoot which ever way is the most comfortable!!

mallard0311 · 10-25-2002, 07:05 PM

In the military they didn't care which eye. We all had to use the right eye. I am still trying to figure out how to make a one inch hole in a piece of paper.

Flying Roast Beef · 10-25-2002, 08:03 PM

I'm going to throw this out and I'm sure get some arguement. Your boy should be able to shoot whichever way is most comfortable for him while using a shotgun. A shotgun should be pointed not aimed and should be shot with both eyes open.

bigshark · 10-25-2002, 08:49 PM

His son isn't going to have any problem at all. He's left handed by nature and left eye dominate. Perfect

Look out BOE he will be outshooting his dad with young eyes and good hand -eye coordination...............One of the real pleasures dads have to look forward to.

brshooter · 10-25-2002, 09:33 PM

BOE,
Go with the eye dominance. It's all about the eyes. The mechanics can be learned. I have known a number of competitive s******* in my days of metalic silhouette and benchrest shooting that have had to change from shooting right handed to left handed due to changes in their eyes. The mechanics were not difficult to overcome, and their shooting improved significantly.