Shoot right handed, both eyes open! The dominant eye leads the shotgun pointing (you don't aim shotguns except for HD)
Question on eye-dominance
- Thread starter teratos
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Shoot right handed, both eyes open! The dominant eye leads the shotgun pointing (you don't aim shotguns except for HD)
YES! It is that important. He can teach his hands to do anything.
Mack C-85
R.I.P.
This.......and I'm also a NRA Shotgun and NSCA Level I Instructor.
First, try to shoot with dominant eye side.
Second, if he absolutely can't do #1, clear tape over the dominant eye.
Third, close the dominant eye. This option is not the best because you lose depth perception.
He's young enough that #1 should be the best option.
FYI - we were made to shoot off-handed during our in NSCA instructors class so we could teach people who shot with the other hand.
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Thanks! Appreciate the advice.
molonlabe
Ultimate Member
Also as an instructor, it is easier to teach right handed shooting at an early age. You can become a good shooter shooting with the weaker eye but not a great shooter.
Left handed people learn very well to play a guitar without turning the strings upside down quite well.
Have him shoot long guns righty and handguns lefty.
I am a lefty, right-eye dominant, and have monovision via LASIK.
I 2-eye shoot handguns and wink long guns.
This will also make him better at shooting a handgun with either hand.
Side note: Monovision does mess with your depth perception, but after a while that effect goes away. I play first base on a softball team and had issues after the LASIK. 2 weeks later I was fine, and that was 3 or 4 years ago.
I am a lefty, right-eye dominant, and have monovision via LASIK.
I 2-eye shoot handguns and wink long guns.
This will also make him better at shooting a handgun with either hand.
Side note: Monovision does mess with your depth perception, but after a while that effect goes away. I play first base on a softball team and had issues after the LASIK. 2 weeks later I was fine, and that was 3 or 4 years ago.
Biggfoot44
Ultimate Member
- Aug 2, 2009
- 33,307
Right hand, left eye. Just for wild card right eye 5 points better vision.
Handgun ambidextrous ( at least until injury to left hand).
Rifle & shotgun right handed. Yeah, yeah, but I throughly learned right shouldered at tender age before considering to try left shoulder. At this point I'm not going to take on un-training and retraining unless some injury to right hand/ arm/ shoulder forces me.
As to the field and depth of vision thing, over the decades I can scan, aquire, get basiclly on target, and unconsciously close left eye for final sighting confirmation. Sounds convoluted, works for me, seems normal "to me" .
Handgun ambidextrous ( at least until injury to left hand).
Rifle & shotgun right handed. Yeah, yeah, but I throughly learned right shouldered at tender age before considering to try left shoulder. At this point I'm not going to take on un-training and retraining unless some injury to right hand/ arm/ shoulder forces me.
As to the field and depth of vision thing, over the decades I can scan, aquire, get basiclly on target, and unconsciously close left eye for final sighting confirmation. Sounds convoluted, works for me, seems normal "to me" .
I'm a lefty but am right eye dominant. I didn't realize until I was in training for the base security force I was attached to. I had a Marine Gunny teaching me and I started out wearing a patch on my right eye while shooting. After a while I used a piece of scotch tape on my shooting glasses and after awhile of that, I didn't need anything.
Now, this was for a pistol, I don't know if it would be any different for a shotgun.
Common issue. Probably about 15% of people are cross dominant. I am not currently a shotgun instructor but once did shoot clays a lot (back in the 80s - early 90s), and also once held a Shotgun Shooting Cert while currently hold certs in Riflery and as a Hunter's Safety Instructor (I needed the certs In Shotgun and Riflery to teach Boy Scouts and sign off on merit badges). Prevailing wisdom, borne out I believe by some personal experience, is that shooting with the dominant eye is the way to go PARTICULARLY FOR SHOTGUN. While it is possible to achieve a semblance of proficiency by using various techniques (close an eye....or block it tape or something on glasses), the fact of the matter is the shooter will unlikely ever approach the proficiency they would by shooting on the side with the dominant eye. Keep in mind much shotgun shooting is on moving targets, either on the wing or at clays. This is best done with both eyes open for several reasons. Among them are the difficulty keeping a good clear focus with your sight....much easier done with the dominant eye and if you are shooting from the non dominant eye you line of sight will be skewed towards the dominant eye rather than looking down the barrel. Also depth perception is greatly enhanced with both eyes open allowing for consideration of the targets distance when swinging on it. Further, using both eyes gives you maximum peripheral vision to track the target, especially if you use a 'swing through' technique'. Even should you use sustained lead to track the target, the wider peripheral field is an advantage (and depth perception to mentally estimate your distance to determine how much sustained lead is very helpful with that technique). I personally know people who are cross dominant who shoot with their 'handedness' rather than their dominant eye on handguns with good proficiency and for rifle, you are looking down a line with fixed sights or a scope which forces you (if cross dominant) to close the dominant eye (or otherwise block the vision on that side) in order to get a sight picture (which, again, might be difficult for some to keep a good clear focus using the non-dominant eye....but not impossible. Some learn to cope decently). But shotgun sports, other than slow moving small game which you basically point directly at, require that swing and that is what is enhanced by using both eyes. I have little doubt that it would be awkward at first for a youngster. A new....and especially young...shooter will adapt better than someone who has already been doing a lot of shooting and down the road can achieve better results. One more thing to think about: If you have to be cross dominant, it is probably better for a lefty who is right eyed than a righty who is left eyed. Why? Because of firearms availability. Left handed models are more expensive to buy new (usually) and suffer in the resale market should you decide to use something else. Also, I suspect if your youngster takes up clays right handed to match his dominant eye, he will likely gravitate toward shooting rifles righthanded as well. While I believe he could be more likely to adapt rifle shooting than shotgun shooting using cross dominance, he should find sight pictures more clear and focused shooting with his dominant eye even shooting rifles. The following link gives suggestion if your shooter insists on shooting with his handedness (as well as reiterates some of what I just wrote): https://shotgunreport.com/2013/11/29/cross-dominance-2/
Mack C-85
R.I.P.
Hey Mack...overlooked your response while scrolling on my smart phone (darn smart phones!).
Like Teratos' son and Inkd, I'm left-handed but right eye dominant. The difference for me is that my right eye is usually dominant, but it's more a case of mixed dominance. With both eyes open, periodically my left eye tries to take over and I end up seeing the left side of the barrel. To deal with that problem, I use a small spiece of translucent tape on my shooting glasses over the center of my left eye. That keeps my right eye in a dominant position.
Mack C-85
R.I.P.
No biggie......noticed you got NRA certified for BSA......me too, they wouldn't accept NSCA.Hey Mack...overlooked your response while scrolling on my smart phone (darn smart phones!).
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DanJo
Active Member
I'm also an instructor for BSA and 4-H. The above is the correct process. Getting eye dominance sorted out is especially important for shotgun. In pistol and rifle you have a rear site, so the gun will force your eye alignment, but in shotgun there is no rear site, so your eye effectively becomes your rear site.
I have had a lot of kids and sometimes their parents not want to switch to their dominant eye. After asking them to try it for three rounds of trap they usually are shooting better rounds after only three rounds and they become a believer. As mentioned, it's a lot easier to train your hands to switch than your eyes.
You can use the other methods to compensate as written above, only switching to shooting with your dominant eye will allow you to shoot shotgun with both eyes open which greatly helps picking up the clays quickly.
Give it a try and the improved scores will make you a believer.
I did the exact same thing when I was a kid, switched to righty and shoot much better and more comfortably. It didn't take long to get used to shouldering a rifle or shotgun on my right side. Still shoot handguns with my left hand as my strong hand. Can shoot right handed pretty good too.
Mack C-85
R.I.P.
As to learning to shoot with your non dominant hand. I sucked when I first started left handed in class, but in a day and a half I was breaking high teens/low twenties and that was with my dominant eye blocked with tape. I'm right handed as h3ll, but I can still shoot a shotgun fairly well left-handed. In the long run he will be better served starting off shooting with his dominant eye.
PS.....I can also write fairly well left-handed after cutting my thumb and having my right hand in a cast for eight weeks.
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PS.....I can also write fairly well left-handed after cutting my thumb and having my right hand in a cast for eight weeks.
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Last edited:
rtse4me
Active Member
One advantage of being left-handed but right eye dominant is the dominant hand is now on the forearm controlling the muzzle.
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