Cross Eye Dominance

[Greyhawk]

I want to jump off of Mark's thread 'One eye or two' instead of hi-jacking it with the subject of cross eye dominance.
I am left handed and left eye dominant, two of my kids are right handed and right hand dominant. My youngest son is left handed and right eye dominant. He shoots rifle, shotgun, and bow right handed, and pistol left handed and does very well.
Where I need some encouragement is with my youngest daughter who is right handed and left eye dominant. She really struggles, we have tried having her shoot left-handed, we have tried an eye patch, both are uncomfortable and awkward for her.
She does o.k. with a rifle and a scope (shooting right handed and with her right eye), but really struggles with open sights.
Any suggestions for me? Thanks!

[GFK]

During our NRA Youth Day at the club this year, there was a young man with a similar situation. The instructor told him the same thing that you have your daughter doing (Try shooting with the left hand and left eye, then shoot with the right hand and right eye. Choose the one that works the best.) He has a son that he trained that way. At Youth Day, the young people are giving an opportunity to shoot .177 air rifles, .22 rifles and AR-15s with open sights. In the end, the young man did well, after he picked a side to shoot from.

[TMB]

I am right handed and shoot with my left because that is what felt right when learning to shoot. I still have to cover or close my right eye because everything is double or jumps from one eye to the other. I think if your daughter shoots with both hands she will settle on which side she feels most comfortable.

[GFK]

During our NRA Youth Day at the club this year, there was a young man with a similar situation. The instructor told him the same thing that you have your daughter doing (Try shooting with the left hand and left eye, then shoot with the right hand and right eye. Choose the one that works the best.) He has a son that he trained that way. At Youth Day, the young people are giving an opportunity to shoot .177 air rifles, .22 rifles and AR-15s with open sights. In the end, the young man did well, after he picked a side to shoot from.

As a point of clarity, the advice giving above was to someone shooting an AR-15 in the prone position.

[Greyhawk]

Thanks guys. I think that the best thing is to keep her shooting and try and adjust to what works best for her now that we know it's an issue. She does pretty well with my scoped AR, and she enjoys shooting it, so we'll work from there.

[North Country Gal]

I am in the same boat as her. I am right-handed, but left eye dominant. I've always managed shooting rifle, even with open sights, by closing my left eye and using my right eye. I tried shooting long guns left-handed, but it was so totally weird and awkward, I didn't stay with it for long.

As is the case for so many of us that are cross eyed dominant, we sometimes find ourselves doing some things right-handed and some thing left-handed. For instance, when I was young and first started shooting a bow or a slingshot, I just naturally picked them up with my right hand and pulled them with the left, making me a left handed bow or slingshot shooter. I did this for sometime until someone asked me why I was shooting left-handed, when I shot guns right-handed? Why? It just came naturally to me. I never even noticed I was shooting "left-handed" until others pointed it out. I still shoot bows left-handed to this day.

Back to your daughter. Does she wear glasses? Her problem with open sights might be her vision. I've been wearing glasses all my life and although my left eye is sharper in terms of vision than my right, my right is still good enough. Overall, assuming her vision is good enough, her cross eye dominance won't be a big liability for rifle or handgun shooting. (In fact, for handgun shooting, I can use either eye.)

Cross eye dominance is going to be more of an issue for shotgunning, though, again, there are ways to work around it.

[Greyhawk]

I am in the same boat as her. I am right-handed, but left eye dominant. I've always managed shooting rifle, even with open sights, by closing my left eye and using my right eye. I tried shooting long guns left-handed, but it was so totally weird and awkward, I didn't stay with it for long.

As is the case for so many of us that are cross eyed dominant, we sometimes find ourselves doing some things right-handed and some thing left-handed. For instance, when I was young and first started shooting a bow or a slingshot, I just naturally picked them up with my right hand and pulled them with the left, making me a left handed bow or slingshot shooter. I did this for sometime until someone asked me why I was shooting left-handed, when I shot guns right-handed? Why? It just came naturally to me. I never even noticed I was shooting "left-handed" until others pointed it out. I still shoot bows left-handed to this day.

Back to your daughter. Does she wear glasses? Her problem with open sights might be her vision. I've been wearing glasses all my life and although my left eye is sharper in terms of vision than my right, my right is still good enough. Overall, assuming her vision is good enough, her cross eye dominance won't be a big liability for rifle or handgun shooting. (In fact, for handgun shooting, I can use either eye.)

Cross eye dominance is going to be more of an issue for shotgunning, though, again, there are ways to work around it.

Thanks NCG, I was looking forward to your input. She is 12 and has always enjoyed shooting my scoped Ruger 10-22. And she shoots bow fairly well when she puts her mind to it. she doesn't wear glasses. I didn't figure out that she was cross eye dominant until her hunter's safety range day, where they use open (buckhorn) sight .22 rifles. She really struggled (to tears) I felt really bad for her, but she stuck it out, and the RSO and the instructor were really great and gentle. They passed her, because she demonstrated safe and intelligent handling of the firearm, but she couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. They had a scoped rifle sitting there in case they were short on firearms, and I should have asked them if she could use that, but I didn't think of it until afterwards. Anyway she is my one kid who is not a firearm enthusiast, but she likes to go to the range, and hunt, to be with us and hang out with the gang, so I think I will keep her on scoped firearms for now. (It's funny. We had a Tannerite shoot at a friends house for the 4th of July. You had to hit a silver dollar sized spot in order to blow up the tannerite (and launch a 55 gallon drum into the atmosphere) She had no problem hitting a silver dollar sized spot at 75 yards with my scoped AR) But put her on open sights and she's all over the place.
Thanks for your input everyone. Happy Fall!!

[North Country Gal]

You are so welcome. That just breaks my heart to hear how she struggles, but your love and understanding is the best cure and solution of all. Keep up the good work, there, and bless you for that. Give her a hug for me and have her keep right on shooting a scope, maybe adding a red dot. That might do the trick, too. There are red dots that offer a variety of reticles, even a cross hair. Since she likes scopes, another option is a low powered scope, say a 1.5-4x. Very easy to use as far as steadiness and a great alternative to iron sights.

[Greyhawk]

You are so welcome. That just breaks my heart to hear how she struggles, but your love and understanding is the best cure and solution of all. Keep up the good work, there, and bless you for that. Give her a hug for me and have her keep right on shooting a scope, maybe adding a red dot. That might do the trick, too. There are red dots that offer a variety of reticles, even a cross hair. Since she likes scopes, another option is a low powered scope, say a 1.5-4x. Very easy to use as far as steadiness and a great alternative to iron sights.

Thanks so much ! She's just one of 4 great kids! I'm sure thankful for them all!!!

[Cowpokey]

One of my daughters is left handed and right eye dominant, she started shooting left handed. We "realized" she was cross-eye dominant shooting trap, she was having a heck of a time hitting anything. Checked her for eye dominance, and figured out real quick that she was right eyed...switched her to shooting right handed and her trap game improved immediately, she now shoots in the 18-21 out of 25 targets on the trap range. It probably helps that she is very near ambidextrous, she can do almost everything as well with either hand, but uses her left hand for drawing and writing.