Advice needed: Eye Dominance

[FieroCDSP]

I'm right-handed, and I'm pretty sure I was right eye dom until I let my eyes go too long between glasses prescriptions. Now I'm left-eye dom, but my eyes focus at different spots. Both are near-sighted, but even with my glasses, my left is better closer in and my right is just a touch out of focus at the same spot. Maybe I need new lenses I shoot Iso, so I can get either eye merely by turning my head slightly. My real problem is when I focus on something that's in a different light level than the light closer in, like an indoor range. The one I shoot at has lights spotted at certain intervals. When the target is in the direct light, I can sight with my right. If I move it between lights, my left will try to aquire it, interupting my right. I'm going to try the tape and see if that helps. At the least it'll give me a head-ache.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I am left eye dominant and shoot either left eye/left side or right eye/right side. Its really mind over matter. Leftys are doomed to adjust to a right handed world and I carried that to golfing, guitar and gravitated the principle shooting. My natural takeup will always be left handed mind you but shoting right handed makes no difference in my scores wether it be a pistol or a rifle.

 

[Mr. Tettnanger]

I make and sell eyeglasses for a living, so I may be biased.

I sure hope you have had this child in for routine eye exams. Most parents don't. It really is a shame. Most parents have there children to the Dentist many times by the age of five, sadly most never get there childs eyes checked until the bogus vision screenings at the school nurse flags them.


Mr. Tettnanger

 

[RNB65]

Leave him alone and let him show how he wants to shoot. When you start pressuring him to shoot in a particular way, he'll lose interest and quite.

 

[Guntalk]

MAKE him shoot from the left shoulder

I can identify with this. I am right handed and strongly left-eye dominant.

He is five years old. This is perfect!

My father identified the same situation for me when I was about five. He knew I would fight this all my life if I tried to shoot from the right shoulder and use my left eye -- especially with shotguns.

He made me shoot from the left shoulder. He said I was simply not allowed to use the right shoulder, even with toy guns. So, with BB guns, and all other long guns, I shot from the left shoulder, using the dominant eye.

Do this boy a favor. Make this happen now.

It will take a couple of weeks, and he will not even be thinking about it after that. He will shoot from the left shoulder, using the left eye, and he will be set for life.

For handguns, I shoot right handed with the left eye. No issues there.

 

[SpiderJohn]

Update:
We have been working on this for the last three months, at his pace, and as an opportunity to enjoy a little time together.

When we work from the left shoulder he rolls his head around and uses his right eye. If he weren't five, I would think he is just doing it to mess with me, but he hits well either way. I think it is more a case of being five than anything right now.

I have decided to let him shoot in any manner that is comfortable. Once the cognitive skills develop so that he understands the concept of recoil and getting smacked in the head with a rear sight or a scope, I will begin working with him on not rolling his head all the way over.

When doing the eye dominence test, he will pull back to either eye randomly. I know he understands the concept of using sights, because he works hard at getting the rifle lined up, and he hits well. I think he may still be working to find a solution on his own.

He is still shooting handguns with both eyes open. I am still at a total loss as to how he does that.

 

[def4pos8]

Certainly, as several folks have already advised, it's a good idea to work with a real optometrist to determine your son's actual physical condition. As he matures, it may, indeed, become a matter of mental discipline since we do "see" with our minds. If he truly is right-handed/left eye dominant, special rifle stocks are in order. Years ago, Rheinhart Fajen of Missouri cataloged "cross" stocks. They might continue to offer these but I believe that they were purchased by Midway USA a while back, so I suppose that you'll just have to contact Midway. The last Kaiser of Germany, Wilhelm II, had this problem. I have seen a few of his "cross-stocked" rifles in museums.

 

[CNYCacher]

He is still shooting handguns with both eyes open. I am still at a total loss as to how he does that.

I shoot everything with both eyes open. I am right handed and right-eye dominant, but I keep my left open with fine results. Sometimes I can get my left eye to focus on the target while my right eye is focused on the front sight, maybe your son is doing something similar.

 

[ksh]

I, too, am left eye dominant and right handed. I shoot right handed, with both pistols and rifles. I have hunted deer for 5 years while shooting right handed. I do not roll my cheeks/face over so that I can sight with my left eye. I continue to sight with my right eye.

I have, however, begun training myself to shoot left handed. Reason being is because a deer, even through my Leupold 4.5 - 14x, at 300yds plus is just a big brown fuzzy dot. With left eye sighting, it's crystal clear.

 

[Donut]

I'm right handed and left-eye dominant. I roll my head over and sight with my left eye (with both eyes still open) when I shoot right handed, and I noticed when I try and shoot lefty, I roll my head over and use my right eye (again, with both eyes open).

I think I'm just flat-out cross-dominant. My targets dont seem to care much, though:

 

[nemoaz]

Just a few comments.

Stabizmus: taping the good eye will force the body to use the weak eye and it should be done before the child is 7 years old. So see an opthamologist ASAP. It is important because without getting corrected, he will never have great depth perception and may be ineligible for certain jobs such as certain LE/military jobs that require normal depth perception. And it won't make him the right eye become his dominant eye.

I'm left handed but right eye dominant so I shoot right handed. It's really the only good way to handle the situation but my left eye is VERY weak, like 20/200 or worse. You can train your off hand trigger control but you cannot change eye dominance. Obviously, certain tactics, like isosceles shooting with a pistol, make it easier to accomodate if youi use the shoot-right-handed-but-aim-with-the-left-eye method. He may have better luck if his non-dominant eye is better than mine.

Now that I think about it, my father was a state champion revolver shooter and used that method. He shoots rifle right handed but I don't know what eye he uses.

 

[Donut]

It sounds like you guys are discussing an actual physiological deficiency with one of your eyes?

I thought "dominance" was just where the brain placed a priority on the input of one eye over the other. Not an actual deficiency in the capability of one eye. In one article I read on the subject, There was a study that showed cricket players were more likely to be cross dominant because of batting. I'd wager that the same would hold true of baseball players, and I was a die hard baseball player from years old to my sophomore year in HS. It makes sense if you think about it.

 

[SpiderJohn]

I don't think anything is wrong with the boy, it appears his eyesight is better than mine when we play letter games on the highway.

It sounds as though he is shooting just like donut (well not that good yet, but he is working on it). The style is identical.

Donut, when you shoot large caliber rifles does the stock smack you in the cheek or the nose? My main and really only concern is that he will have a problem when graduating to .30-06 and above.

 

[nemoaz]

It sounds like you guys are discussing an actual physiological deficiency with one of your eyes?

I thought "dominance" was just where the brain placed a priority on the input of one eye over the other. Not an actual deficiency in the capability of one eye.

You're right. But many kids who have "dominance" problems (ie shooting or hitting in baseball or whatever) actually have a weak eye. Most people with normal vision don't have much difficulty using either eye, they one is preferred and one will be the dominant eye when both are open.

I guess the reason I brought up the weak eye thing is that it must be caught at age 5 or so in order to correct it. And I have it, and all my kids have it, so I'm a little more aware of these things.

 

[30Cal]

I've known I was cross dominant (I'm right handed) forever. My rifle coaches always had me shoot right handed and pistol coaches had me shoot left handed.

About two years ago, I started shooting long guns with my left hand and my scores have taken a huge leap. I was pretty good right handed, but much much better now.

You can shoot pretty well with the non-dominant eye but you'd shoot better with the dominant one.

Ty

 

[Donut]

Donut, when you shoot large caliber rifles does the stock smack you in the cheek or the nose? My main and really only concern is that he will have a problem when graduating to .30-06 and above.

Well, I haven't really shot anything high-powered. When I shoot rifles, I use my right, non-dominant eye. The thing I have trouble with is actually keeping my left eye closed. I shoot (both handguns and cameras) with both eyes open, so closing one eye and not the other is a bit of a strain.

I actually tried shooting an AR-15 with both eyes open last weekend, and it took all my concetration to focus on the sight picture from my right eye.

 

[pdowg881]

I am right handed left eye dominant. Was ambidextrous but was forced into using right hand by elementary school (and that was in the 90's). My first time shooting was in the scouts, and before even seeing the rifles we did the find your dominant eye thing. So even though I was I righty I learned from the start as a lefty.

As a kid, the optometrist said to make my right eye better ( I think im 20/20 left 20/35-50 right. I don't know because I stopped wearing reading and tv glasses in 3rd grade) That an eye patch could be put on my left eye. But it would have to be on there for something like a year. I can guess if I had done that I would have been made fun of. I could always read things far away fine, but with my left eye closed it would be too fuzzy to read. The extra benefit is that I can shoot scoped rifles with both eyes open and not have any image problems. My scope sight is clear, and the right eye sees the peripheral, and I can easily distinguish between both. This also made learning to shoot pistols with both eyes open much easier.

Turns out today I shoot long guns lefty, and learn my own ways of handling them becuase I don't use left handed guns. As far as pistols go, I use them righty, and I have better fine motor skills with my right hand so It helps with little slide stops and levers and all te little things. I just level the gun infront of my left instead of right eye and it doesn't cause any problem.


So after this detailed and probably useless story, I think the best bet it to make him do it right. If he learns lefty it will stick with him and not cause problems with larger calibers, or any discomfort. Whenever I reach for a gun it's automatically picked up and shouldered lefty, but any other object it's picked up righty. Eventually long guns and left handed will be in his subconscious and he won't have to worry about shooting like everybody else. And although I can put up respectable scores from short distances(inside 100) They are much tighter when I use my left eye. Probly has a lot do do with a crappy grip holding it righty since I never learned that way though.
One of the people I shoot with a lot but infrequently just last week said "huh? your a lefty?"

 

[Hyaloid]

I would humbly submit that you should take your child to a pediatric OPTOMETRIST. Avoid pediatric ophthalmologists. They are typically surgeons, and surgeons are trained, and like, to do surgery. There are certainly cases where surgery is the appropriate treatment for a large angle strabismus, however, if caught before about age seven a pediatric optometrist (or most family optometrists) will have MUCH more expeerience with binocular vision, depth perception and other areas related to amblyopia and strabismus. Past age seven, vision therapy and patching therapy can sometimes yield some improvement in acuity and visual functioning, however, before age 7 is the "golden" area for treatment as the brain still has some plasticity.

If he is found to be amblyopic, patching therapy can many times help someone of his age. Current thinking has the child patch the GOOD eye for about 2 hours a day, while performing visually demanding tasks (usually at near). Homework and believe it or not, video games often times suit that need.