Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Advice for shooters that are left eye dominant

What are shooters doing or recommending for bolt action shooters that are right handed but left eye dominant? Should a person use a left handed rifle and aim with left eye. Or could a shooter use a right handed bolt action and close their left eye and aim with their right eye. I am looking for a rifle for my 12 year old grandson, and as far as left hand versions the selection is somewhat limited as far as wood stocks and lighter calibers, plus a compact rifle would be preferred for a starter. Any advice is appreciated.

I’m no writer but I am left eye dominate.
I’ve owned one left handed bolt gun, I sold it. And I won’t buy another.
Just buy him a right handed gun and let him shoot it left handed. I’ve been doing it for years.
If that’s what he’s trained to do he won’t know any different.

My son uses RH rifles from the left shoulder. Talks about a LH rifle, but options are limited. His bow is LH.

My youngest son is left eye dominant but right handed. My plan is to have him shoot guns left handed simply because I’m a lefty so now I have someone to leave my rifles to.

LH guns are safer and easier to use when shot left handed. Just commit to buying the correct equipment for your grandson. At one point, there were just three readily available LH bolt rifle options (WBY, Rem and Savage), now there are lots. As a left handed shooter, I have had rifles chambered from .17 HMR to .416 Remington, and always on lh actions. He would certainly need to shoot shotgun from the shoulder that matches his dominant eye, if he wants to be any good at it.

In order to understand what I mean, how about you borrow a LH rifle and shoot it for a day at the range and see if it is at all awkward. (I suspect you will.) Or try a round of skeet from the wrong shoulder with your master eye closed.

If you want him to enjoy the shooting sports, do everything you can to make them easy to learn, quickly enjoyable, and not frustrating.

Utah708 for the win!

My wife is right handed left eye dominant and shots left handed. No bolt gun though, over under shotgun and lever action rifles.

I am right handed right eye dominant and for a variety of reasons have shot left handed from time to time, those experiences just enforce the validity of my first sentence.

Maybe practice shooting right handed and closing the left eye.

Ron

Oldhunter49
Soon, cant say exactly how soon, but soon there will be a stock on the market that will allow a right hand shooter to use his left eye to shoot. And vise versa. And it can be configured either way in a matter of seconds without tools. Have the rifle on your right shoulder, and use use other eye. Have the rifle on your left shoulder, use your right eye. And it will be available for every shoulder fired weapon.....rifles, shotguns, crossbow, grenade launchers, etc. And you will be pleasantly surprised at the cost .
Charlie

Not A Gunwriter, but am left eye dominant and right handed. I use a RH rifle and shoot from the right shoulder. With a scope or iron sights I have never had a problem. Even shot expert with many different rifles in the military. Pistols I shoot either RH or LH, just as good both ways. My issue is a shotgun. That is where I see a difference in eye dominance.

Agreed, 1000%.

This topic comes up from time-to-time and there's always a mixture of advice and opinions. Teach that youngster to shoot properly with his dominate eye. He'll thank you when he's older and can run 100 straight on the skeet field shooting with both eyes open. I know this thread is about bolt action rifles, but you get my point. Left handed bolt guns are harder to find, but they're out there.

This.................. me too!

If you're pretty sure his shooting interest will be rifles only then shooting right handed and closing his left eye is a viable option. If he's going to take an interest in shotguns then I'd switch him to the port side while he's still in his formative years when the transition will be fairly easy, I'd encourage him to switch to the left side and learn to shoot with both eyes open. Left eye dominance with a right handed shotgunner is frustrating for a new shooter. There be a handful come along and tell you it doesn't matter but I've trained an lot of shotgunners and eye dominance is about the most common barrier to good, and confidence building shooting.

I know you're seeking rifle advice but looking long term, I'd get him switched over to shooting left handed as soon as possible and get him in a left handed rifle. Simply safer. Just ask kk Alaska. He'll back me up on the safety aspect. I've been fortunate to always have shooting glasses on at the range but have taken some gas and particles to the glasses when a primer pierced or case failed and I was shooting a right handed rifle from the left side.

Right-handed, blind in the right eye since birth. I shoot left-handed. Over the last 40 years, I have used both right and left-handed rifles. I am in the process of switching to all left-hand custom bolt rifles because it is the right tool for the job and more convenient.

That said, the rifle I use the most is the Savage 99 with the tang safety. A left-hand shooter's dream.

I am left eye dominant and right handed. I started shooting right handed but when I bought a Rem 722 I found I hand to shoot left handed.

It took about 1 year but the bonus was I was shooting better left handed than I did right handed.

Try it you may like it although it may not work that way for everyone.

I'm left-handed, and left-eye dominant. I learned to shoot right-handed bolt guns as a kid. My parents didn't want to go through the hassle of finding a lefty rifle for me.

My youngest daughter seems to be a bit more fluid as far as eye and hand dominance, but eventually through trial and error I recognized she is more comfortable shooting right-handed, though I had to get her to close her left eye for a while so she wouldn't try to look through the scope/sights with her left eye. If it would have gone the other way, I'd have gotten her left-handed rifles.

Safety is the biggest concern in my mind. I can and do shoot right-handed rifles just fine, even working the bolt fairly quickly in rapid-fire scenarios. But I know if a case lets go, my face is in the way of the ejecta. While I don't stress much about taking that risk for myself, there is no way I would subject my children to it if not required. I imagine the OP would feel the same about his grandson.

Let the kid decide. How does he shoot now, what shoulder does he naturally use without any outside coaching?

I'm right handed (mostly) and left eye dominant. When I first picked up a toy rifle I shouldered it on the left. Same with cap pistols, I picked it up with the left hand to aim with the left eye. Batting or throwing a ball I naturally used my right hand, catch with the left.

What utah708 said is excellent advice for anyone thinking of making a choice for someone else: "how about you borrow a LH rifle and shoot it for a day at the range and see if it is at all awkward." Walk a mile in their shoes, so to speak, and see what it's like.

Making him shoot any way than the one his natural tendencies choose is doing him a disservice.

Same with me. With a rifle, you just close your left eye. I shot NRA Expert in Highpower Rifle and the reason I didn't make Master had nothing to do with which eye was dominant... With pistols, I just shoot right handed but move the gun to the left a couple of inches and use my dominant eye.

I am right-handed but left eye dominant. I've used both LH and RH rifles but found my niche with the single shot TC Contenders and Encores. Plus, it is easy to get RH, LH and ambi stocks for them. That might be something to consider in your situation, especially considering you can add barrels as he grows and as his hunting needs change..

I'm right handed and "left eyed"...I shoot pistols, rifles and shotguns and bows, both recurve and compounds by just looking at or through if a peep sight and don't worry about which eye is doing what

I shoot as good or better than most because I'm a gun nut. With a scope it doesn't matter.

Leftt eye dominate right handed and I shoot right handed with all firearms'. Handguns you can swing over to use the left even right handed. Shotguns learn to squint the left eye a bit. Close the left with rifles and even do well with open sights and apertures. A bit of practice and with kids just get them one good group and let them at it. Kids usually figure it out pretty quick.

I probably break every rule but it works for me.