Eye dominance and shooting

I have a son that is 6 and just got his 1st bb gun. He is right handed and left eye dominant. He has tried shooting with both eyes open but his best results are when I put a patch over his left eye and he just leaves his right open. We have only shot a hand full of times but I don't want to teach him wrong. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Make him shoot left handed. Easier to get used to it young than later in life.

In this situation I agree, try to shoot left handed for now. I am also right handed and left eye dominant but I shoot right handed now. Once he gets old enough to figure out the mechanics of it all he can choose for himself to shoot right or left handed. I worked with a kid once at the deer lease with the same problem. He was very consistent with his BB gun but impacts were always to the right a few inches. As long as he closed his left eye he was good to go but wanted him to make that decision as to how he wanted to shoot left or right handed.

My wife is the same way. She is left handed, but does everything but write and eat right handed. If you hand her a gun naturally she will pick it up right handed, but is left eye dominant. She struggles with target acquisition a lot and it is very hard for her to focus. I tried a patch, it helped but still wasn't that good. Then I finally convinced her to try left handed shooting and it is night and day difference.

I recommend shooting with your dominant eye, especially if he is younger.

I'm in the same boat. Learned to shoot left handed and still shot best that way, but now I can shoot very well with either hand. Which, will really piss your buddies off when you're shooting sporting clays and you switch hands

My teach him to shoot left handed.

Teach him to shoot left handed. It will be a little awkward at first for him, but much better results in the long run than trying to teach something that doesn't feel natural to him.

I am lefty and shoot rifles righty, my son and daughter are righty and both shoot lefty. Shoot whichever side is dominant eye, not dominant hand. The rest comes naturally.

Heck, you don't put a patch over your dominant eye and shoot off your non-dominant do you? Why do it that way for your kid?

I wish someone would have taught me to shoot lefty when I was a kid. Left eyed has a few advantages for a righty, but shooting is not one of them.

He should be an excellent baseball hitter if he bats right handed. He will be a member of the gifted group who bat with the dominant eye closer to the pitcher. Most folks are like me, right handed and right eye dominant.

Oddly enough, I was definitely cross-dominant as a kid, right-handed/left eyed. Was tested by my dad at about 9, verified by an NRA instructor at about 11. Back then it was common practice to re-train the eyes than learn to shoot left-handed, so that's what we did. After all these years I am now right eye dominant. I've read a few times over the years that you can re-train your non-dominant eye to be dominant but never heard a single success story. I guess I am one. Still have 20/20, even at my age, but am most definitely right eye dominant now. I wouldn't recommend that method today, though. It took a LONG time and I never was really aware of when I became right eye dominant. Left-handed firearms are still more difficult to find but no longer virtually unobtainable.

I'd teach him both, and he will eventually figure the rest out on his own. I'm right handed and left eyed like your son. I dove hunt and shoot skeet right handed with my left eye closed. I do the same for semi auto rifles. For bolt rifles or a single accuracy shot with a semi auto, I shoot left handed with my right eye closed. For pistols, I shoot right handed with either both eyes open, or right eye closed.

As a kid, I was always taught to shoot right handed. I didn't realize until later on in life that I was left eye dominant. Over time, I've practiced many different combinations, and the above is what works best for me.

My dad, son and I all shoot left handed. I'm the only lefty. My son wanted to shoot right handed using his left eye. Told him his choices are right handed right eye or left handed left eye. He went left...

I shoot rifle lefty and pistol righty. I am a lefty by trade.

Some of my right hand skills are.
Bowl
Throw frisbee
Arm wrestle.

All else is left handed

I determined when my youngest daughter was 6 that she was right handed / left eye dominant. She does everything right handed, but she was started shooting left handed because of the left eye dominance. I will also recommend this to youngsters when they start off in our 4-H Shooting Sports, and are just learning. It will be more beneficial to them. Eye dominance is the first thing I check with new shooters.

My favorite hunting cap has the bill bent to that when I am looking do the barrel of my rifle or shotgun the left eye is blocked. I did the same thing for my 2 sons and they shoot much better.

I learned that I was left eye dominant taking an archery class. Most off-the-rack rifles are right handed. I still shoot them left handed. The RH bolt action is inconvenient. My Marlin lever works fine for me left handed and getting a second shot quickly. I shoot a pistol right handed but I noticed that I am using my left eye.

I agree with the comment to allow your sin to shoot with his dominant eye.

Lots of school of thought on this subject. My 2 pennies is that it can be hard to find guns that are left handed. Many models don't make them left handed and if they do, they can be more expensive.

Great for baseball, less than ideal for shooting.

I'm cross eye dominant and I remember as a kid putting a patch over my left eye. Before too long I didn't need it and could shoot well without it. It's not really an impediment rifle shooting with a scope and I sight a pistol with my left eye. Shotgun is probably the biggest challenge. I'll tend to close my left eye just at the end of the swing, it's become pretty automatic. Don't think I'll ever be a world class shotgunner.

Basically, I learned how to shoot with it rather than try to convert to right eye dominance (not sure if I could have accomplished that feat) or shoot lefty.

Thanks Guys!! Good input

My sister is left eye dominant and right handed and she tried closing her eye and shooting right handed but could never hit consistently until she started shooting left handed and now she is a very good shot.

My nephew right handed but is left eye dominant, his Dad taught him to shoot left handed he's a heck of a shot with a shotgun. Go with the dominant eye.

I am right handed and right eye dominant- BUT only slightly. If I shoot with both eyes open now and then I'm looking down the left side of the barrel- the left eye takes over.
I wear eyeglasses. Even if you have 20/20 vision I think for safety wearing eye protection is always good. In any event if you put a 3/8" clear tape patch in the upper left corner of the left side of your eye glasses- you can look straight ahead without a problem but when you bend your head into the stock at an angle, the dot slightly blocks your left eye to insure the right eye is dominant. I use this mostly when shooting a shotgun. You still have depth perception.

left handed gun with a lot of shooting to get use to it... I may end up going to this soon since I have been noticing my right eye getting worse over the last few years...