[TJ]

I’m wondering if anyone here has any experience teaching a cross eye dominant child or adult to shoot?

My 6 year old son is very right handed but even more left eye dominant. He can’t even squint his left eye a little without his right eye closing. I was trying to teach him to shoot a BB gun today and he was really struggling to line the sights up both right or left handed. He was complaining about seeing a double image of the target either way. Even covering one eye didn’t seem to help. I’m going to have him practice some of the drills Ox suggested in his recent video to hopefully help his eyes work better together. But I’m not sure whether I should be trying to get him to shoot right or left handed. I’m really curious if Ox or anyone else has some suggestions?

I am actually also cross eye dominant but Left handed/right eyed. I have no issues shooting a pistol left handed while slightly cocking my head. But I do most two handed sports as a righty including shooting a rifle right handed.

Discussion

[David]

TJ – just to be clear, it sounds like you were working with a pistol. Is that correct? If so, start by reassuring your son (also helpful to know how old he is) that this is something that can be remedied, and that he should in no way feel pressured to immediately find a solution. It’s perfectly o.k. to have this kind of issue, and he needs to think about having fun while working through some different dry practice steps. Next, I’d suggest having your son attempt to remain square on target with both eyes open as a his starting point. As his coach, make sure his head and body is not in a strained or exaggerated position, and that he’s maintaining a solid firing grip on the pistol. From there, have him move the pistol slightly in front of the left eye, and attempt to obtain clear focus on the front sight while looking through (not over) the rear sight notch (it may be helpful to show him a drawing of a solid rear/front sight alignment). Remind him not to worry that the target will be fuzzy. Explain to him that the objective is to align one eye, rear sight notch, and front sight (even with top of rear notch) in as straight a line as possible so that the bore “centers” on the fuzzy target. It might be helpful to position a video camera in front of him while he dry practices his alignment routine. I’m not a world-class shooting coach, but I want to emphasize that your son needs to be reassured that a solution can be found. Report back and let us know results and we’ll see about suggestions for next steps. Again, I’d suggest staying away from any live fire until we have a little more info. While many instructors may suggest different solutions, I’d hope the general consensus is not to induce any performance stress at this point. Of course, Ox is a premiere source of knowledge and practical advice on such topics – I’ve found his training materials to be world class quality.

[David]

TJ – sorry, just re-read your first few words and you’ve clearly stated your son is six years old (my eyes are o.k., but my brain remains highly questionable – LOL)

[TJ]

Thanks for the input David! To clarify we were using a cheap crossman BB rifle. We started out standing but when I saw he was having difficulties we went to a prone position with the rifle on a bag. That didn’t help so I started lining up and holding the rifle for him while he looked down the sights and pulled the trigger. He was still having issues seeing the sight and the target this way but was very excited when he started hitting the target:)

I like your idea of drawing an image of the sight picture for him. I explained that to him and he explained it properly back to me but he was likely still having issues with that. I also have a laser bore sighter and will try putting that in the barrel next time so we can better see where he is pointing.

I’m mostly not certain how to best deal with his left eye/right hand dominance. It is probably easiest to work on changing the hand he likes to use but might be better in the long run for him to shoot right handed and work on the eye dominance now while he is young and malleable?? Either way we are keeping it fun, positive and stress free.

[David]

Nice TJ – nothing like the thrill of helping a young shooter safely and properly develop, especially when it’s your own son. I would suggest staying with dry practice at this point. Given that so many rifles/shotguns are built for right handers, I would initially try staying with a right handed hold on the rifle. I’d also suggest that you have your son work from a seated position (depending on how tall he is, he may be able to stand at a table with rifle resting on sandbag or pillow (dining room with target taped to wall on opposite side of room is an option if this is something you have difficulty setting up outside). Given that you’ve already covered the pictorial aspects of sight alignment relative to target and confirmed your son’s understanding, try using opaque (light through but no clear image) scotch tape over your son’s protective eyewear – left side. Encourage him to leave both eyes open (no squinting or facial distortions) and just let him work on the rifle mounting drills (i.e. getting “on” the rifle). Don’t let him overwork on any single session – take lots of breaks and use lots of repetitions to see if his right eye will begin to “learn” to become more dominant. See how this approach seems to shape up for you and check back in. Keep rewarding his dry work with positive feedback and explaining that his homework will help him have an easier time hitting targets in the long run, as he’ll understandably want to skip steps and leapfrog back to live fire. Your use of a laser bore sight can be helpful in giving him some visual reward as he progresses in training, but I’d hold off on that at least until a bit further down the road. Keep up the great work Dad – you’re awesome!

[TJ]

Thanks David! Will work on your suggested “dryfire” drills with the little guy. I was thinking of blocking of his left eye view while shooting but believe your suggestion of slightly obscuring it through the left side of the shooting glasses will work much better!

[Author]

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