Posted by DAA on February 11, 1999 at 16:10:31:
In Reply to: Re: Eye dominance posted by Theo on February 11, 1999 at 09:42:33:
Interesting. I'm right handed-left eyed.
Growing up, shooting an iron sighted rimfire, I used to aim with my left eye (just kept turning my head right until the sights lined up with my left eyeball). Guess it was one heck of an awkward looking style - my face would be almost perpendicular to the bore!. I didn't know I was doing anything unusual and I was an uncommon good shot (which I didn't realize at the time either). So, my Dad figured no harm no foul and never mentioned it to me - even though he noticed it right from the start. It wasn't until I was about 9 years old and hunting with my Dad and one of his friends that I found out I was shooting "left eyed". We were plinking after an afternoon of rabbit hunting when my Dad's friend watched me for a few minutes and then mentioned that I was "going about it the hard way". It was actually one of the prouder moments of my young life as my Dad turned to his friend and said "mabye he is, maybe he's not but he sure shoots a whole HELL of a lot better than YOU do!". So, I didn't worry about it. When I started shooting scoped rifles when I was 12 I initally squinted or shut my left eye but after awhile I found that I could get on target faster and just felt more natural keeping both eyes open. They only time being right handed-left eyed has ever been an issue at all is when I switched from instinctive shooting to pin sights on my bow. Took me a little while to adjust to that and I still have to squint or blink my left eye a little bit to get a good sight picture with my right eye on the bow sights but it's not a big deal.
So, anyway, I agree - if it ain't been a problem up to this point I don't think it's going to be.
- DAA