Except for a very small percentage of the population everyone is either right or left eye dominant. Your eye dominance normally matches your like handedness. Roughly 33% of the world’s population is left eye dominant while only about 10% of the world’s population is left-handed. Although very uncommon there are right-handed people who have a dominant left eye.

These folks are cross dominant meaning their dominant eye is opposite of their dominant hand. This leaves a segment of the population that potentially may have issues shooting a firearm if they are not aware and make the proper corrections. Normally a person uses their dominant eye more than the other, usually have better vision out of the dominant eye and can fixate better with the dominant eye.

If you are new shooter or are starting to train a young shooter it is important to determine eye dominance so that they learn to shoot with their dominant eye and correct side of the body. While not impossible to shoot with the non-dominant eye it is best practice to shoot using your dominant eye. As we age our eyes weaken and shooting with the non-dominant eye will become troublesome.

Using the simple hole in the card test can quickly help you determine your eye dominance. Take a rectangular card and punch a hole in the middle. (An index card works great!) Hold the card at arm’s length and focus on an item beyond the card using both eyes. Slowly bring the card back to your nose. The eye that is covered is the dominant eye.

If you find that you are cross dominant it is best not to fight against it. It maybe awkward at first but the in the end you will be a much more accurate shooter and glad you made the correction.