Southpaw and cross dominant.

[Petrov]

Hi guys from what I read, I am supposed to close my dominant eye when shooting with my weak eye?
I shoot left handed and use my left (weak) eye. I dont like closing my right eye makes me tired and makes my vision blurry.
I can easly shoot with both eyes open both Iron sights and scope. With a 4x scope I can keep both eyes open and have gread perephial vision. Now granted my left eye is significantly more weak than my right eye it still feels comfortable to shoot with both eyes open. Is that bad? I really dislike closing my dominant eye.

[V]

I am not an optometrist (IAMAO)

but are we confusing dominance with "visual acuity"? You might need a stronger prescription for you left eye, i.e., it is visually (20/80 vs 20/20, etc) weaker but it may still be you "dominant" eye. Dominance is an issue of which eye your brain uses for relying on visual clues for creating a 3D model of the world inside your head not an issue of which eye sees sharper/better.

To determine dominance use your two index fingers as a rear and front sight. Hold them out with both eyes open and line them up like sights one behind the other. Now close you left eye while keeping your fingers still. If the fingers are still lined up then your right eye is indeed your dominant eye. If they appear to "jump" apart then your left eye is your dominant eye.

If you are truly cross dominant but you prefer and shoot better with both eyes open the go for it. Whatever works best for you.

The human brain is "plastic" it adapts and overcomes deficits. So if your dominant eye does deteriorate significantly to the other your brain may over time switch dominance.

[Petrov]

My right eye is indeed dominant, my prscription for glasses is up to date.

[MOGromit]

Hello Petrov,

I am in the situation of being right-handed with a left-dominant eye.  I've trained myself to shoot rifles off of my left shoulder using the left eye, and am gradually working my ability to keep both eyes open while doing so.  It's still a work in progress, but is getting better with practice.

Lately I've also started trying out the AQTs off of the right shoulder using my (non-dominant) right eye.  My goal is definitely to do this with both eyes open, but I do find that it helps out to close my (dominant) left eye more often than not.  Again, a journey/goal to work towards.

The nice thing about shooting rifles is that the eye that's not getting the sight alignment and sight picture will see something drastically different and is thus easier to ignore.  With pistol shooting, I feel like it's much more of a hurdle to overcome (personally speaking) because the sights are so much closer together and what the two eyes see is more nearly the same and thus harder for me to distinguish.

AZG

[Nickle]

Petrov is left handed and right eye dominant. He is trying to force eye dominance, and it CAN be done.

If you can see just one target and one front sight, you're good to go.

If you see two of either, there's a problem, and the first place to start is closing the "strong" eye.

[mtmisfit]

Hi guys from what I read, I am supposed to close my dominant eye when shooting with my weak eye?
I shoot left handed and use my left (weak) eye. I dont like closing my right eye makes me tired and makes my vision blurry.
I can easly shoot with both eyes open both Iron sights and scope. With a 4x scope I can keep both eyes open and have gread perephial vision. Now granted my left eye is significantly more weak than my right eye it still feels comfortable to shoot with both eyes open. Is that bad? I really dislike closing my dominant eye.

If you want to be a world class shooter, learn to shoot with your dominant eye. 

If you wish to shoot with your non-dominant eye, put a blinder over your dominant eye.  A piece of tape over the center of the lens of your shooting glasses works well.  What you want to do is obscure the vision but not block all the light. This is a common practice for Bullseye shooters, to block the non-shooting eye.

You can shoot with both eyes open and unobscured but it requires much more concentration as the dominant eye tries to take over. That induces fatigue and makes you sloppy.

While you can force eye-dominance to change it's much easier to learn to shoot with your dominant eye.

When shooting with my weak side I have better form as I have to concentrate more on the position. Strong side shooting still has a 5-10 point advantage over weak side on the AQT but that's because I can't find a position that feels "right" off-hand. Rifleman scores from both shoulders but I don't "clean" the off-hand target from the weak side.

Shooting is a mental game, focus your mind......

[Nickle]

Well, I'll disagree somewhat.

The Marine Corps forced everybody to shoot right handed for years.

They turned out some pretty good shooters, and some of them were left eye dominant.

Now, you might have to use your master eye to become "world class", but that level isn't needed, what is needed is the equivalent of military "Expert", and that can be done forcing eye dominance.

So everybody knows, I have actually watched Petrov shoot, and did suggest using his master eye. It's his choice, and he can force eye dominance. And, his shooting isn't all that bad, either.

So, don;t say it CAN'T be done, because when (not if) he shoots Rifleman that way, there will be some crow to be eaten. I'll be glad none of it will have my name on it.

[mtmisfit]

Well, I'll disagree somewhat.

The Marine Corps forced everybody to shoot right handed for years.

They turned out some pretty good shooters, and some of them were left eye dominant.

Now, you might have to use your master eye to become "world class", but that level isn't needed, what is needed is the equivalent of military "Expert", and that can be done forcing eye dominance.

So everybody knows, I have actually watched Petrov shoot, and did suggest using his master eye. It's his choice, and he can force eye dominance. And, his shooting isn't all that bad, either.

So, don;t say it CAN'T be done, because when (not if) he shoots Rifleman that way, there will be some crow to be eaten. I'll be glad none of it will have my name on it.

I don't know who said it can't be done. It wasn't me.

I said if you want to be a "world class" shooter use your dominant eye. Silly me for not limiting the goal to merely shooting military "Expert." There are no top level champion shooters that are cross dominant.

Shooting to military "expert" level is a good first step. Doing it from both shoulders is a good second step. Doing it with whatever rifle you're handed is a good third step.

I've lost a bit of my versatility as I can no longer see very well with iron sights and use optics.

FWIW the Army Expert marksmanship badge was far easier to earn than the Gold Schutzenschnur badge was.

[Nickle]

MTmisfit, looks like we're on the same sheet of music here, and that's good.

Something you need to know is how often some of us see people that think they have to be "perfect".

Well, to quote Son of martha, "Perfect is the enemy of good enough".

Don't need to be world class to shoot 4 MOA, but, being able to shoot 210/250 does qualify as Expert, per US military standards. I've had several Appleseeders that could consistently shoot Expert on an Army M16 Qual course, but took some serious work to get 210.

Some of them trickle it down to an equipment game, when it really isn't.

And, therefore, my comments. They weren't directed towards you in particular, but to all that think they must be perfect to shoot well.

4 MOA will let you own the 500 yards in front of you, and that's the maximum effectuive range of most MBR's, including the M1, M14 and M16 series.

And, yes, later this summer, we're going to have someone shoot an AQT with a Carcano, to prove that "ANY MBR" can do it. The Carcano is said to be the worst rifle fielded in WW2. I happen to agree with that assessment, and I also think they can be used to shoot 210 or better on an AQT. Not much can't get it done.

[kwilliams]

How important is it to shoot with both eyes open?? I am ambidextrious, but have always choose to use my right hand for most skills. I can't ever remember trying to shoot left handed, but it feels unnatural to me. I found that when painting cars (professionally) on the left side I sprayed righthanded and on the right side I spayed better left handed. Now for the real problem- If I form a box with my fingers and look at an object and close one eye at a time I am left eye dominate. If I use my index fingers like sights and look at an object, I see two of them. I can shoot a woodchuck at 150-175 yards with factory sights on my Marlin .22 so I don't think I'm too terrible, but I always close my left eye. I even close it when shooting handguns. I talked with a couple freinds of mine and they too close one eye. I had a hunter tell me that the only advantage to shooting both eyes open is a larger feild of veiw for game on the run. I know that I can train my dysleic brain to do damn near anything, I've been dealing with that my whole life. When I come to the shoot I wanted to concentrate on proper form and position, but if I have to shoot both eyes open I'll have a bunch more to concentrate on. Any advice???

[Devnull]

It's what works for you. Some people's vision actually moves enough to throw off their zero just a hair when closing one eye. This of course corresponds to at least an MOA off target. (My personal experience... I was more like 6 moa and I would develop a tremor in my muscles in the face/eyes that would make it even worse!) But some don't have this problem. Also it depends on the sights too.

Due to that I keep both eyes open. Also as a hunter (And this would apply to a rifleman scenario as well) you want to see what is going on in the field in front of you. Also it can keep you from shooting someone else's target! 

Bottom line, get out there and see what works for you! 

[kwilliams]

I did go out and shoot today- took the wife and kids too, shot till we ran out of clean paper! I can shoot both eyes open with a scope because I have 2 different sight pitchures and can focus my mind on either. Left eye did get sore after about 200rds from squinting. Also discovered a big change from putting the Marlin 60 down and picking up the 1022 wich has a much smaller blade on it. Still had a real tuff time focusing on the 1" circle at a measured 50 meters. The wife wouldn't even attempt it without the scoped 1022. I want to be well prepared for our planned AS shoot in July and I popped the cherry on 2 new Rugers today. Should I scope one for myself? Tech sights? Go get my eyes checked? I started the day by bagging to wouldchucks in the back yard and I measured it off at 64 meters. the larger of the two was about 15" long and about 8-9" in dia.- ceter of the back no problem. What is the size of the target I have to qualify with and at at what yardage? I don't know if I'll even be able to see a 3" square at 500 with iron sights. Please excuse all the woodchuck comparisons but I shoot at them pretty much daily and that is the target I have most commonly in my sights. Forgive me if my questions seem a little stupid- I want the wife and I to be well prepared for our first shoot. She is a pretty good shot in her own right and I was hoping one of us could leave AS hitting the mark shall we say. Are my expectations too high?

[Junior Birdman]

"Still had a real tuff time focusing on the 1" circle"

You should be focused on the front sight.

You will do well at the Appleseed if you keep shooting and persevere! That's how most folks do it. That's how I did it. I must have shot thousands of 1 inch squares before attending an Appleseed and doing my first AQT. It rally paid off. But only if you practice doing the six steps to firing the shot CORRECTLY.  And if you read the material that should be no problem. Folks like you are what inspire me!

  Thanks for sticking with it and involving the whole family!

[Petrov]

Went to the range shot some AQT's. Shooting right handed feels ackward, but I shot just about as well as with my left hand as my right hand. I still could not see the bottom row of the targets no matter what eye I used     And thats with the most recent eye glass perscritption.

[Rhodes]

Just take comfort in knowing all great baseball players were cross dominate, sorry its the only good thing I can come up with on the subject. I am right handed, left eye strongly dominate and its a real pita since the right eye sight is so much weaker so I feel your pain. At least I could hit a curve ball as a kid.

[Geddys Uncle]

eye patch people


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