Two-eyed shooting?!

[ldp4570]

I'm right eye dominant, but every time I sight in the pistol, my freaking left eye takes over- and I grip with my right hand. It's frustrating. Also - by 9pm my left eye goes blurry , but fine all day and after I wake up.

Your just getting old!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I've always been left handed/left eye dominate. So there has never been an issue, plus when I was an LEO we had to be able to handle our weapon weak hand only during qualifications, so I always practiced weak hand. I've known alot of folks though who are cross eye dominate, and have had to help them with their shooting using the tape over the eye glasses.

 

[KyleFarnham]

Alright... time for a twist! I may be cross-dominant.

I was talking with a shooting buddy about using both eyes earlier today when he made the comment that I was closing my right eye, NOT my left. After I thought about it he was right! Whenever I was casually talking about the idea and mimicking the one-eyed view I would use my left eye to look, but when I put up my hands up into a mock pistol stance I would use my right eye to get a sight picture.

This got my thinking about when I first started shooting a handgun (about this time last year). Back then I gripped it with my right, but got my sight picture with my left eye. I thought this was wrong so I forced myself to use my right eye.

This makes me feel better about my competence levels... because while dry-firing last night and this morning I was having BAD double vision whenever I tried to focus on the sight or the target. When I tried the tape solution, both eyes open was not a problem at all! It felt very natural to use both eyes in that instance.

So... is there something I can do to ween myself off of the taped glasses eventually or does being cross dominant limit my choices?

PS - Thanks for all the help/advice! I am looking forward to getting some range time this week to try all of this out!

 

[imacgyver]

i hate getting old

 

[samuelshoun]

So... is there something I can do to ween myself off of the taped glasses eventually or does being cross dominant limit my choices?

I didn't have to ween myself off the tape at all. I used the technique a few days and it trained my brain to interpret one image and ignore the other. Pretty cool.

You're situation sounds exactly like mine. In fact my eyes are so close in dominance that I trained with tape over my left eye (which is actually dominant) by mistake for a while. I started doing focal distance transitions like Seeklander suggests, and found my left eye can transition at least twice as fast as my right. I switched the tape, and my shooting improved immediately.

 

[KyleFarnham]

I didn't have to ween myself off the tape at all. I used the technique a few days and it trained my brain to interpret one image and ignore the other. Pretty cool.

You're situation sounds exactly like mine. In fact my eyes are so close in dominance that I trained with tape over my left eye (which is actually dominant) by mistake for a while. I started doing focal distance transitions like Seeklander suggests, and found my left eye can transition at least twice as fast as my right. I switched the tape, and my shooting improved immediately.

I was doing the same thing with the tape over my dominant (left) eye! :-[ I'm glad I read your reply, because I switched the tape to the right and transitions seemed faster to me and with less eye strain.

@Sam - Are you saying that you still shoot with tape over the weak eye?

I guess I was asking earlier if I would eventually be able remove the tape as a cross dominant shooter?
I can get a good focus on the front site with both open (no tape), but I get double vision on the target.
Are you guys saying this is a training issue and with time the doubling will go away; that the tape is a crutch to use until later.
....or is using the tape how I solve the problem permanently?

I guess I can just remind myself to always shoot the target on the left, but that probably wouldn't be very safe!

 

[ldp4570]

I was doing the same thing with the tape over my dominant (left) eye! :-[ I'm glad I read your reply, because I switched the tape to the right and transitions seemed faster to me and with less eye strain.

@Sam - Are you saying that you still shoot with tape over the weak eye?

I guess I was asking earlier if I would eventually be able remove the tape as a cross dominant shooter?
I can get a good focus on the front site with both open (no tape), but I get double vision on the target.
Are you guys saying this is a training issue and with time the doubling will go away; that the tape is a crutch to use until later.
....or is using the tape how I solve the problem permanently?

I guess I can just remind myself to always shoot the target on the left, but that probably wouldn't be very safe!

Careful, you'll start to sound like Doc Holliday in Tombstone when he was out in the street drunk, and was told so, his reply was "Thats OK I've got one for each of you"!!

 

[imacgyver]

I think I have got this down - at least up to 7 yards out.

 

[samuelshoun]

I was doing the same thing with the tape over my dominant (left) eye! :-[ I'm glad I read your reply, because I switched the tape to the right and transitions seemed faster to me and with less eye strain.

@Sam - Are you saying that you still shoot with tape over the weak eye?

I guess I was asking earlier if I would eventually be able remove the tape as a cross dominant shooter?
I can get a good focus on the front site with both open (no tape), but I get double vision on the target.
Are you guys saying this is a training issue and with time the doubling will go away; that the tape is a crutch to use until later.
....or is using the tape how I solve the problem permanently?

I guess I can just remind myself to always shoot the target on the left, but that probably wouldn't be very safe!

You can remove the tape. I actually only did three or four sessions of dry firing with the tape, probably a month ago. All my live fire practice and competition has been with both eyes open & unobstructed. My intention is to tape one eye for part of my dry fire drills on a regular basis, but my dry fire practice sort got off track last couple weeks

I'm really not sure if taping is necessary long term or not. I know it's reduced the double vision problem for me by about 70% (guesstimate) in a few sessions. If I ever feel double vision is not a problem for me at all, then I'll probably skip the tape entirely. But I certainly wouldn't keep the tape on all the time. In fact I wouldn't do anything at all dynamic with the tape on since it eliminates your depth perception!