Any one eyed shooters?

[Jonah71]

Are there any other handgun shooters out there who have lost the sight in one eye? It may not have been as much problem if it had not been my right eye. I know, the obvious answer is to learn to shoot with my left hand. I'm working on that, but it's going to take some a while. In the mean time, it seems like one of the biggest problems I am having is with the correct stance. Firing with my right hand and sighting with my left eye is a real challenge. Especially outside of 10-15 ft. Inside of that distance I am actually just as accurate and comfortable (and much quicker) with just pointing and shooting the little Mod.36 2" than taking aim with any of my semis. I was just wondering if I'm the only one eyed shooter in this bunch and if anyone had any pointers.

 

[Loosedhorse]

One-eyed? Only when I aim!

Many have advocated a head-tilt and/or gun-tilt to better present the sight to the opposite eye. Problematic if you have a stiff neck. Usually much easier than switching hands.


For credit, see "Properties."

By the way, if it were me, I'd wear DOUBLE eye protection for recreation shooting: "regular" glasses with a polycarb lens worn under larger shooting glasses (ones made for wearing over glasses) with side-protection. All eye doctors would advise that. You can't afford an accident, so double-up on protection.

 

[Plastiman]

I'm not one-eyed but I am off-eye dominant meaning that I'm right handed and left "eyed". I have found that using my dominant eye when shooting does make a difference and the adjustment has been easily adopted by a slight head tilt. Takes some practice to make it reflex after years of never knowing I was a left-eye but it is coming along pretty quickly.
Peace.

 

[Sam Cade]

I lost my right eye a few years ago.
I'm right handed, formerly right eye dominant so I had to relearn everything.

I still shoot pistols right handed, it wasn't too terribly difficult I just offset my stance to the left, no cant.

 

[Fish Miner]

I have an uncle who lost his eye years ago to cancer- Took him shooting a few months ago for his first time. (He's from Boston and is a progressive Lib who hates guns). He is a lefty and lost his left eye, so he shot righty and used his one eye- and did great. He really did well with the AR. I think I changed his mind about guns- so big score there.

He has told me that having one eye has meant that his brain has re-wired itself cause I guess he lost depth perception or something and over the years his brain has compensated and he feels like he sees like when he had both eyes. He also rides the tires off of motor cycles and has never had a problem with riding....

 

[Toforo]

I'm not one-eyed but I am off-eye dominant meaning that I'm right handed and left "eyed". I have found that using my dominant eye when shooting does make a difference and the adjustment has been easily adopted by a slight head tilt. Takes some practice to make it reflex after years of never knowing I was a left-eye but it is coming along pretty quickly.
Peace.

Yup - that.

Always been 90%blind in my right eye and I'm right handed. With rifles, I learned how to shoot at a young age left-handed.

With handguns, it was just a matter of practice of cocking my head and aiming down with my dominant left eye... but then again - it's "stance" so I'm kind of shooting "center" anyway..

I DID realize about a year ago that I had too many hand guns with many different kinds of "sites" (3-dot, heinie, straight-8, etc) - that wasn't helping me....

SOOOO -

...for CCW I tend to stay in practice with several guns that use the SAME "sites" (i.e. 3 dot sits)

YMMV.

 

[Jonah71]

Thanks all. I had decided to go with the same sites on my carry guns. I don't like the stock sites on Glocks anyway. Already doing the head tilt. I guess I just need to spend more time shooting.

 

[doc.lonestar]

I met a retired fed leo during my chl instructor class - he made jokes the entire time about his good eye. Almost reminded me of True Grit lol

Anyway - I was talking to him about the fact that he is shooting with only one he - he simply stated "that makes me a better shooter...I dont have to squint the other one..." and proceeded to laugh his tail off

frank, if your here, much love buddy

 

[NoobCannon]

Well, I was an idiot kid once. Remember that part where your parents said not to play around with a BB gun, lest you shoot your eye out? Did it. My dad rammed home the fact that all of the rifles and shotguns were very real and very dangerous, and I treated them with the utmost respect, and maybe even a little fear, but he never once mentioned a BB gun. Well, plinking soda cans in the backyard one day, the weapon jammed, and being a kid with limited experience with weapons of any sort, I was an idiot on trying to clear the jam, looked down the barrel, and it went off. Since then I haven't been fond of BB guns. I know my mistakes from the situation, and I'm not afraid to talk about them. I just won't touch another BB gun for a good while.

The experience has left me semi-permanently blind in my right eye. I'm constantly touching stuff with my right hand as I walk along to orient myself and not walk into anything, though I walk into stuff quite often. Thankfully, I'm left hand dominant, and now left eye dominant. Shooting handguns, shotguns, and rifles haven't been an issue for me. I still treat them with the same respect and mild amount of fear as when my dad was teaching me to shoot.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Any one eyed shooters?

Probably a whole lot more than will admit are functionally one eyed when they aim a rifle or pistol. It takes a good bit of training before some people can fix this problem of closing one eye. Being right handed and right eyed I still have to wink my right eye in order to shoot off the left shoulder.

BTW, Wasn't there some skeet champ back in the 1980's who lost his right eye in an accident and had a special offset rib installed on his shotgun so that he could still shoot right handed and aim left eyed? Seems like he walked into a pitch fork in his garage and one of the tines stuck into his eye. (pause to shudder) Anybody remember that?

 

[ColeK]

3 years ago I started to go blind in my left eye, within a year I was blind in my left.
It has caused some problems with my shooting. But I'm slowly over coming them.

 

[Jonah71]

I lost mine shooting off the ONLY bottle rocket I had ever fired in my life. I've also decided to take some advise from a retired LEO. He said to work on what he called "instinctual shooting". More like just pointing your finger at something. He said I'd be surprised at how accurate I could get after some practice. I'd been working on that with my Mod. 36 anyway. He also reminded me that if I ever did have to shoot in self defense I'd most likely be close enough that I wouldn't be thinking about a tight shot group anyway and that lots of practice with this method would be better in the long run.

 

[Delford]

I'm thankful I have two good eyes, although the right is corrected for severe astigmatism. I used the triangle finger test for dominant eye when I began seriously shooting two years ago and began shooting using my left eye. After two years a good friend noticed every shot going left by about 2 inches and suggested I shoot right eyed. I had noticed the same thing. I shot with my right hand only using my arm extended to test. I was far more successful that way than doing the same thing using the left.

He also recommended the instinctive style keeping both eyes open using the modified Weaver stance because it controls recoil on my .45 better. So far I keep both eyes open but put a paper patch over my left eye because my sighting jumps back & forth. With that method I'm hitting the targets consistently, although much more practice will be necessary to take off the patch and keep sighting with my right eye. Meanwhile I practice sighting at home by pointing my finger and lining up a target in the house.

 

[bandur60]

We have a one-eyed teenager in 4-H Shooting Sports who has attended 3 (three) National Invitational competititions; Air Pistol (2009) first place national team; Archery -forget whether recurve or compound (2010); and Air Rifle (2011). How about that?

 

[Taurus 66]

I favor my right eye for handgun/pistol shooting but then favor my left eye and shoulder for shotgun and rifle shooting. As an 'on left shoulder shooter' with a right hander's bolt action rifle I am able to maintain finger very close to trigger (or on trigger) at all times while cycling each round.

One eye is slightly more dominant but for the most part I see pretty good with both.