Eye dominance...I'm all screwed up!!!!!

[briney11]

After reading about the cop with the gun on the wrong side I decided to figure out my dominant eye. I found a couple tests on the net and found that I am neither. In fact when I make the little triangle with my hands and try to focus on a target I actually see two triangles and can move my hands to be right eye or left eye dominant. Then I took this test...

Keeping both eyes open, hold either hand out straight in front of you with your first finger pointing upwards and aligned with a vertical line (upright of door frame, window frame, etc.). If you are right handed, close one eye then open and close the other eye. For a right handed person if your right eye retains alignment, and your left eye moves, your brain has Aligned Dominance.

I see two fingers and am 2 inches right with my left eye only and 2 inches left with my right eye only.

Is there a such thing as dual eye dominance??????? I am going crazy here. :banghead:
Or am I just messed up in the head??? ( my wife thinks this option is correct)

 

[Claude Clay]

+1 wife

ambieyeadress??

you need to see an 'i' doc. i recommend doctor who. but if he is on the phone, try doctor strange. good luck

honestly now, i went through a period in my mid/late 40's when my eye dominance changed ( right to left) my shooting suffered for awhile till i noticed the pointing test oddness just as you described. how old are you? do you wear glasses? do you recall which eye use to (if at all) be dominate?

 

[briney11]

I will be 32 next month. I had never tested my eye dominance before but I think it has always been that way. I have always been mostly ambi(not writing though right handed only). I was always a switch hitter in baseball and hit better lefty but had more power right handed. I have always shot right handed and have been a pretty decent shot. I wear contacts to play ball with because i used to be 20-15 or better and can now pass 20-20 occasionally but am -50 and -75 (forget what eye now) Maybe I will go to the eye doc instead of getting ammo next month.

 

[Matt304]

Briney,

I can't quite figure this out myself. I cannot seem to be able to find dominance using the test where you make a triangle with your hands, then find an object, focus, and bring your hands close to you.

When I do it, I either see two sets of hands (holes to look through) or two objects that I'm trying to focus on. If I focus on the object and see two holes to look through to start, the outcome of the test will just depend on which hole I move my hands to look through. And that's not my eyes doing it, that's my arms.

 

[NavyLCDR]

I have a condition which I can't even begin to pronounce or spell. Basically it is caused by my eyes not being aligned. I do not have a lazy eye. I tend to use both eyes equally, but not at the same time. It's really an awareness issue for me. I shoot right handed. When shooting pistol, I keep both eyes open, but consciously line up to and use my left eye as my vision is better in the left. When I shoot rifle, I line up to my right eye and usually close my left eye. I qualify expert in the Navy on both pistol and rifle, so it seems to work.

I would suggest an optomitrist visit and let the professional sort it out for you.

 

[ninja45]

I'll pay money to have your eyes! Shoot with both eyes open and see what happens. You do not have any dominant eye so you can shoot with either eye closed and not have any sight alignment problems.

I am right handed, but left eye dominant. Now, that took a lot of shooting to overcome!

Ninja45

 

[Reyn]

Im left eye dominant. Right handed for everything but longguns and shooting pool.I shoot long guns left handed and handguns right. It doesnt make a difference to me shooting. With my handgun at close range i keep both eyes open and my dominant eye takes over. If i shoot for groups with my handgun i use my right non dominant eye and close my left because my right has slightly better vision. Hasnt made a difference with my groups.

 

[RNB65]

Not everyone has a dominant eye. It's rare, but there are occasionally people who don't have a dominant eye.
-

 

[1KPerDay]

I can't quite figure this out myself. I cannot seem to be able to find dominance using the test where you make a triangle with your hands, then find an object, focus, and bring your hands close to you.

Make a smaller triangle and choose a smaller object. (it won't be visible through the hole if you close your dominant eye.)

 

[Lennyjoe]

ninja45, so am I. Right handed and left eye dominant. Shooting guns wasn't a big deal for me left handed. Try a bow. Now that takes some getting used to.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

Either I misread What you were saying, or you are not doing the triangle test correctly. Pick an object a few yards away and without thinking create a triangle with your hands. If you can see the object with both eyes, your triangle is too big.

Open one eye and close the other...If you do this 10 times and you get 5 right eyes and 5 left, then you are special.

I personally am right handed and left eye dominant...It might have something to do with my left eye being a little sharper than my right.

 

[THe Dove]

Just me

I am a lefty. Can't do much with the right hand. I am right eyed dominant though. However, I carry on the left hip, shoot left handed and will continue to do so. Alot of firearms instructors I've been through want to know what eye is strongest. I chose to lie and told them I was left eye dominant after several of thier tests. I passed the course with honors and can shoot with my week eye, better than I can with my dominant one.

Now before you all rake me ovewr the coals, let me explain something. Like I said earlier I cannot do much right handed. Therfore, if I try to shoot, reload, aim and fire in a speed (fight or flight) situation, then I will loose. I will drop the clip, probably shoot my foot off, etc. etc....

It is better for me to shoot with my natural hand than to shoot with my dominant eye I guess.

The Dove

 

[Red Dragon]

There are actually some people who have co-dominant eyes. I am one of them. My eye doctor told me about it. He says that it is fairly rare. I am also ambidexterous (sp?) Co-dominance can be both a gift and a curse. My vision is pretty bad (doc said its roughly 20/1000) without my contact lenses but because of the co-dominance, even if I lose one contact lens, the other eye seems to take over as the dominant eye so I can still see clearly and even drive without much problem. On the downside, sometimes I find myself subconsciously doing a shift back and forth when I am shooting because my eyes are "arguing" over which eye is the dominant one.

My eye doctor did tell me that those with co-dominant eyes do tend to have a certain level above average in hand-eye coordination so that's fun.

If you are in fact co-dominant, you have both my congratulations and my sympathies.

 

[Davandron]

Same situation

Briney, I have always had the same problem with my eye dominance tests. And, as you've noticed, no one seems to understand that you are seeing out of both eyes in the tests.

In my situation, I think I'd always been slightly left eye dominate, and when I was a teenager my left eye became slightly near-sighted. To compensate, my right eye became slightly far sighted. If you ask me to focus on anything within 6ft of me, it's my left eye that is focused on it and "seeing" it. Ask me to look at anything more than 15ft away, and my right eye is doing the work. So where does that leave me? Searching for eye help!

With a shotgun, I took private lessons and discussed with the instructor about the eye issue. We started out right handed, focusing with both eyes on the clays, and I broke 23 of my first 25 clays, so he laughed and said there was no need to change anything. The clays are at a distance so its right/right.

With a pistol, my natural motion has me focusing on the target and I see it dead center between two blurry pistols (neither one has the sights visible). If I try to focus on the front sight of a pistol, it's the left eye wanting to do the work, but as soon as I think about the target my right eye wants to step in and I'm aware of a target that is to the right of the pistol (like Red Dragon mentioned). The two images do not strongly super-impose. If I close either eye then I see a sight picture just like the instruction manuals, and can shoot as equally well from either eye. But then I'm doing it one-eyed!

Is that the similar situation for your pistol shooting? Are you just ignoring the right-side image? Or closing one eye?

I've seriously thought about just getting a laser grip since then I can focus on the target. However, I fear that doing that would limit me in the future and make me dependent on the batteries in the laser.

What have you and others ended up doing?

 

[ColinthePilot]

I went out with a new shooter the other day. I've taken him out a few times, but it was mostly with rifles, and being right handed, he just lined up and shot all righty, so to speak. but with my pistol, he couldn't figure out which eye to use. I'll tell him about these tests.
In a side note of good news, he's moving to florida in a month or so, and is very interested in getting a gun to protect himself and his new wife, and getting his CCW. Another win for us!

 

[goon]

I ran into this with trying to teach my GF to shoot.
Eventually, I got tired of trying to figure it out. I just handed her the damn gun and told her "do whatever works right and feels natural to you".
Seems to work.

The way I test myself for eye dominance is to put one hand out in front of you with your index finger pointing up in the air. Close one eye and note what your finger looks like and whether or not it "moves". Do the same with the other eye. Switch back and forth until you're fairly certain of which eye is your dominant eye. Then open the other eye and see if your finger "moves". If it doesn't, you should have your dominant eye figured out.
If it does...
Guess you're on your own buddy.

 

[loneviking]

Yep, do what works. I'm left handed, can't close my right eye so by default I'm left eye dominant. My son is left handed/right eye dominant and has the weirdest shooting stance I've ever seen. It's something like the modified Weaver you use for shooting a 500 magnum or other gargantuan pistol. It works for him and he can hit the target, that's all that counts!

 

[GhostlyKarliion]

Honestly, I think the whole "eye dominance" thing is a load of horse hockey.

I have been shooting all my life, when a human looks at something far away and there is something in their line of sight, they see two blurred images becuase each eye is picking up the object and sending it to the brain, if the sights are lined up on either of these blurred images, then the bullet hits the mark.

I don't even do the test on new shooters, and I haven't ran into a problem yet.

 

[FieroCDSP]

Briney,if you're having issues with getting a single eye to gain focus when you raise the sights (defensive drills, etc) try blinking the eye you don't want to use as the sights come up.
I was distinctly left-eye dominant (still am at rifle ranges) until I forced my right eye to be stronger through practice. Repeated tries at forcing my right eye to focus front sight as I extend the gun. I blink and slightly close the left eye, making the right eye the dominant. Both eyes are still open, preventing a reduction in sight-line and awareness, but one eye is closed slightly to reduce the incomming light and seems to prevent "ghosting" or transference of the non-dominant image.
At the moment, I can use either eye to aquire, but since I'm right handed, the gun will naturally be more to the right of my center, and the right eye takes the sights. I can switch hands and the left eye will take over with a bit of effort.

One of the things I've seen done is use "magic" scotch tape (the type that has the frosted look) on the upper part of your shooting glasses. Leave a little at the bottom clear so you can see to reload, but frost the top and practice like that. Your clear eye will quickly learn to take charge.
I would find a way to control your "Switch-eye" condition rather than eliminate it. It certainly has it's uses with pistol work.

 

[La Pistoletta]

I've tried some of those tests but I can't make any sense out of them. Make a hole with my hands and look at something, then close either eye? Well that depends on which hole I choose to look through since there are obviously two when you focus on a distant object.

I don't get it.

 

[FieroCDSP]

The triangle trick is to hold your hands out in a triangle shape and center it on a distant object, even one across the room will work. Slowly bring the triangle back towards your face, keeping the object centered. The triangle should move to be over your dominant eye. I've tried it, it works.

You can also try this one: Pick an object on the far side of the room. Now focus on the object, and bring your thumb up at arm's length to cover it. If you've continued staring at the object rather than your thumb, you'll probably see two thumbs "ghosted", or transparent, with the object visible behind them. One thumb will seem to be less transparent, or have a stronger image. Place this one over the object you're focused on. Now, close one eye. If the thumb is still covering the object, your open eye is your dominant one. If the thumb "moves" and you can clearly see the object you were focusing on, your closed eye is dominant.

You need to make sure you're squared up to the object, rather than looking at it with your head turned, so that you give both eyes the same distance.

 

[kludge]

If this doesn't work forget using your hands, get something that will block more of your vision, like CD. If that doesn't work a 12x12 piece of cardboard, and put a small (1/2" diameter) hole in the center.

 

[Damon555]

I am right eye dominent but I'm left handed. I shoot a pistol with my left hand and use my right eye to aim.....I shoot a rifle right handed so that's not a problem.

I wish I could use both eyes to shoot. Just use whichever is more comfortable for you.......

 

[jpsimms]

I have the same thing, I found out when I was young and got glasses for asthigmatizm(sp?), didn't like the glassesand only wore them for a month, but then trained my eyes to work well without glasses.

The cool thing is if you shoot 2 pistols at once, and you practice you can hit 2 targets, if they are close enough to each other.

It also helps when hunting and you see a shot but are in an odd position, just use the opposite grip.

I never met anyone else with dual dominant eyes, so that is pretty cool, You're not the only one

 

[cambeul41]

I am about due for an ophthalmologist's appointment. Perhaps I can remember to ask about this. When I started to read the thread, I tested clearly left eye dominant. A few posts later, I tested clearly right eye dominant.

I am nearly ambidextrous, but was taught to do most things right handed. I am somewhat more comfortable shooting right hand , but am approximately equal in accuracy with either hand.

Just tested again. I am back to left eye dominance!