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Dual Dominance help?


OscarMike

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I'm a right handed shooter, and have always thought I was right eye dominant. Occasionally I'll have steel I just can't hit, so I have to drop the pistol, realign and then I get the shot. Well I found out the other day if I cover an object with my right thumb, I'm right eye dominant, but if I cover an object with my left thumb I'm magically left eye dominant. When I bullseye shoot, I easily force myself to be R eye dominant, and my groups are fantastic. When I practical shoot, then the problem manifests.

I don't want to do the tape over the left eye trick because I'm a 3 Gunner, and I'd lose my mind trying to shoot shotgun or rifle with only 1 eye.

Any suggestions? Should I just do the tape over the L eye trick while practicing and then hopefully my R eye can become more dominant?

Thanks!

Kevin

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Following this thread. I shoot pistol left, rifle/shotgun righty. I am slightly right eye dominant (with an astigmatism in both eyes if that matters). Shooting with both eyes open is really difficult for me, I think because my brain is shifting back and forth with eye dominance. I see two of each target and have to consciously shoot at the one on the right.

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One thing that people have done in the past is to put a piece of clear tape over the lens of the non-dominant eye. This is just blurry enough to force the focus to be with the dominant eye but still allow general vision for moving. (Actually it was used by cross eye dominant shooters to have the eye match the hand.

Guy

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One thing that people have done in the past is to put a piece of clear tape over the lens of the non-dominant eye. This is just blurry enough to force the focus to be with the dominant eye but still allow general vision for moving. (Actually it was used by cross eye dominant shooters to have the eye match the hand.

Guy

Thanks Guy. Are you supposed to cover the entire lens, or just spot, or particular line? I have heard about this in shotgunning as well.

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Squint your left eye a bit or use the bit of the tape trick. There are some eye drill you can work on to help with eye dominance but it takes constant practice to be effective. Search on BE for a post regarding cross dominance by me and there is a link to the drills. Im on mobile otherwise id find it for you.

Edited by Nebwake
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Squint your left eye a bit or use the bit of the tape trick. There are some eye drill you can work on to help with eye dominance but it takes constant practice to be effective. Search on BE for a post regarding cross dominance by me and there is a link to the drills. Im on mobile otherwise id find it for you.

Thanks Nebwake. I am posting links below for others who are interested.

Here is the link to the BE post.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=190096&hl=%2Bdominance

Here is the external link to the methods to help correct the problem

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=190096&hl=%2Bdominance

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One thing that people have done in the past is to put a piece of clear tape over the lens of the non-dominant eye. This is just blurry enough to force the focus to be with the dominant eye but still allow general vision for moving. (Actually it was used by cross eye dominant shooters to have the eye match the hand.

Guy

While I do not doubt that this works for people, it does seem a bit counter-intuitive to what I've always accepted about eye dominance. While I'm sure there are exceptions, isn't the weaker eye generally the dominant one?

I know that's how it is in my case. I'm similar to the OP in that I am a righty and shoot long guns normally, but slight left eye dominance gives me issues with handguns. I have adapted fairly well to cross dominance, but I still have to close my right eye a lot to reacquire my sight picture.

In my case, I have marginal vision in my right eye (somewhere between 20/50 and 20/100), which has astigmatism. I have AWFUL vision (>20/100) in my left eye, although it has much less astigmatism (I can wear a non-toric contact lens in that eye).

The worse left eye is what I have always understood to cause my cross dominance. What really throws a wrench in the works is when both eyes are corrected via glasses or contacts...because of the astigmatism in the right eye, it is hard to correct, and the best an optometrist can do is get it down close to 20/20. Maybe 20/30. However, the left eye is a much easier fix, and easily gets below 20/20 without the need for the fancier lens that the right eye requires.

Long story short, the 'common knowledge' is reinforced by the fact that, with correction, my now-weaker right eye tries to steal dominance. Havoc ensues. :(

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My understanding of dominant eye is like dominant hand or foot. It's the one that you are usually using first or most, and seems to naturally feel comfortable.

Classically, the means of determining dominant eye is looking through a hole (say an inch diameter or so) held at arms length (both eyes open) and looking at something at a distance (maybe a light switch across the room). Once you see the object through the hole, bring the paper (or whatever the hole is in) back to you, keeping the object in view. You should find that you will come back to one eye - the dominant eye.

In my case, my right eye is dominant, but the vision in my right eye is weaker than in my left, so the left tries to take over seeing. My glasses correct my vision so I do not need to obscure the left eye vision to

shoot. Others find the tape on the weak eye lens of the glasses avoid the weak eye trying to dominate or giving a double image of the gun/sights.

I'm certain your optometrist or ophthalmologist could explain it much better.

Guy

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Squinting or closing an eye is not recommended because it is hard for most people to do that on-command without causing strain. One eye closes and the other tries to follow (which we can't allow).

Using opaque tapes seriously reduce the amount of light entering the pupil. This causes the brain to think that we're in a reduced-light situation. It attempts to dilate the eyes, which is the last thing that a shooter wants.

To effectively use the "tape trick", use Scotch Magic Tape (the "frosted"-looking stuff) and only cover a small portion of the top of the off-hand eye's lens. You want to leave the main part open, so that you're using your normal everyday vision for all tasks besides watching the sights. This works because most of us will tuck our heads forward just a little, making us look through the top of the lens. When you're not shooting, you keep your head more erect and will look through the unobstructed center portion of the lens. You can run, reload, etc. without being a cyclops.

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You don't have a problem. In fact, you have an advantage in that you can readily switch which eye the mind is favoring. This is something that many people strive for, especially when using an ACOG or similar sight on a rifle. The technique is called the Bindon Aiming Concept, and by switching which eye the mind is favoring you can switch between 0x and 4x magnification entirely in your head. It's not as useful in pistol competition, but for military or law enforcement in can help when shooting from behind barricades, by only exposing 1/3rd of your head regardless of which side you're shooting from, simply by switching eyes on the fly.

It seems a significant number of shooters believe that cross dominance, or the ability to shift dominance, or "weak dominance" is a problem that needs to be solved. It isn't, it's a natural condition that needs to be understood. Many people use tape over their shooting glasses, which works but is a mechanical crutch that prevents a mastery of optical skills that would result in being a better shooter.

Don't try to solve the problem. Embrace the skill and learn to master the ability to shift between eyes on demand. It's actually much easier than you might think.

Edited by Jshuberg
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  • 4 weeks later...

Squinting or closing an eye is not recommended because it is hard for most people to do that on-command without causing strain. One eye closes and the other tries to follow (which we can't allow).

Using opaque tapes seriously reduce the amount of light entering the pupil. This causes the brain to think that we're in a reduced-light situation. It attempts to dilate the eyes, which is the last thing that a shooter wants.

To effectively use the "tape trick", use Scotch Magic Tape (the "frosted"-looking stuff) and only cover a small portion of the top of the off-hand eye's lens. You want to leave the main part open, so that you're using your normal everyday vision for all tasks besides watching the sights. This works because most of us will tuck our heads forward just a little, making us look through the top of the lens. When you're not shooting, you keep your head more erect and will look through the unobstructed center portion of the lens. You can run, reload, etc. without being a cyclops.

This is precisely how I do it.

The taped side is a small piece of scotch tape mabey half an inch long. It just barely obscures my left eye's ability to see the sights when in my shooting posture. Can see below and around the tape for movement, reloads etc. with oddball shots, funny leans etc, I actually do pick up the sights occasionally on the taped side but not really a big deal.

The key to making it work for me was having it set up on dedicated eyewear, not changing it and always using it during training and dry fire.

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I am a new shooter and have recently discovered I am cross dominant aswell (right handed, left eye dominate) I can shoot pistol left eye w/o much issue, ar with my right eye (red dot) but shotgun im having some issue picking up the front sight, has anyone tried the hiviz fiberoptic front sights for cross eyed dominance? do they actually help with shotguns?

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I am a new shooter and have recently discovered I am cross dominant aswell (right handed, left eye dominate) I can shoot pistol left eye w/o much issue, ar with my right eye (red dot) but shotgun im having some issue picking up the front sight, has anyone tried the hiviz fiberoptic front sights for cross eyed dominance? do they actually help with shotguns?

There is a fiber optic sight called the "easy hit" that is designed specifically for this. It has a hood to prevent your eye that's not over the rib from seeing it.

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I tried the easyhit shotgun sight and it worked great until I shot a 30rd stage and threw the SG in a barrel. Upon retrieving the gun, I noticed the sight had melted from the heat and become mangled from the toss. I trimmed it back but now can't seem to get the FO to stay in place.

On the original topic, I am cross eye dominate and have found the scotch tape trick to be very effective.

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I am a new shooter and have recently discovered I am cross dominant aswell (right handed, left eye dominate) I can shoot pistol left eye w/o much issue, ar with my right eye (red dot) but shotgun im having some issue picking up the front sight, has anyone tried the hiviz fiberoptic front sights for cross eyed dominance? do they actually help with shotguns?

There is a fiber optic sight called the "easy hit" that is designed specifically for this. It has a hood to prevent your eye that's not over the rib from seeing it.

Thanks will give it a shot!

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