Overcoming two handicaps

[Charlie Brown]

I lost part of the use of my right hand and wrist last year as a result of an operation called a Proximal Row Carpectomy. A ligament in my wrist had snapped and couldn't be repaired, and as a result I had to have three bones removed entirely. The next row (there are two rows of three that sit one on top of another) slid down to meet the bones in the lower arm, but I have lost a significant amount of strength and dexterity in my right hand.

As a result of the surgery, I have taken to shooting nothing but .22 LR out of the right, and for reasons of retention and a desire to not lose the rest of the use in my right, I restrict larger calibers to the left hand. Now, here's where it gets interesting.

On top of getting used to going from the left, instead of the right, which was my strong hand for 47 years, and overcoming a mostly right-handed pistol world, I also suffer from left eye dominance. Unfortunately, although I shot for years with a left-eyed squint from the right hand and learned to compensate quite nicely by bringing the pistol up more to the center, I'm now faced with a cataract in the left eye that is growing bigger by the day. Unfortunately, although it messes with my competitive abilities badly, the eye surgeon has refused so far to operate on it.

On my last match outing, we were doing small reactives and normal sized steel from close quarters in one stage, and it was as if I were helpless to do something about the rounds that I could plainly see striking just to the right of the polymer targets. I had no issues hitting the steel once I knocked down the reactives -- the steel was big enough to accommodate my cockeyed aim and let me score.

So. Until I get someone to scrape out the natural lens in my left eye and stick in a new plastic one, what do i do to train so that I can learn to shoot left handed and right eyed? I still do shotgun and rifle right-handed because most of the recoil comes through the shoulder, so this is generally no issue, except with certain stock types. Thanks in advance for your help. I'd really like to get back to somewhere close to where I used to be back in m,y salad days before I lost my good right hand.

[Jake Di Vita]

A good trick of the day would be to place a small piece of scotch tape on your glasses to where the pistol is blurred out by the left eye only. You would start lining the gun up under your right eye naturally, and given enough time it would more than likely become a permanent transition.

[PINMAN44]

I agree with what Jake said. Practice as many skill sets as you can with your left hand. Dry fire as much as possible with your left hand, become as fluid as possible. Get your trigger control down to a science. Use your right hand which is now you weak hand with equal but comfortable pressure. My eyes are always open and I concentrate on nothing but that target. My front sight is the only thing that is clear.

You will transition just fine.

Like you said you may be down...

But you are not out.

[benos]

A good trick of the day would be to place a small piece of scotch tape on your glasses to where the pistol is blurred out by the left eye only. You would start lining the gun up under your right eye naturally, and given enough time it would more than likely become a permanent transition.

+1. Make the tape just big enough so you can't see "around it" in some specific positions, like shooting out of a barricade, for example.

be