SamCT
Member
I'm a long time fan of this forum and first-time poster. I just felt like this was something I needed to share with the firearms community.
I've always been a one-eye-shut shooter with both pistols and long guns alike. This includes a period of 5 years in the Marines and 5 years of recreational shooting since I've been out of the service. I've always wanted to be a both-eyes-open shooter, but suffered from one major barrier: I had no dominant eye.
Now, if I heard it once, I heard it 100 times, "it's impossible to have no dominant eye." I can assure you that I did not. I've done every test imaginable to discover my dominant eye and yielded either eye 50% of the time. When I held a pistol and looked at a target, I saw two sight pictures of the same exact clarity. Look at the front sight and I would see a single clear front sight, two blurry sets of rear sights, and two targets, both equally blurry. Closing one eye was my only shot at a clear sight picture. I believe these issues manifested themselves when I was 10 and scratched my cornea during a basketball game on my right eye. I wore a patch for a few weeks and began noticing focusing and depth perception issues ever since.
Recently, I began my career in Corrections. I've been on the job for two years and will be getting firearms qualified soon. Now, more than ever, it seemed vital that I work to correct my eye dominance. I spent several weeks researching the topic and saw different suggestions, from putting tape over my shooting glasses to using an eyepatch on the range. Neither of these seemed like permanent fixes to me. I found several at-home excersizes and after reading them, I devised my own that worked.
I took a wooden Popsicle stick and drew an X at one end. I stared at a clock across the room. Beginning with my left eye closed, I would bring the stick into picture in line with my right eye, slowly, I would raise the stick towards the clock and open my left eye. Once the stick was centered on the clock, I would change my focus so I could see the X, but the numbers on the clock would go blurry. I would notice a second ghost stick off to the right, but it would be out of the sight picture to target alignment. I did the excersize for about an hour the first night and went to bed.
The next morning, I picked up my Glock and sighted in on the same clock. I already noticed a difference in my sight picture with both eyes open. A ghost gun was there, off to the right, but I was definitely able to distinguish between the two. I did the same excersize with the Popsicle stick that night for about 10 minutes (I think doing this before bed gave my brain time to "reboot"). I did the same for the rest of the week.
Today, I ditched the Popsicle stick for my M9 airsoft. I plan to practice with this every night to improve both my sight picture and my confidence. Not only have I transitioned myself to being completely right-eye dominant, but I noticed my overall tracking and depth perception have improved immensely. I go to the range next Friday and can't wait to finally be a both-eyes-open shooter!
At 32 years old, I was able to establish eye dominance in a few days. I'm not saying that it would work for everyone, but it definitely worked for me.
I've always been a one-eye-shut shooter with both pistols and long guns alike. This includes a period of 5 years in the Marines and 5 years of recreational shooting since I've been out of the service. I've always wanted to be a both-eyes-open shooter, but suffered from one major barrier: I had no dominant eye.
Now, if I heard it once, I heard it 100 times, "it's impossible to have no dominant eye." I can assure you that I did not. I've done every test imaginable to discover my dominant eye and yielded either eye 50% of the time. When I held a pistol and looked at a target, I saw two sight pictures of the same exact clarity. Look at the front sight and I would see a single clear front sight, two blurry sets of rear sights, and two targets, both equally blurry. Closing one eye was my only shot at a clear sight picture. I believe these issues manifested themselves when I was 10 and scratched my cornea during a basketball game on my right eye. I wore a patch for a few weeks and began noticing focusing and depth perception issues ever since.
Recently, I began my career in Corrections. I've been on the job for two years and will be getting firearms qualified soon. Now, more than ever, it seemed vital that I work to correct my eye dominance. I spent several weeks researching the topic and saw different suggestions, from putting tape over my shooting glasses to using an eyepatch on the range. Neither of these seemed like permanent fixes to me. I found several at-home excersizes and after reading them, I devised my own that worked.
I took a wooden Popsicle stick and drew an X at one end. I stared at a clock across the room. Beginning with my left eye closed, I would bring the stick into picture in line with my right eye, slowly, I would raise the stick towards the clock and open my left eye. Once the stick was centered on the clock, I would change my focus so I could see the X, but the numbers on the clock would go blurry. I would notice a second ghost stick off to the right, but it would be out of the sight picture to target alignment. I did the excersize for about an hour the first night and went to bed.
The next morning, I picked up my Glock and sighted in on the same clock. I already noticed a difference in my sight picture with both eyes open. A ghost gun was there, off to the right, but I was definitely able to distinguish between the two. I did the same excersize with the Popsicle stick that night for about 10 minutes (I think doing this before bed gave my brain time to "reboot"). I did the same for the rest of the week.
Today, I ditched the Popsicle stick for my M9 airsoft. I plan to practice with this every night to improve both my sight picture and my confidence. Not only have I transitioned myself to being completely right-eye dominant, but I noticed my overall tracking and depth perception have improved immensely. I go to the range next Friday and can't wait to finally be a both-eyes-open shooter!
At 32 years old, I was able to establish eye dominance in a few days. I'm not saying that it would work for everyone, but it definitely worked for me.
