Learning to shoot again.

[mcmurry]

So for the last 10-11 months, I have had a problem with my dominant (right) eye. It's due to my diabetic retinopathy. Fluid has gotten under the lens and caused it to bulge outward blurring my vision. After my last visit to my eye surgeon, he said the pictures show a drastic reduction, however my vision is still blurry in that eye. When I renewed my concealed carry license, out of 10 shots, I hit 2 clothes pins, the target twice and the rest were clean misses. it didn't help that it was 4:30 pm last November. Hunting was a no go as I couldn't see the cross hairs.
So how do you learn to shoot with both eyes open, completely change over to the left hand side to shoot, or should I just go to laser sights? It would seem that the lasers would be the cheapest. One new laser might cost less than ammo to learn to shoot left handed
Any thoughts, ideas, or help appreciated. Thanks.

 

[HisStigness]

Let me start off by saying, I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate issues you have been having with your eye.
I'm no expert, but I think the best option of the bunch would be to learn to shoot left handed. Sure, you could put lasers on your gun and be completely fine for CC and self protection. You could also shoot right handed with both eyes open (the left would become dominant if your right is blurry), and just move the gun a bit to the left to line up with your left eye. The same could be done with rifles and shotguns, but it would be really uncomfortable, if not impossible for some guns. But, IMHO, if you want to continue to enjoy the sport of hunting, your only option is to learn to shoot all over again left handed.

 

[MinnesotaFats]

I have a similar situation. Im a right handed shooter but am left eye dominant. With scoped rifles im fine with my lesser eye but with handguns i find im more accurate "crossing over" and using my left eye while still using my right hand. I know its not standard procedure but ive never had a problem pulling it off. A laser may help too. Anything beats trying to learn lefty when ive practiced so much right hand shooting. Hope this helps?

 

[MinnesotaFats]

I basically do what the fella above suggests. keep both eyes open and move the gun to the left a bit.

 

[Frosty Dave]

I've had the same problem since a year and a half ago. Somewhere during that time my left eye has become dominant and handguns are comfortable again with a little minor head and/or arm position adjustment. If I had it to do over again, I would have done a lot of snap firing and tried wearing an eye patch part time to speed my "shooting recovery" on handguns.

My biggest problem was rifles. Like you I didn't want to learn to shoot left-handed. (not after 50 years of right-handed shooting and during the Big Ammo Shortage) So far my solution has been to limit my long gun shooting to a few guns that let me line my left eye up on the scope, and to add 45 degree mount adapters to a couple of railed guns. A 45 adapter brings the scope left enough that my left eye lines up on a railed AR-15, with minor adaptation of my cheek weld and charging handle nose print.

I wish I had learned to shoot left-handed effectively when I was younger, and I wish I had learned to eat better. But I didn't - so here I am.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I've had several clients who were cross-eye dominate. The easiest thing to address the issue is to just move the gun over in front of your left eye.

Rob Leathem was left handed and right eye dominate. He found it easier to just learn to shoot with his right hand. It is actually an excellent opportunity to relearn all the fundamental correctly and it isn't very hard...a little instruction goes a long way, as does an objective observer of your technique.

The last thing I'd consider is getting a laser sight...although your situations is one in which it is fairly viable. Without a lot of range time, you can't learn in dry fire, you'll be a lot slower trying to pick up the laser dot. A good trigger press is still a prerequisite to making an accurate shot

 

[ball3006]

I have glaucoma in my left eye which causes blind spots in that eye's vision. I have to move my head around to see the sights. I just shoot right handed. I am pretty much ambidextrous so this is not a problem. As suggested above, practice shooting with the weak side. You will benefit in the long run....chris3