I wear mono vision contacts meaning my left eye (dominate one) is for distance and the right is for reading, add to this I am right handed. As a result I cannot focus on the front sight with my dominate eye. Anyone out there in the same position? I'm heading to the range tomorrow and plan on trying sighting one eyed using my non-dominate eye. Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Mono Vision contacts plus cross dominate
- Thread starter DsbJax
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If it were I, I'd change my contacts to allow the dominate eye to be corrected for the distance to your front sight
LegalAlien
Member
I also have monovison lenses.
Right eye dominant, but with reading(close focus) lens in my left eye and and long distance focus in my right eye. Right handed.
With the first prescription I had the same problem of not being able to get any level of focus on the front sight of my handgun, nor the rear blade sight on rifle. My target was in sharp focus.
To compensate, I ended up tilting my head over to the right and using my left eye for shooting my handgun - no work-around on the rifle though
I ended up discussing it with my fire-arm friendly optometrist and he adjust my long distance lens, bringing it back to an 'intermediate' distance and since then all is A-OK on the handgun side, although I am giving up slightly on very clear long distance sight.
On my rifles, I have come to the conclusion that age has won and open sights are not what they used to be for me. Now I have glass on all my rifles.
Back-up iron sights with rear peep sight on AR type rifles are GTG as is though.
Right eye dominant, but with reading(close focus) lens in my left eye and and long distance focus in my right eye. Right handed.
With the first prescription I had the same problem of not being able to get any level of focus on the front sight of my handgun, nor the rear blade sight on rifle. My target was in sharp focus.
To compensate, I ended up tilting my head over to the right and using my left eye for shooting my handgun - no work-around on the rifle though
I ended up discussing it with my fire-arm friendly optometrist and he adjust my long distance lens, bringing it back to an 'intermediate' distance and since then all is A-OK on the handgun side, although I am giving up slightly on very clear long distance sight.
On my rifles, I have come to the conclusion that age has won and open sights are not what they used to be for me. Now I have glass on all my rifles.
Back-up iron sights with rear peep sight on AR type rifles are GTG as is though.
I also have monovison lenses.
Right handed. Right eye dominant.
Right eye lens set at the front sight.
Left eye lens set for distance.
Since you use monovision then you are aware that the distance you are looking at determines which eye SHOULD take over.
It worked very well for handguns, HOWEVER, when I first started shooting skeet with my monovision prescription my scores plummeted because in shotgunning at moving targets the focus is on the target (distance vision), so my left eye would take over and I would miss the bird.
I solved the problem by making it a habit to close my left eye a moment before I pulled the trigger -- no matter what type of firearm I am shooting. This way the eye behind the sight is the ONLY one open and no interference can come from the eye that is not behind the sight.
So, if I were you, I would have the your right eye lens set for the front sight; the left eye lens set for distance and ALWAYS close your left eye when you pull the trigger. This way you can shoot from your strong side and not have to learn to become left handed. Works beautifully for me. YMMV…..Frankie
Right handed. Right eye dominant.
Right eye lens set at the front sight.
Left eye lens set for distance.
Since you use monovision then you are aware that the distance you are looking at determines which eye SHOULD take over.
It worked very well for handguns, HOWEVER, when I first started shooting skeet with my monovision prescription my scores plummeted because in shotgunning at moving targets the focus is on the target (distance vision), so my left eye would take over and I would miss the bird.
I solved the problem by making it a habit to close my left eye a moment before I pulled the trigger -- no matter what type of firearm I am shooting. This way the eye behind the sight is the ONLY one open and no interference can come from the eye that is not behind the sight.
So, if I were you, I would have the your right eye lens set for the front sight; the left eye lens set for distance and ALWAYS close your left eye when you pull the trigger. This way you can shoot from your strong side and not have to learn to become left handed. Works beautifully for me. YMMV…..Frankie
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Al Thompson
Moderator Emeritus
Keep us posted, please. 
Al Thompson - Keep us posted, please.
First, monovision is for people who need bifocals and want to wear contact lenses. Yes, there are bifocal contact lenses, but most folks who tried them don’t like them. The big plus with monovision is that you change focal points without noticing it or requiring the shifting your eyes to different parts of the lens.
Okay, let me give you a few more details (muddy the water a little): I based my monovision prescription on my lifestyle choices; shooting and flying.
Shooting: The distance from my eye to the front sight for my handgun shooting style is 39 inches. For most people it will not allow you to read normal sized type clearly, so you will probably have to put on cheater glasses on while you are reading. They don’t have to be prescription (I got a prescription pair because I do a lot of reading) and usually Wal-Mart and Walgreens have them in +1.50 (I like this power when using the computer) and +2.00 (These are better for me to read with) for about $3 to $5 a pair. YMMV.
Flying: Using my monovision handgun prescription for flying tricycle gear airplanes seems to be satisfactory for most operations, however I would be reluctant to do any formation flying or anything requiring very precise distance calculations.
Flying tail wheel airplanes with my monovision handgun prescription is another story. Especially flaring for a landing because when the nose comes up you are usually done seeing the runway in front of you. You now have to rely on your peripheral vision to estimate the height above ground. Because your monovision prescription has two different focal points it going to cause a problem -- flaring to high or two low -- neither is conducive to a good landing. When flying I wear the distance lenses in BOTH eyes (not everyone can do this) and wear the cheaters (+1.5) down on the tip of my nose to see the instruments. YMMV
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