Writing left handed is the one thing I never could get the hang of. I learned to drink, feed myself, shoot, light cigars and other things left handed, just not write left handed.
CROSS DOMINANCE
- Thread starter Golddollar
- Start date
Sandman4delta
Member
The human body and brain are amazing.
I shot A LOT during my career. I was always right handed, right eye dominant. As part of our training we did our best to be ambidextrous with weapons and one hand disabled for possible injury etc.
I always shot those handgun drills with my right eye though, no problem.
Fast forward to another chapter of "What is gonna fail with age today?"
Over the last couple years, my right eye has developed some issues. The worst is that my retina developed some unwanted tissue which wrinkled it and distorts the image. Add a dose of cataract starting and it's not a good view.
The amazing part is that as this happened I didn't really alter the schedule of my shooting. I fairly regularly went out to punch holes and ring steel.
Going back to the first line, the amazing part is that somewhere along the way my brain switched me to left eye dominant without me even consciously choosing to do so. I had just shifted my head a bit and continued shooting at my usual level.
The wake up call was when I had not shot rifle for a while and the right eye had worsened.
I took a scoped AR out and when I brought it up, I could not see the target or reticle just blur.
I wondered how I could shoot so well with a handgun with that much of a problem.
So I cased the rifle and picked up a pistol and looked at the target.
I usually shoot both eyes open, so imagine my surprise when I closed my left eye.
It happen without my thinking about it and feels just as natural from a draw or benchrest with no noticeable change in accuracy.
My brain even seems to ignore the glary blur that has become my right vision.
I don't know if the right eye will ever be acceptable again.
With one surgery to remove the tissue done, the view has not changed, so I don't know if it will be good after cataract surgery either.
Meantime I have added lefty rifle training to my regimen.
I could always shoot it well that way but I have to get the other skills down, reloads, malfunctions etc.
I shot A LOT during my career. I was always right handed, right eye dominant. As part of our training we did our best to be ambidextrous with weapons and one hand disabled for possible injury etc.
I always shot those handgun drills with my right eye though, no problem.
Fast forward to another chapter of "What is gonna fail with age today?"
Over the last couple years, my right eye has developed some issues. The worst is that my retina developed some unwanted tissue which wrinkled it and distorts the image. Add a dose of cataract starting and it's not a good view.
The amazing part is that as this happened I didn't really alter the schedule of my shooting. I fairly regularly went out to punch holes and ring steel.
Going back to the first line, the amazing part is that somewhere along the way my brain switched me to left eye dominant without me even consciously choosing to do so. I had just shifted my head a bit and continued shooting at my usual level.
The wake up call was when I had not shot rifle for a while and the right eye had worsened.
I took a scoped AR out and when I brought it up, I could not see the target or reticle just blur.
I wondered how I could shoot so well with a handgun with that much of a problem.
So I cased the rifle and picked up a pistol and looked at the target.
I usually shoot both eyes open, so imagine my surprise when I closed my left eye.
It happen without my thinking about it and feels just as natural from a draw or benchrest with no noticeable change in accuracy.
My brain even seems to ignore the glary blur that has become my right vision.
I don't know if the right eye will ever be acceptable again.
With one surgery to remove the tissue done, the view has not changed, so I don't know if it will be good after cataract surgery either.
Meantime I have added lefty rifle training to my regimen.
I could always shoot it well that way but I have to get the other skills down, reloads, malfunctions etc.
OP
I don't have any advice for you on switching eyes for shooting, but I do want to express my best wishes for a complete recovery. Please keep us posted...
I went to the Retina Care Center yesterday and the doctor was able to confirm the improvement in my eye that I had been observing since my last appointment. There is still a floater right in the center of my field of vision but the density of the floater has diminished a lot. She was still concerned as to whether there will be any lasting effects from this floater but thanks to everybody's advice and support here I plan on taking part in the bullseye season. I have another appointment in 3+ weeks and hope that my system will continue to clear up the problem for me. Thanks to everybody for your kind words and support,
OP
I'd say that I have good news and good news. I'm seeing continued improvement from the hemorrhage in my right eye. It's a slow process but apparently my eye must be cleaning itself out from the leaked blood.
Yesterday I decided to go up to the indoor range above Harrisburg to see if I could shoot effectively in a cross-dominant manner sighting with my left eye. It took some conscious effort to bring the red dot up to my left eye instead of my right eye, and I discovered that I had to face the target more squarely. But I managed to put it all together and at 15 yards shooting in bullseye style I put all 10 shots into the rings with most of them in the black. When I backed the target up to 25 yards I had some shots miss the paper but that may have been a matter of sight adjustment and /or fatigue. But the additional good news was realized, that I plan to be back in the bullseye matches this year no matter what.
Yesterday I decided to go up to the indoor range above Harrisburg to see if I could shoot effectively in a cross-dominant manner sighting with my left eye. It took some conscious effort to bring the red dot up to my left eye instead of my right eye, and I discovered that I had to face the target more squarely. But I managed to put it all together and at 15 yards shooting in bullseye style I put all 10 shots into the rings with most of them in the black. When I backed the target up to 25 yards I had some shots miss the paper but that may have been a matter of sight adjustment and /or fatigue. But the additional good news was realized, that I plan to be back in the bullseye matches this year no matter what.
OP
Another update on the hemorrhage I had in my right eye. Yesterday I had an appointment with the first doctor I saw at the retina care center. I'm happy to say that since my previous appointment the big floaters I was having and the spot in the center of my field of vision disappeared. On the electronic eye chart my vision has stabilized to the point where the letters stayed still long enough to identify most of them. The doctor said there was still a little bit of leaked blood in my eye but I won't have to come back for three months. He was very happy with my recovery and that no physical intervention was needed.
Thanks to everybody's advice and encouragement I have been practicing a good bit shooting my Smith & Wesson Model 41 right-handed while sighting with my left eye. With the amount of practice I've done it looks like this will work out.
So thanks again, everyone, for your encouragement, kind words and advice.
Thanks to everybody's advice and encouragement I have been practicing a good bit shooting my Smith & Wesson Model 41 right-handed while sighting with my left eye. With the amount of practice I've done it looks like this will work out.
So thanks again, everyone, for your encouragement, kind words and advice.
OP
Yesterday I had an appointment with the retina specialist doctor who had been treating me for the hemorrhage I had in my right eye a year and a half ago. He declared a year ago that all of the leaked blood had been cleared out, and yesterday he confirmed that my retina healed up with no holes, tears or imperfections. I still have some distortions in the vision of my right eye but that doctor thinks it may be developing cataracts which can be remedied. He said he would send a note to my regular eye doctor and I'll make appointment with my regular eye doctor to see if I might need new glasses and/or to deal with the cataract. So from a point where I thought my shooting career might be over to a full recovery of the retina, I'm very happy that it appears everything has worked out.
That's great, Golddollar! Glad to hear it!
Good for you!...I have a standing monthly visit with my retina specialist so he can stick the monthly needle in my right eye to slowly reduce the size of the little sac of fluid that distorts the vision in the center of that eye...Apparently it's a rest of my life deal for me...
...Ben
...BenSimilar threads
