Just read a post that got me thinking. As my vision isn't what it once was I've found myself drifting away from pistol shooting. It's just irritating, frustrating and a whole list of other adjectives. I'm 45 years old and the eye doc says the next time I see him, which is this month, I'm going to need bifocals. I've been resisting this for a long time. Just makes me feel old. Now I know some of you guys are going to rib me. "45 ain't old kid." I know but still...
I do have an option that I played with a few years back (eyes weren't as bad) but didn't stick with it. While my right eye is/was 20/1oo+ last year (and it's gotten worse), my left eye is almost 20/20. Has anyone changed hands and do you have any advice. I'm thinking it is just going to take hours at the range gaining muscle memory.
I practice shooting with both hands as occasionally IDPA and USPSA stages require shooting with your off hand. The weird thing with it is follow up shots. It seams that my right hand is accustom to the way the gun recoils and anticipates it. But when I shoot with my left hand the gun seems to recoil off in whatever direction it feels like, and not the same way twice. Probably just poor grip technique I guess.
I haven't tried shooting with a left hand holster, and so far I've always swapped the gun back to my strong hand before doing a mag change, so I've never tried manipulating the controls left handed.
Something else to try is holding the gun in your strong hand but tipping the gun at bit of an angle to use your good eye. I've never tried it but I've seen people when they are forced to shoot with their left and tip it to use their dominant right eye. I might try this myself since I'm right handed and left eye dominant. Usually I just close my left eye and shoot with my non-dominant eye.
I am left handed and have very bad vision in my left eye. I still shoot a pistol with my left hand but can shoot with my right hand as well. A rifle I have to shoot right handed due to my bad left eye.
I am 64 years old and have 20/600 vision in my left eye. I can outshoot my 24 year old son with a pistol any day.
I know what you mean when it comes to iron sights and degraded vision. Cataract surgery has restored a lot of my enjoyment of iron sights but you are not old enough for that. I have found that red dot sights have enhanced my enjoyment of hand gun shooting and improved my hit ratio. If you do give red dots a try and I highly recommend you do then don't go too cheap. I tried the cheap ones and they just don't get it done. Look for a red dot that lets you adjust the brightness of the dot. Also get the smallest dot you can. Some have several dot sizes to chose from on the same sight. One red dot I am totally satisfied with is the UltraDot MatchDot II. You get to chose from 2, 4, 6, & 8 MOA dot sizes and you can adjust the brightness of any you select. Also take a look at the Burris Fastfire III. Not the Fastfire II as it doesn't allow for brightness adjustment. There are several others you can chose from but you get what you pay for in a red dot. S&W has out a new competition M&P, the CORE model set up to accept several of the popular red dot sight.
I have never been much good with my off hand. I do practice defensive shooting with off hand a little but not any serious target shooting.
The dot site sounds interesting. Something to definitely consider. I have used my left hand shooting before just to make sure I could. Obviously accuracy wasn't the same but it would get the job done. I have a Ruger KP95 that is an ambidextrous pistol. Think I might give it a chance and see how things go.
My vision is poor, but is 20/20 with glasses, I also do not have a master eye as far as I can tell. I do most things right handed but used my left hand exclusively when first learning to shoot as I could not close my left eye and keep the right one open.
It wasn't until later that I learned to shoot with both eyes open or use a blinder so I could shoot right handed. I shoot well with either hand now, but better with my right if using a heavy handgun in one hand.
I have fired my P95 quite a bit with my off hand, but it still feels awkward and takes more concentration to hit what I think I'm aiming at. Haven't tried it with the new SKKY 9mm, might be interesting.
There are things that can be done. Not saying this will work for you but maybe it will give you some things to try. I don't have to wear bifocals or even reading glasses.
While I don't shoot in competition I shoot acceptably for an old guy. To start with I shoot handguns right handed and left eyed. I have for some 30 years. As my eyes aged I went to the Merit sighting aid which is a small hole you look through. It works to darken your view with the result that your "depth of field" in camera talk gets better. That means the rear, front and target get a bit darker but sharper. You get the classic text book sight picture. I have also used drug store reading glasses of such a strength to pull the focus of my eye to the front sight at the expense of sharpness of the target. My regular glasses are progressives. All I have to do is tilt my head back until the front sight is in focus and shoot away. The Merit sighting aid is the best way to go. It suction cups to your glasses and the size of the aperture is adjustable. It is nearly weightless.
You really have 2 issues in 1 post, weak hand shooting and vision issues.
I have similar issues with vision (getting old has it's issues) and am using more optical sights as well.
Next is weak hand shooting, you have to sort out your eye dominance for your self, some people just can not get comfortable with the sight picture. otherwise it is a matter of muscle control/muscle memory to control your hand and fingers; just like a beginning shooter. There are left hand and right hand dominant persons that simply can not do anything with their non-dominate hand beyond scratching their butts; presumably this is not your issue. Try shooting weak handed/weak eye with a .22 at close range using a "easily seen" target and review the results.
Personally, I wear contact lenses and use reading glasses; I wear my glasses at home (bifocals) as I like the greater field of view I get with contacts. AND I suppose that vanity does factor in, not that I will admit to it.........
I normally go the range twice a week sometime 3 and always shoot with my weak hand whether it is rifle or pistol. I'll shoot a couple of hundred rounds of 22lr and than shoot 2 mags of 45 acp, 9mm, 357, or 38. Same thing with rifle I'll shoot 100 rds of 22lr or more than whatever caliber rifle I take for familiarization. I feel pretty comfortable doing this, I practice a lot since you could always be wounded or incapacitated.
I lost the use of my right arm for a few months. I learned then to shoot, reload, clear, and clean my carry weapons one/left handed. I still practice the shooting, clearing, and reloading that way. You quickly learn to use objects close by and your feet/shoes to accomplish some of the actions. Other than shooting, I do have problems reliably operating/cleaning the Ruger Mk II with one hand.
Took off early to run a little experiment at the indoor range. I tried various combinations.....shooting right handed and just dealing with things being blurry, shooting left handed (my off hand) and shooting right handed but using my left eye (the one I can see out). I'd say I had mixed results. Amazing how strange it feels to use my left hand. I'm fairly ambidextrous, well I can write and hit a ball decent enough but this was an entire new thing. I had to think about thumb placement as I kept wanting to wrap my right thumb on the other side rather than letting them rest, one on top of the other. This is going to take a lot of practice for sure. I did fail to note on the first picture (20 rounds) was done single action as well. Oops, also also for perspective this is a 10" target. All and all a nice time. I'll keep the experiment going and keep you posted.
I started practicing shooting left handed 7-8 years ago after the only shot I had while hunting was left handed (my weak side). I missed the 250 yard shot, which was an easy shot for me right handed. I spend about 30% of my shooting time shooting my weak side. I'm no where near as capable left handed as I am right, but I'm getting better.
You have to deal with the card in your hand. Look at all the guys coming back from the mid east missing limbs and vision. A lot of them find ways to get by and do the things they want to in spite of it.
I was in one of our facilities working on a system when a customer came in to drop off some thing. I was focused on what I was doing but the guy made funny noises as he moved around. I looked up and he had both legs gone and one arm missing. He had prosthetic legs and and arm. He was going out the door when I saw his t shirt said don't ask it was an IED. Some how this guy found a way to work and hold a job with his limitations.
If I'm coming off like a whiney sissy that's not my intent. Nor am I trying to compare my little problem with the likes of one of our brave servicemen that have given life and limb for our freedom. Not quite sure how you got that from what I wrote but my apologies. What I'm trying to accomplish is improving my skill as a marksman and was hoping to get some sound advice from others on the forum.
hstout1143,
I like your idea of committing a set amount, dedicated to honing my left handed skills. It's easy enough to set aside 30/100 when I'm at the range. I think I'll start putting that in to practice.
If I'm coming off like a whiney sissy that's not my intent. Nor am I trying to compare my little problem with the likes of one of our brave servicemen that have given life and limb for our freedom. Not quite sure how you got that from what I wrote but my apologies. What I'm trying to accomplish is improving my skill as a marksman and was hoping to get some sound advice from others on the forum.
hstout1143,
I like your idea of committing a set amount, dedicated to honing my left handed skills. It's easy enough to set aside 30/100 when I'm at the range. I think I'll start putting that in to practice.
Thank You
No way did I think that of you. I wanted to keep you positive and headed in the right direction. It's just a new hand you have been dealt that you will have to learn to deal with. I have every confidence you will get past this.
No way did I think that of you. I wanted to keep you positive and headed in the right direction. It's just a new hand you have been dealt that you will have to learn to deal with. I have every confidence you will get past this.
I do practice with my weak (left hand) and am not horrible. What is hard is I am right eye dominant and I keep both eyes open when I normally shoot, but when I try to use my left eye then I have to close my right eye, or put a black cover over my glasses on my right eye.
I wear bifocals. You can get glasses were you don't see any lines in the lens. Mine are graduated . The only bad thing is I have to turn my head to see to the sides. Get the glasses and still have fun shooting.
Ah, red dots... they give you the ability to hit what you're looking at.
My Ruger .44 Mag wears a Millett 3MOA that's tough as nails:
My 11-year-old grandson likes perforating cans with a Millett on my GP100:
My rimfires benefit from a pair of Tru-Glo dots:
Taurus 992
Ruger MkIII
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