Sight and shooting

kowloon

What kind of adjustments would I need to make if I lost an eye, could I continue to shoot or would the lack of depth perception put an end to it?

chem

Hope you didn`t lose an eye kowloon :eek: but I have a friend who shoots who has only one eye. He tells me the brain/eye gets around depth problems over time. He is a better shot then me! with both my eyes. And if you think about it. Everyone closes an eye if looking trough scope or sights!

G17

kowloon wrote: »

What kind of adjustments would I need to make if I lost an eye, could I continue to shoot or would the lack of depth perception put an end to it?

I know two shooters who have effectively only sight in one eye, no problems whatsoever shooting, targets, game, clays, long and short firearms. They both however had this poor sight before they started shooting, so I reckon it would take a little training to adapt after losing sight in one eye.

If you or someone you know are unfortunate enough to be losing vision of one eye, maybe start re-training now, put an eye patch in the range bag/gun slip and introduce it as new shooting gear so if a eye or vision is lost, shooting can be still enjoyed.

I do hope this question is hypothetical.

kowloon

I haven't lost the actual eye, but the sight has deteriorated badly enough that the eye is ineffective and may eventually go fully. The optician told me I have very little depth perception left and the other eye is doing all the work. I was just wondering if I could continue to hunt when I get back home.

Cheers lads, that's picked me up a bit.

bunny shooter

kowloon wrote: »

I haven't lost the actual eye, but the sight has deteriorated badly enough that the eye is ineffective and may eventually go fully. The optician told me I have very little depth perception left and the other eye is doing all the work. I was just wondering if I could continue to hunt when I get back home.

Cheers lads, that's picked me up a bit.

Sorry for your troubles lad

Hope everything is OK for you

rrpc

You don't need depth perception for shooting except for range estimation and there are plenty of tools to do that for you.

After that it's purely a two dimensional exercise. People wear blinders to stop input from the non-aiming eye, so in some respects it can be an advantage.

Although in other aspects of your life, this will handicap you to a greater or lesser extent, you needn't worry about your shooting.

And my commiserations also, any loss of this nature is rough.

homerhop

Having little to no sight in my left eye for the majority of my life I have been shooting for the past 20 years. The only adjustment I had to make was to get a slight twist in the stock of my gun for clays. I was over compensating and bringing my cheek too far across the stock. Other than that I have been able to hold my own when it comes to clays, phesants and any other targets I shoot at. You may have to get an optician to strengthen a lens in your spectacles for your "good" eye to keep the strength up in it.

Cass

rrpc wrote: »

You don't need depth perception for shooting except for range estimation and there are plenty of tools to do that for you.
After that it's purely a two dimensional exercise. People wear blinders to stop input from the non-aiming eye, so in some respects it can be an advantage.

Agrre with rrpc, most of my shooting involves closing or shutting off one eye. This is for target work but out hunting, as suggested, you could use range finders etc to compensate for the loss of depth perception.

Originally Posted by kowloon

I haven't lost the actual eye, but the sight has deteriorated badly enough that the eye is ineffective and may eventually go fully

Very sorry to hear that lad. If i'm prying too much tell me to mind my own business, but is it something treatable like Glaucoma or Cataracts. Either way hope all goes well for you from here on.

rrpc

ezridax wrote: »

Agrre with rrpc, most of my shooting involves closing or shutting off one eye.

You shouldn't close your non-aiming eye if at all possible. All it does is accelerate fatigue in the aiming eye. Wear a blinder and discover increased stamina

kowloon

Nothing that can be fixed unfortunately, I knew my sight was deteriorating but assumed I could get laser surgery or glasses, but apparently it's not an option. I'll get some lessons to switch over to my left side.
How much should I spend on a range finder?
Would a laser rangefinder be trouble out hunting?

rrpc

kowloon wrote: »

Nothing that can be fixed unfortunately, I knew my sight was deteriorating but assumed I could get laser surgery or glasses, but apparently it's not an option. I'll get some lessons to switch over to my left side.
How much should I spend on a range finder?
Would a laser rangefinder be trouble out hunting?

Aren't there some scopes with rangefinders built in? I know I've seen binoculars with rangefinders and I'm fairly sure I've heard of scopes with them as well.

I don't use a scope, so I'm not well up on the technology.

deerhunter1

kowloon wrote: »

What kind of adjustments would I need to make if I lost an eye, could I continue to shoot or would the lack of depth perception put an end to it?

I am right handed but shoot left handed since i got my first gun 35 years ago.Reason i got a belt in my right eye at the age of 4 and have bad sight since then despite wearing a patch for years over the good eye to try and strenghten the muscles in the injured eye. But been young and foolish would not wear it so now im suffering. All my weapons are right handed but shoot left haned and never had a problem. Your body (Brain) will adjust. I can fire a right handed bolt action rifle left hand as quick and as accurate as a righthanded person firing a right handed can, even loading semi auto 12G no prob.

Cass

rrpc wrote: »

You shouldn't close your non-aiming eye if at all possible. All it does is accelerate fatigue in the aiming eye. Wear a blinder and discover increased stamina

I do wear a blinder for .22 benchrest, 50 mtr shooting. Its the 600+ shooting that i find the blinker more a hassle than a help. There are delays between shots at the long distance as you usually shoot 2 to a target and in between my shots i watch the flags, mark my cards, adjust myself etc. With the .22 i close off everything around me and use the blinder then. Shotgun shooting i keep both eyes open. Never close an eye so it never was an issue.

Sparks

kowloon wrote: »

I'll get some lessons to switch over to my left side.

It's a horrible place to be in kowloon, but your brain will adapt. I've shot with my right eye since I started (because we didn't know back then to pick the dominant eye instead of looking at whether the shooter was right or left handed). My brain eventually figured out how to swap dominance while I was shooting, at least during the aiming part of things. The human brain is wonderfully plastic about such things.

kowloon

I'll just put in plenty of time and get used to it. Thanks for all the advice.

rrpc

kowloon wrote: »

I'll just put in plenty of time and get used to it. Thanks for all the advice.

You don't necessarily have to change hands. For a rifle owner that's especially difficult as opposite handed bolts and other bits mean it's not as easy (if that's the right word) as it seems. you might have to buy a left handed rifle just to use your left eye instead of your right one.

Other alternatives are offsetting sights and/or using periscopes.

That way you don't have to change your rifle or even your scope.



Possibly the best answer to your problem. As you can see, you use your existing rifle and scope and sight with your left eye. You just have to be careful as to the ammount of cant you use as it will have an affect on your point of impact.

Sparks

And if you're using iron sights, there are offset sight blocks as well:



And the periscopes look like this:





I shot (reasonably well) with one of these for a year in DURC before getting my own rifle (I eventually stopped because I found my eyes were coping with swapping dominance better than they were with the periscope, but your milage may vary).