Any cross eye dominant people ever "learn" to use an ACOG?

[mass-diver]

So, I'm right handed, left eye dominant. I shoot pistol just fine. For a few years I tried shooting rifles lefty (I bought a nice stag for that purpose), but even with a decent amount of practice, when the pressure was on, I still fumbled with mag changes etc. Although I shot better lefty, the difference was not that dramatic (and I wanted to use rifle platforms that were not lefty friendly), so I went back to shooting rifles righty.

Iron sights are fine and so are red dots (although I do often close my left eye). However, for a long time I've been attracted to ACOGs. I like the ruggedness of the platform and the dual illumination without batteries.

I've been able to get some trigger time with a few ACOGs and as expected, they worked fine when I'm shooting at longer range (with my left eye closed), but in close I'm have some pretty big changes in point of impact when trying to shoot with both eyes open.

Do you guys think it's a waste to buy an ACOG if you can't take advantage of the BAC? Has anyone with cross dominance ever been able to improve on their results in close with ACOGs or does the BAC simply not work for people like me?

[Robb Jensen]

I'm right handed and left eye dominant and shoot long guns right handed. I can shoot ACOGs just fine but I do have to close my left eye. If I'm going to be shooting more than a few shots I switch and shoot left handed.

You would probably better served with one of their 1-4x TR24 Accu-Point scopes vs. an ACOG for close and far shooting.

[TehLlama]

Not crossdominant, but when shooting RCOs off the support side, I usually end up either closing an eye or not having full confidence in the BAC effect when shooting quickly, and relying on the dominant eye more than I want.
Shooting dominant/dominant, BAC works extremely well for me and is highly intuitive, and I definitely struggle to keep using non-dominant eye behind an ACOG with both open.

I don't have this problem with my TR24 when the zoom is below 2x, or at least it's a lot less noticeable. I still prefer Aimpoints for this, and my wife (who is crossdominant) also prefers the T-1.

[El Cid]

I'm in the same boat. My rifle coach in high school had me wear an eye patch while shooting. This allowed me to relax my left eye and use my right (non-dominant) eye to look through the peep sights.

It's odd because I still use my left eye when I shoot handguns (both eyes open), but when I shoot long guns I can now use my right eye and keep both eyes open. It works for irons, shotty beads, optics (1x and mangified). I still have to occasionally close my left eye with magnified optics, but you can train your right eye to get used to feeding the information to your brain.

Cliff notes - wear an eye patch on your left eye while shooting.

[Failure2Stop]

Any cross eye dominant people ever "learn" to use an ACOG?

Absolutely.
It just takes time and practice.

You can try the eye-patch approach, but get rid of it as soon as possible.

I agree with gotm4, you will probably be better served by a different optic.

[Belmont31R]

Im right handled LED and its taken me years to learn to shoot both eyes open with a magnified optic.




It can be done but it takes lot of trigger time, and practice. Now its natural for me, and I can shoot just about anything two eyes open.




Tape across the left eye focal plane does work. You need to get your mind used to what an image looks like with the right eye being the superior focal eye.

[armakraut]

ACOG + left eye dominance = excellent variable powered optic :p

[VMI-MO]

I have recently been "given" an ACOG that I am now required to use.

Like the OP I am cross retarded.

I have put alot of time recently into trying to master the ACOG with cross dominance.

I can "get it", but it take way to much brain power being directed to my eyes and what I focus on. On top of that, once I have "gotten it" all it takes is a quick bump or movement and then I have lost it.

Because of this, I usually find myself closing my left eye while actually firing. Whenever I have down time, or am holed up for the night, I try to practice both eyes open.


PJ

[mass-diver]

You would probably better served with one of their 1-4x TR24 Accu-Point scopes vs. an ACOG for close and far shooting.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

I've only seen an accu-point once. The guy let me glance through it and it seemed nice (very clear). He claimed that it was bright at night, but I've read reports that the tritium is really weak in these scopes? I think I could deal with the crosshairs, but if it doesn't glow at night that a bummer?

Plus, it seems like these are marketed toward hunters, I hope that not reflected in the overall ruggedness/qc.

Interesting option nonetheless, I just need to track down the spec and see how these compare weight wise to a full size ACOG

[GRSC]

My Son shoots RH but is left eye dominant. I set up his ar with a La Rue 193 mount. This puts the scope a little higher than normal. He gets a good cheek weld with his right cheek but rolls his head to aline his left eye with the scope. He keeps both eyes open. Works good for him.
ED Verdugo
GRSC Inc

[Failure2Stop]

My Son shoots RH but is left eye dominant. I set up his ar with a La Rue 193 mount. This puts the scope a little higher than normal. He gets a good cheek weld with his right cheek but rolls his head to aline his left eye with the scope. He keeps both eyes open. Works good for him.
ED Verdugo
GRSC Inc

If he is that strongly left eye dominant I would teach him to shoot lefty. You pretty much lose all the advantages of shooting with two eyes open if you are shooting with the left eye off the right shoulder.

[JSantoro]

It's definitely a doable thing. Takes time and practice, and it can be frustrating, but works. One of my co-workers is one of the 3% of the population that literally has no dominant eye, so he's effectively shooting cross-dominant regardless of which side he's using. He's freaky-good, and fast.

Lots of occluded-view practice, like Belmont brought up, is a help. Scotch tape on your "off" eye eyepro lens works well; you can still sorta-kinda see through it, but not so much that your mind focuses on that aspect.

[babarracing]

So, I'm right handed, left eye dominant. I shoot pistol just fine. For a few years I tried shooting rifles lefty (I bought a nice stag for that purpose), but even with a decent amount of practice, when the pressure was on, I still fumbled with mag changes etc. Although I shot better lefty, the difference was not that dramatic (and I wanted to use rifle platforms that were not lefty friendly), so I went back to shooting rifles righty.

Iron sights are fine and so are red dots (although I do often close my left eye). However, for a long time I've been attracted to ACOGs. I like the ruggedness of the platform and the dual illumination without batteries.

I've been able to get some trigger time with a few ACOGs and as expected, they worked fine when I'm shooting at longer range (with my left eye closed), but in close I'm have some pretty big changes in point of impact when trying to shoot with both eyes open.

Do you guys think it's a waste to buy an ACOG if you can't take advantage of the BAC? Has anyone with cross dominance ever been able to improve on their results in close with ACOGs or does the BAC simply not work for people like me?

I can not even pick up the reticule with my right none dominate eye, unless I momentarily block my left eye with my hand. So I stick to fixed box SKS's I refuse to shoot with one eye closed and open my self up to a blind side. Nothing profound here just my own miserable personal experience

[Iceberg]

I put a piece of clear tape on my left side of my shooting glasses. My high school trap shooting coach had little clear tape discs that he would put in the center of the left side of my shooting glasses when I refused to switch to left handed. This will allow you to keep both eyes open and force right eye dominance.
The only real solution to cross eye dominance is to learn to shot from your dominant side. After shooting shotgun (trap & sporting clays) right handed for years, I finally forced myself to switch to left handed and I am getting better. My 12 year old son has the same problem, so I'm teaching him to shot left handed to start with.

[Belmont31R]

I put a piece of clear tape on my left side of my shooting glasses. My high school trap shooting coach had little clear tape discs that he would put in the center of the left side of my shooting glasses when I refused to switch to left handed. This will allow you to keep both eyes open and force right eye dominance.
The only real solution to cross eye dominance is to learn to shot from your dominant side. After shooting shotgun (trap & sporting clays) right handed for years, I finally forced myself to switch to left handed and I am getting better. My 12 year old son has the same problem, so I'm teaching him to shot left handed to start with.



In my case by the time I learned about this and discovered I was LED but RH Id already learned to shoot off the right side. It would be as much work or even more to completely go back to learn to shoot left handed.


Learning to shoot both eyes open with cross dominance can be done. Start off with the tape, time behind the gun (both at home and at the range) with training yourself to use your right eye when shooting. As I said....I can now shoot just fine even with the natural cross dominance. I have no issues with pulling up a gun, and using the right eye.


If you teach someone to shoot off their weak hand side Im not too sure its any better than teaching someone to shoot off their weak eye side.


Oh and besides the tape method an eye doctor who knows shooting can do wonders for you. When I was a teen I shot competition ATA trap regionally, and with both a good doctor and Decot shooting glasses I was able to get a prescription shooting glass setup that made my right eye the more powerful one. I was diagnosed with a slight astigmatism in my eye which cause it to be the dominate eye. A prescription making your right eye the more powerful one will train your brain to become RED instead of LED.

[davey]

Good comments all! I'm 53 years old, left-handed and right eye dominant. Some closing comments from my perspective...

Yes, you can "use" an ACOG when you are cross dominant. OTOH, you have to remember that the Bindon Aiming Concept that makes the ACOG such a good snap-shooing optic is pretty much nullified if you occlude one eye or blink. You also lose depth perception.

Yes, you can "practice" and improve the situation. Good practice is more like eye exercises, though. Your non-dominant eye is probably slower to change focus because the muscles are weaker. Practice should focus [sorry ;)] on making your non-dominant eye take the lead on bringing the sights and the target into correct focus-quickly. There are specific eye exercises that can help.

If there's any hesitance in getting the sights in front of the correct eye, that needs to be worked as well. It shouldn't be as much of an issue with a long gun as a pistol.

Finally, although I train hard for IPSC summer season by starting my exercises in March, I am never as fast or as accurate as the folks that are not cross-dominant. A handycap is a handycap.