Hello All!  Long time lurker and first time AR owner and poster.



I recently got a Springfield Saint.  I'd love to put some kind of optic on it, but it is sort of hard to see what it would be like before I buy.  

I have astigmatism so I heard that the red dots are a little fuzzy.  I'm used to that and probably won't mind.  I also wear glasses so 90% of that might be corrected.  But I'm definitely open to suggestions.  This rifle is for plinking and defense in somewhat close quarters.  I won't be using any kind of scope or magnification.

The thing is, I'm right handed and my left eye is dominant.  So since I was 12 I've been closing my left eye anytime I shoot a rifle.  I thought this was normal until recently.

So long story short, is there some kind of red dot/holographic type sight that I can put as far forward as I can on the rail that would allow me the best chance to use both eyes?  I can spend around $300 and it seems like one of the Holosun models might work.  

Any help would be appreciated!

If you want to use both eyes you will have to either switch shoulders or re-train your eye dominance.  I have heard it can be done but have never tried it.  I am lefty, but right eye dominant.  I learned to shoot right handed.  You don't have to use both eyes to use a red dot, it is just one of the advantages that a red dot offers and can be helpful in faster target acquisition.  Also, flipping up my rear buis and sighting through the small aperture and the sight sharpens the dot that my astigmatism typically turns into a bunch of grapes.  I also find green is better than red for me.

My grandson is right handed and left eye dominant.  He has no problem shooting a rifle lefty even though he shoots handguns righty.  But then he is young and doesn't know any better

Can’t help with cross eye dominance, but from acceptable to best for my astigmatism: aimpoint t2(the other 2 moa models bloom too much for me), eotech xps2, anything with an etched reticle

PA 1X micro Prism.

I had the same issue this winter, asked the same question.  Basically got the same advice:

a) If you shoot w/glasses, probably no problem at all.

b) Co-witness vs lower 1/3rd can help a lot if glasses don't correct it.


I really can't shoot any great distance accurately w/o glasses, so it's not an issue I discovered.  With glasses, no "bunch of grapes" (which is what I see unaided). W/o glasses, co-witnessing helps a great deal so look for one that comes with a mount that can be set up that way (like Sparc AR), or realize you'll also need to buy a mount, too.

A good prism optic for astigmatism or something with good etched glass. Mine is so bad that even with my glasses all reddots look like a giant amebic blob. Can't help with cross eye issue. Based on your circumstances maybe just go with a flamethrower??? Perhaps a flamethrower drone for those 1000 yard precision shots?

I’m right handed and left eye dominate as well. I’ve shot long arms left handed since childhood as a result, it’s second nature for me. I also have an astigmatism and found prism optics to work the best for me.

The Primary Arms SLx micro 1x and 3x are fantastic and would serve you well.

https://www.primaryarms.com/primary-arms-slx-1x-microprism-with-red-illuminated-acss-cyclops-gen-2-reticle

Good luck in your search.

Without going into a long physical optics dissertation, your typical “red dot” optic will always seem irregular or blurry with any uncorrected cylinder/astigmatism or other aberration in the cornea or lens. It’s just physics and there is no way around it. As others have said, a prismatic scope with etched reticle will significantly help this. As far as ocular dominance goes, you can’t really retrain which eye as an adult but if you shoot isosceles stance your dominant eye takes over. Cross dominance with a long gun is hard to deal with

I am not cross dominant, but have helped train/retrain a few cross dominant folks in trap/skeet/sporting clays and can tell you in no uncertain terms that re-learning to shoot with your dominant eye will pay dividends.  While it certainly isn't easy, it is doable.

Might not make sense right now, but there are a lot of similarities between shooting clays and both eyes open CQB shooting.  It will be worth the work.  I've seen the difference first hand on the scoreboard.

Shoot with the correct eye. You’re making this way harder than it is.

Eotech

Prism with an etched reticle.

Can't help on cross dominance, that's a training issue mostly.  I'm a righty that's left dominant, but trained myself to shoot right dominant.

As for astigmatism, there are a couple ways you can go on it, but it really depends on how bad the astigmatism is, how well it is corrected, and the type of correction.  So long as your rx is recent/current and you don't have a massive cyl adjustment, a huge chunk of the work is already done.  Tolerances on glasses are pretty tight, but medical conditions like diabetes or just aging can make pretty notable changes over time.  Keeping a script up to date is important for that.  Contacts are nowhere near as precise as glasses for cyl and axis adjustments, but they can work decently for a lot of folks. Glasses will always be more precise when compared to mass produced RGP or soft contacts though.

For red dot style optics, either green dot reflex sights like the Holosun 510C-GR, holographic sights like the Eotech or Vortex UH-1, or TFO optics like the Meprolight M21 and Trijicon Reflex are the easiest to work with.  Different reasonings as to the how, but all of them have a reduced measured brightness (not perceived) compared to a standard red dot sight.  The eye is more sensitive to green, so it takes a lower power output to see a similar brightness compared to a red dot, holographic sights use a diffraction grating that scatters the light into a whole bunch of dimmer dots instead of a point light source, and TFO sights have a mix of low brightness mixed with polarization and dichromic filtering.  Eotech does do a green reticle as well that would probably be pretty solid because the mix of green light and holographic diffraction, but I have yet to see one in the wild.

Additionally, you can use a flip up or fixed rear sight as a diopter to further reduce coma/stretching or similar as it'll further reduce the light hitting your eye.  

Any optic with an adjustable diopter (scopes or most prismatic sights) will give you a couple diopters of adjustment as well, but it comes at the cost of needing to train yourself to work in the eyebox of the optic.

Primary arms cyclops 2 prism.

Cross dominance can be fixed using an eye patch and some training.  Had to do this for my sister.  Then you can shoot normal. Also me and my family all have astigmatism but mine is the worst.  I have found a green dot to help dramatically on blurred dot situation you are having.

I would suggest a prism scope. For me, red dots blur. Regular reticle scopes are fine as well for hunting. If given a color choice, I prefer green.

I deal with x-eye.

Left eye domination fights with right hand rulership.

I am forced to one eye closed and an LPVO on my rifle and the head tilt both eyes open on a pistol.

It will take a shit ton of training to teach your eyes new tricks and under stress you will still fall back to your instincts so work with the x-eye and train the instinct.


For your rig go LPVO 1-6x.  Primary Arms sells good options based on your rifle choice.

Start shooting left handed so your dominant eye is behind the sight, you'll be better off in the long run.  You might think you can train yourself to use your non dominant eye but eventually your brain will do what it's been programed to do since birth and you'll start shooting to the left because your dominant eye took over.
If you're dead set to keep shooting right handed put a piece of scotch tape on your left lens to blur the vision in that eye so the right eye will sort of take over. I know people who have done that and it worked but IMO it's a band aid fix.


I have an astigmatism and most RDS bloom a little bit for me but the dot is still clean enough to shoot good groups. Years ago I had a Vortex Strikefire but I honestly can't remember how the dot was, I had a couple MROs for a few years and they were good and my current Aimpoint Micros are really good.

Also I have astigmatism, I got contacts for my astigmatism during my recent eye exam. They are thicker and take a few weeks to get used to. But they make every optic better especially my aimpoints red dots.

Astigmatism - Get one with etched reticle (example is PA SLx 1).  With an etched reticle you don't even need to turn the illumination on, leave it black.

Cross eye dominant - Nothing wrong with squinting your left eye a bit shooting long gun.  However, best is to train shooting with both eyes open. Don't push your optic way to the front there is no need for that (or are you thinking of using your dominant eye this way? don't do it because the alignment of sight/muzzle).  To retrain your brain, blur out your left eye vision with a small stick on dot on your glasses.  There are many articles around to teach you this.

Retraining to shoot weak shoulder is okay if that's what you want.  I've found it was much faster to learn to shoot both eyes open and use the right eye for long gun. YMMV.

I have both issues and the above equipment + training took care of them in the last 20 years in competition.

I appreciate all the responses!  Some very good stuff here.  I have some ideas about which optics I may find suitable now.  

I'll probably never get used to shooting left handed, and I'd imagine I'd revert back to my instincts in any tense situation, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to give it a shot.

Right handed, left eye dominant, shoot right handed.  Use a Browe BCO, an improved versiin of a 4x32 ACOG (etched reticle prism).  Normally shoot both eyes open, will close my left eye for longer range precision.

I have found that the Mepro 21 with triangle reticle solves my issue with the distortion I see in red dots (due to my eyes).

I have owned 7 Mepro 21s with the triangle over the past 10+ years. The optic works amazing well, and uses no batteries... (tritium and fiber optics)

Get a .22 rifle (or even better, build/buy a .22 upper for your AR) and shoot it left handed a bunch.  I’m cross dominant and I learned to shoot lefty in my mid 20’s after going years and years shooting right handed.  I did it shooting surplus mausers and mosins….not easy on the shoulder, but the ammo was really cheap at that time.  It didn’t take very long to get really comfortable shooting ARs on both sides.

If you ever want to do any wing shooting, you really need to work on shooting lefty…or train your right eye so you can make it dominant since having one eye closed while bird hunting sucks

Anything that's not a red dot or holo(lpvo or prism) will be fine with your eyes. As for cross eye dominance I'm not so sure other than just closing your other eye

Another vote for the PA Cyclops Gen II.

As for the dominance, try closing your left eye while shooting and only opening it to transition targets. It works for a buddy of mine. He’s certainly not the fastest but he will put a lot of shooters to shame that don’t have that problem doing it.

For astigmatism, I've found that EOtech holographic reticles have less bloom but an etched illuminated reticle for a prism sight or LPVO is always the hands-down winner for clarity. Maybe see if you can get a look through several different red dots though - some are better than others for astigmatism, but everyone's eyes are different so you won't really know for sure until you try.

I'm in the same spot on eye dominance - for pistols, it was easier to just learn to adjust my grip/stance to align with my left eye than to learn to shoot left-handed. With a rifle, though, it's impractical to try and aim with your left eye from your right shoulder. I'd suggest just learning to shoot left-handed. If you have the inverse of my issue and just can't get used to it, though, I've found that I only really need to make a face to obstruct my left eye enough to shoot as though I was right-eye dominant. You still keep most of your sight picture, though it does get uncomfortable after a while.

Also: I get what you're going for, but don't rule out something like a 3x fixed prism because of the magnification. I fell into the trap of assuming it was unusably slow for close-in shooting for a long time, but a 3x prism with a good illuminated reticle (Burris AR332 in my case) will still let you get on target pretty quickly and will give you more capability down the road if you decide to stretch your legs a bit more.

I looked through an Eotech recently and the reticle is
crisper than the aimpoint micros and MRO but not enough to make me want to switch.

I have both problems too OP. I have no problems with any of them. Eotech, AP, SIG, & Holosun. You wear glasses? I do.  Shoot both eyes open.
Scopes are a bit hard though. My eyes fatigue.

I use a 1-6 lpvo.
I'm right eye dominant, but left handed.

I have trained myself to shoot right handed.

If you dryfire practice every day, you'll get accustomed to shooting left handed.
You should be dryfire practicing every day.