Hi all,
Some of you might remember I said I'd do a quick write up of my initial experience with Ben Husthwaite's 'Eye D Rail" device after a couple of weeks use, and here it is. To be clear I'm not endorsing the product, this is simply my objective experience.
Worth pointing out I had initial access some time back to an earlier prototype during a lesson at Kibworth and really got on with it, so I didn't require much convincing in terms of using the device.
Why did I need it - what were my issues?
I do not (knowingly) suffer from eye dominance issues as a both eyes open shooter, however one thing I've been affected by from day one is occasionally (and intermittently) seeing up the left side of the gun - after some research I stumbled upon a reference to the term "cross firing" which seemed most applicable. A few people had suggested fixes, including ignoring the peripheral view of my barrel, a dot, higher comb, squinting, thumb up on the barrel (which is what I was doing) etc.
This is basically what I would see (minus the weird gadget attached to it, of course). >Image
I've been shooting for less than a year and made great strides into B class, however crossers were so often letting my card down as I would randomly see up the left of the gun and have no chance of making a move - it also greatly impacted my ability to consistently perceive lead.
Using it
First day out was at a local shoot, deliberate choice as I generally know the targets and had a baseline for which stands the above issue occurs on.
The difference on these troublesome targets (longer crossers) was quite remarkable, the lead picture was consistent shot to shot and I could reliably make the same move again and again to break the clay. I noticed some other targets like trap-type and incoming took a little getting used to in terms of sight picture, though not long at all.
Second day I decided to shoot two rounds of skeet and dropped 3 which is way above my average, followed by a round of DTL dropping more than usual - so this goes back to certain targets requiring a little more getting used to in terms of picture and move.
I followed up skeet by heading to Dartford and zipping round the sporting layout - this is where the confidence really grew, and I walked the course feeling I'd only miss due to me making a lazy mistake. Every station felt straightforward in terms of breaking down the target and understanding the visual picture. I have no reason to exaggerate my experience but my shooting felt totally transformed.
My understanding of how the rail works
Geared towards one eyed shooters, this device is there to prevent barrel jumping from cross dominant eyes - keeping the right eye engaged at all times. The technology behind it? Who knows. Maybe it;s stupidly simple, perhaps it's uniquely clever - no idea.
I also don't know if Ben meant to create something to benefit both eyes open shooters, or whether it was incidental - but for me it boils down to eye stimulation. My left eye has no reason to kick in given that the rail is preventing it from seeing the stand-out object (bead) and therefore the right eye remains completely dominant.
Thoughts
It's definitely transformed my ability to see a consistent sight picture, and long crossers do not worry me like before - the thumb has stayed up on my barrel due to comfort however there's no squint of my left eye anymore. I'm starting think eye dominance is across a huge spectrum and perhaps people are unknowingly affected by it. There are a couple of chaps on my instagram who said they have the exact same problem I described above, but only ever so often. Perhaps it's easy to accept this stuff as normal.
The product does work, I've seen a number of them around my local club and only one chap said he didn't get on with it - he did have it stuck behind his bead to the left so maybe it was a fitting issue? Who knows.
Build quality is OK, I have the aluminium version which looks pretty smart, the finish on the end of the bead itself could be better - but I don't really care if it improves my shooting. Some might.
Anybody who's interested in having a look is more than welcome to play with my MK38 should we cross paths, as it's now a permanent fixture on the gun.
* Edit - one thing I should have mentioned is that I did notice some variation in terms of effectiveness in certain light conditions. A yellow lense, in a dark stand covered by overgrowth was nowhere near as clear (visually) when compared to a bright, open space and the yellow tint lense. In the darker light the bead was overwhelmed and did not present a visible colour, instead it appeared as almost a black bead which I found interesting.
Some of you might remember I said I'd do a quick write up of my initial experience with Ben Husthwaite's 'Eye D Rail" device after a couple of weeks use, and here it is. To be clear I'm not endorsing the product, this is simply my objective experience.
Worth pointing out I had initial access some time back to an earlier prototype during a lesson at Kibworth and really got on with it, so I didn't require much convincing in terms of using the device.
Why did I need it - what were my issues?
I do not (knowingly) suffer from eye dominance issues as a both eyes open shooter, however one thing I've been affected by from day one is occasionally (and intermittently) seeing up the left side of the gun - after some research I stumbled upon a reference to the term "cross firing" which seemed most applicable. A few people had suggested fixes, including ignoring the peripheral view of my barrel, a dot, higher comb, squinting, thumb up on the barrel (which is what I was doing) etc.
This is basically what I would see (minus the weird gadget attached to it, of course). >Image
I've been shooting for less than a year and made great strides into B class, however crossers were so often letting my card down as I would randomly see up the left of the gun and have no chance of making a move - it also greatly impacted my ability to consistently perceive lead.
Using it
First day out was at a local shoot, deliberate choice as I generally know the targets and had a baseline for which stands the above issue occurs on.
The difference on these troublesome targets (longer crossers) was quite remarkable, the lead picture was consistent shot to shot and I could reliably make the same move again and again to break the clay. I noticed some other targets like trap-type and incoming took a little getting used to in terms of sight picture, though not long at all.
Second day I decided to shoot two rounds of skeet and dropped 3 which is way above my average, followed by a round of DTL dropping more than usual - so this goes back to certain targets requiring a little more getting used to in terms of picture and move.
I followed up skeet by heading to Dartford and zipping round the sporting layout - this is where the confidence really grew, and I walked the course feeling I'd only miss due to me making a lazy mistake. Every station felt straightforward in terms of breaking down the target and understanding the visual picture. I have no reason to exaggerate my experience but my shooting felt totally transformed.
My understanding of how the rail works
Geared towards one eyed shooters, this device is there to prevent barrel jumping from cross dominant eyes - keeping the right eye engaged at all times. The technology behind it? Who knows. Maybe it;s stupidly simple, perhaps it's uniquely clever - no idea.
I also don't know if Ben meant to create something to benefit both eyes open shooters, or whether it was incidental - but for me it boils down to eye stimulation. My left eye has no reason to kick in given that the rail is preventing it from seeing the stand-out object (bead) and therefore the right eye remains completely dominant.
Thoughts
It's definitely transformed my ability to see a consistent sight picture, and long crossers do not worry me like before - the thumb has stayed up on my barrel due to comfort however there's no squint of my left eye anymore. I'm starting think eye dominance is across a huge spectrum and perhaps people are unknowingly affected by it. There are a couple of chaps on my instagram who said they have the exact same problem I described above, but only ever so often. Perhaps it's easy to accept this stuff as normal.
The product does work, I've seen a number of them around my local club and only one chap said he didn't get on with it - he did have it stuck behind his bead to the left so maybe it was a fitting issue? Who knows.
Build quality is OK, I have the aluminium version which looks pretty smart, the finish on the end of the bead itself could be better - but I don't really care if it improves my shooting. Some might.
Anybody who's interested in having a look is more than welcome to play with my MK38 should we cross paths, as it's now a permanent fixture on the gun.
* Edit - one thing I should have mentioned is that I did notice some variation in terms of effectiveness in certain light conditions. A yellow lense, in a dark stand covered by overgrowth was nowhere near as clear (visually) when compared to a bright, open space and the yellow tint lense. In the darker light the bead was overwhelmed and did not present a visible colour, instead it appeared as almost a black bead which I found interesting.
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