Eye dominance best solution

[jwpzx9r]

Hi

I have an eye dominance problem shooting from my right shoulder and my strong eye is my left. I like to shoot with both eyes open and so my solution has been to stick a piece of opaque tape over part of the left lens of my shooting glasses blocking the eye from seeing the bead, I have tried closing my left eye but find it tiring after a while, and thus only my right eye can see down the rib. I cannot even hold my gun in my left hand so that is out and anyway it is right handed. Is there any other ways of combating eye dominance issues? The reason I ask is that sometimes I have a miss on a target that I thought I should have broken.... haven't we all But seriously I have often wondered if it could be my eye dominance problem that caused the miss. I know that people say don't look at the bead etc but I when I setup I like to know my right eye is the one looking down the rib. What methods do any other who have the same issues use? 

 

[SoR]

Easyhit bead......

 

[EdSolomons]

Ed Lyons is the man for this. In short there is no easy answer as everyone will be completely different. There is no one size fits all response

 

[Hamster]

These people could prove useful:

http://keensights.com/page3.html

In effect they have sunk the bead into the rib so as to make it only visible to the shooting eye. Now all sorts of people will say you shouldn't even be looking at the bead or rib which is of course true enough but in reality we do have subconsious awareness of the rib and anything you can do to stop the master eye from taking over can only be a good thing.

If you don't fancy ordering an add-on from America then just get a competent Gunsmith to improvise and modify your existing rib, in fact this is preferable anyway as you would otherwise have to raise the comb to compensate.

For what it's worth I am in the same boat as you but decades ago did away with all conventional advice and learned to shoot with my right eye off the right shoulder despite having a left master eye.

 

[webber]

Have a look at Uni Dot and Red Eye eye dominance correction in the Accessories section of  my eshop.

http://www.norgascartridges.co.uk

 

[jwpzx9r]

Hammy I did have a easy hit bead, as suggested by another poster, on another gun which worked for me while the gun was at rest as soon as I moved the gun though the master eye took over again! But if you double up the easy hit and a bit of opaque tape on the glasses it works well because when you are seeing with the right eye you can see the bead and if the master has taken over you cannot see the bead. I may go back to this set up it is belt and braces stuff but puts the mind at ease.

 

[EdLyons]

No-one will like my answer...

 

[jwpzx9r]

No-one will like my answer...

Is it shoot off the left shoulder or get used to it?

 

[Andy S]

Did you only use a small piece of tape on the left lens? I'm asking because I did the same but then found I could still miss a left hand trap bird, I would shoot behind it because the clay had past the end of the opaque tape as I was moving the gun and fooled me into thinking I was on the clay. Now the opaque tape runs nearly to the end of the left hand lens and I find that this works for me, don't miss too many left hand bird now.

 

[EdLyons]

To me, eye dominance is an often misunderstood concept , its a hornets nest.

If we break it down to its simplest form, our Dominant Eye is simply the eye that the brain is taking its LEAD/MAIN information from, at a GIVEN time. And it changes. It changes with age, with stress, tiredness, and dehydration. It changes if we cut our eyes in a particular direction, and it can change as soon as we put the gun to the face.

I don’t ever like to say that Eye Dominance is a “problem to be corrected” as it isn’t a disease or an illness, it is more an “issue to be managed”, and if we as scientists, coaches and students can accept this, we are halfway there to successfully managing it.

A colleague of mine from the States who is a visual science professor works with Major League Baseball players “The hill that you have to climb is that the issue of dominance in sport is very much like religion,” “You either believe it or you don't. We do this in baseball all the time, but they'll say, a guy has to be left eye dominant if he's right handed or he can't hit. Well, you can give them all the evidence in the world that that's not the case and they either believe it or they don't.”

If "cross dominance " was a REAL issue, then CD folk would be falling down the stairs, crashing on the motorway and pouring their tea in their lap unless they patched or closed an eye or stuck a flourescent bead on the teapot.

We need to remember its a dynamic game, not rifle shooting. And as such (here we go) we don't look down the rib anyway...

 

[** Pending Removal **]

Perfect answer.

 

[Salopian]

It is an issue that can easily be managed if the tutor knows his subject.

But it can also easily be mis-managed and subjected to gadget mania if the pupil does not have the correct diagnosis.

But many shooters would prefer to buy a gadget rather than buy a good lesson or seek professional advice.

 

[Kentskeet]

To me, eye dominance is an often misunderstood concept , its a hornets nest.

If we break it down to its simplest form, our Dominant Eye is simply the eye that the brain is taking its LEAD/MAIN information from, at a GIVEN time. And it changes. It changes with age, with stress, tiredness, and dehydration. It changes if we cut our eyes in a particular direction, and it can change as soon as we put the gun to the face.

I don’t ever like to say that Eye Dominance is a “problem to be corrected” as it isn’t a disease or an illness, it is more an “issue to be managed”, and if we as scientists, coaches and students can accept this, we are halfway there to successfully managing it.

A colleague of mine from the States who is a visual science professor works with Major League Baseball players “The hill that you have to climb is that the issue of dominance in sport is very much like religion,” “You either believe it or you don't. We do this in baseball all the time, but they'll say, a guy has to be left eye dominant if he's right handed or he can't hit. Well, you can give them all the evidence in the world that that's not the case and they either believe it or they don't.”

If "cross dominance " was a REAL issue, then CD folk would be falling down the stairs, crashing on the motorway and pouring their tea in their lap unless they patched or closed an eye or stuck a flourescent bead on the teapot.

We need to remember its a dynamic game, not rifle shooting. And as such (here we go) we don't look down the rib anyway...

Ed, I seriously don't doubt your expertise or answer, but personally being left handed and right master eye, I can't achieve any sight picture without closing my right eye. With both eyes open I can't hit a thing and incidentally I also can't hit a baseball with a bat without closing one eye!

I wish 30 years ago when I began shotgun shooting I had changed to the right shoulder, before getting so set in my ways.

 

[EdLyons]

True, and for this reason I always suggest that shoulder-switching is the first course of action in the infancy of a shooter's development.

BUT, it can be done, if we are prepared to relearn the sight pictures and, granted, take two, three or ten steps backwards whilst our visual system recalibrates.

Our "visual computer" is an amazing thing, and in a way, we can let the brain take care of the lead and the sight picture if we build up the repetition and "memory". We just have to develop the language for the motor centre (muscles) to do what the new/"crossed" visual centre tells it to.

As Peter says above, everyone wants to buy the next target. Stick a bead on, use a patch, buy a crossover stock, buy a side rib...OR, treat the cause rather than the symptom.

Find a coach that is in it for the long haul and actually DO something different, change it until the clay breaks, then do it again, and again until those skill circuits are built up and this system then becomes the way YOU shoot...

 

[Kentskeet]

True, and for this reason I always suggest that shoulder-switching is the first course of action in the infancy of a shooter's development.

BUT, it can be done, if we are prepared to relearn the sight pictures and, granted, take two, three or ten steps backwards whilst our visual system recalibrates.

Our "visual computer" is an amazing thing, and in a way, we can let the brain take care of the lead and the sight picture if we build up the repetition and "memory". We just have to develop the language for the motor centre (muscles) to do what the new/"crossed" visual centre tells it to.

As Peter says above, everyone wants to buy the next target. Stick a bead on, use a patch, buy a crossover stock, buy a side rib...OR, treat the cause rather than the symptom.

Find a coach that is in it for the long haul and actually DO something different, change it until the clay breaks, then do it again, and again until those skill circuits are built up and this system then becomes the way YOU shoot...

I'm always up for an experiment Ed, I'll let you know how I get on!

 

[jwpzx9r]

Ed thanks for a very insightful view of the issue. I will really have to read it very thoroughly to get the best out of you take on the problem and how it effects me. I am, as I see it any way, too old and cranky to go back to the start and shoot off my left shoulder. I can barely hold my gun with my left hand so I will be investigating the other possibilities. As it stands just now I cannot hit anything unless I close my left eye and I like to shoot with both eyes open. 

 

[maddmatt]

How many shots have you tried with both eyes open before reverting to closing an eye? If will take a lot of lead through the barrels and patience, if it doesn't work within the first 100 shots keep going until it does.

 

[Hamster]

If you try to left foot brake in a car :no:  the first few times would feel like an emergency stop, but if you had to learn to do it then it would become second nature.

 

[Rob Gee]

I was always told that I had a left master eye and learned to either close my left eye as I took the shot or had a patch on my glasses (which is what I still use).

However some years back when I had a standard eye test I mentioned this to the Optition who carried out a few extra tests and then told me that I am right handed and right master eye!

He then added that I have acute astigmatism of the right eye so when I am depending on some "lining up" my left eye takes over as the brain knows that all will be correct. Nowadays this fault would have been recconised when I was a child and glasses with counter lenses used until the fault had gone away.

I'm glad that I know this now and that other people may face the same sort of problem with vision.

Just to finish - I find that shooting crossers with a semi-auto a lot easier than with an over/under, but I don't know why!