Techniques for right shoulder shooters with left master eye.

[Chris Reedy]

I am relatively new to the sport and upto picking a shotgun up had no knowledge of eye dominance.

I shoot off right shoulder, but am left eye dominant approx 60%.

I have been playing around with various bits of kit and tape / grease on glasses.

I am now only using an 8mm Dia sticky dot which I have found works well for me.

I started off with Magi Tape about an inch sq and slowly but surely made it smaller and smaller and changed its position so I cant't look around it.

 

[GavB]

I think its a case of trying all the options and seeing which works the best. They all have their good and bad points.

Personally I have tried them all other than off the left shoulder.

I started shooting closing the left eye just before pulling the trigger but after a year I wanted to try something else as I was aiming/rifling a lot of targets and my right eye is the weaker of the two .

I then went down the "just really stare at the clay and the dominance will not affect the outcome of the shot " method, complete waste of six months!

I have also tried raising the thumb of my left hand to block the left eyes view of the barrels with some success.

Then I settled on the scotch tape in the top left corner of  the glasses and reduced the size over many months of trial and error.

Although it has its draw backs when trying to pick up targets and not having a clear field of vision on certain presentations.

Also my dominance has changed and has become more central since starting to shoot, it can also change throughout the day and over a shoot especially a long FITASC day.

What can help as I believe someone mentioned earlier is closing the dominant eye when loading the cartridges and just before you call pull open the eye, combined with an easyhit  device.

 

[ROBERT6500]

As the title says.

Having recently returned to the sport, I have found that my dominant eye is left despite being right handed and thus most comfortable with shooting from the right shoulder.

I tend to follow a target and then close my left eye much as in rifle shooting.

Not idea maybe ??

Do any of you guys have suggestions on other ways to cope with this common problem.

Assuming that it is a problem of course.

Many Thanks.

Could you define "recently" for us ? And how long have you actually been shooting shotguns ? What gun do you have ? How are you sure you're left eye dominant ?

 

[vsteelrider]

Could you define "recently" for us ? And how long have you actually been shooting shotguns ? What gun do you have ? How are you sure you're left eye dominant ?

Last licence/shotgun was 1982. Started in 1972. Back into shooting clays after a 30 year break last year. So 10 months ago. left eye dominance has crept up on me over the last 30 year break. Checked by a qualified instructor. And I have used the circle at arms length onto a fixed point and then bringing your circle back to the eye (Its left). I shoot a silver pigeon bought new.

Also I have ordered up a Champion easy hit fibre optic front site, which apparently addresses the right shoulder left eye and vice versa issues by the use of a tube guide to the fibre optic. So that only the eye lined up correctly with the barrels top rib can see it. Lots of positive reviews, and I have posted a Video further back on this thread.

Thanks for asking Rob, your input/advice is appreciated.

 

[vsteelrider]

Whilst on the subject of Tom Knapp videos.

How the hell !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5uHt4AwYb4

 

[ROBERT6500]

Ok.....providing the comb on your gun is not slightly too low causing what seems like cross dominance and its sporting and fitasc type targets your shooting, I would recommend you merely squint the left eye if possible or shut it while swinging/mounting onto the target. (two eyes, one eye, BANG!) 

You can use the spot/grease/patch on the glasses but its very unreliable as the eye is too capable of looking around it on sporting/fitasc type targets due to the angles involved and heads tilting at various wrong angles on stocks etc. With trap type targets the patch/spot on the lens comes into it's own.

The easy hit bead type aid can work with some shooters but not all. You do of course need to know exactly how to use one or its useless.

Using the easy hit bead does however have a tendency to make you look at it when you have contact with the target which is an absolute no-no.

In the past I have had great success when taking peoples beads off/out all together and then getting them to squint or close the offending eye at the correct moment.

The shooter then finds it hard to look at the gun and together with a technique that I tell them about that stops you stopping your gun on that particular type of target results in very good score cards every time.

If you were new to shooting shotguns then I would definitely teach you to shoot from the left shoulder as it feels perfectly normal after only a few hours if done correctly with a left handed gun or a gun with very little cast.

But the main problem though is that everybody is different, so you need to try a few different things for yourself and see what suits you best.

 

[vsteelrider]

Many Thanks Rob.

Another possible issue I am going to get looked into is gun fit. I feel the stock is a little on the long side for me. Some say its about right some say it looks a little to long. I only know I have shot with guns that have been shorter in the stock, and its felt more comfortable. I also hit 41 out of 50 on that day. Maybe a flook, but for me thats good.

 

[Docterduck]

I am relatively new to the sport and upto picking a shotgun up had no knowledge of eye dominance.

I shoot off right shoulder, but am left eye dominant approx 60%.

I have been playing around with various bits of kit and tape / grease on glasses.

I am now only using an 8mm Dia sticky dot which I have found works well for me.

I started off with Magi Tape about an inch sq and slowly but surely made it smaller and smaller and changed its position so I cant't look around it.

Sounds like your on the right track.  Eventually with work you won't need it.  Just don't let Ol' Mac tell you different!!

 

[P1Fanatic]

I just learnt to shoot left handed and tbh never looked back to the point where shouldering a weapon on my right shoulder now feels alien. Was not so easy when I tried archery due to the strength needed to draw the string.

Finally getting around to buying a left hand shotgun

 

[ROBERT6500]

Having a stock that's too long very often causes a shooter to believe that they are left eye dominant when they are not as the rib cannot be seen properly when the cheekbone is on the stock. Often if a 1/4-1/2 inch is taken off the Length Of Pull the correct sight picture appears resulting in far more targets hit. I say that but you may well be left eye dominant which still means the stocks L.O.P needs to be correct.

Get a good coach to have a look at it all for you asap.

 

[teepee1234]

Many Thanks Rob.

Another possible issue I am going to get looked into is gun fit. I feel the stock is a little on the long side for me. Some say its about right some say it looks a little to long. I only know I have shot with guns that have been shorter in the stock, and its felt more comfortable. I also hit 41 out of 50 on that day. Maybe a flook, but for me thats good.

If you need an excellent gunsmith/stocker/coach, try Dennis Stepney, he knows what he's doing and will give you the right advice - and also do the job for you if you need it.  He's not too far from you, near Wellington in Somerset.  Let me know if you need his contact details.

 

[ROBERT6500]

Yep! I can recommend Dennis.

 

[Les53]

Yep! I can recommend Dennis.

Yep me too, great guy and knows his stuff!

 

[Damo]

Hi

My wife is blind in her right eye and has to shoot left handed.  Still better than me.

Regards

Damo

 

[lexikia]

http://www.redeye-uk.com/

I bought one of these, you can move it about easily to the correct postion. Not cheap at £25 but it works for me.

 

[Macc Ladd]

I am left eye dominant and shoot off the right shoulder, it's all about time and effort!! I have learnt to watch two eyes open and then dim the left eye as I go into the shot, sometimes on quick quartering targets I might start left eye closed. You got to shoot loads and learn to shoot with a slight disadvantage. Have shoot some top scores in skeet and hit some 90s in sporting so it can be done. But even now I am still learning to sort some targets out, can struggle on high driven and sometimes teal. How about you other shooters ????

 

[jwpzx9r]

Hi

 I am new to the site so hello :mp3:  ! I don't have posting rights yet but will be posting asap, so much to ask :crazy:  . Anyway as to the topic, I have exactly the same problem as you! I never shot clays before only game so closing my master eye when taking the shot was not a problem as when game shooting I only fired about 25 shots per day max (small shoot!) and did not find it tiring. I have now moved to France and have started shooting Ball Trap and closing my eye about 100 times a day to shoot was very tiring. My answer was to get some frosted sticky tape and a pair of good fitting safety specs, I used to work in a laboratory so I had some to hand but good sungasses or shooting glasses would work too. I cut a small disc of the tape and then shouldered the gun"aimed" the shotgun with both eyes open and then closed the left "master eye". I repeated this and moved the tape disc on the lens of the specs until the sight picture did not change on closing the master eye. This told me my right (weak) eye was now the one seeing the aiming point and thus looking down the rib. I then bought an easy hit fibre optic sight and fitted this to my shotgun. I now use this with the safety specs to make sure my right eye is the one looking down the rib as the sight only shows if you look straight down the rib at it. I have found this to be a great solution to my problem. I shoot without problem with both eyes open and can aquire the target much quicker because I am using nearly both eyes and because the red glow of the sight shows quite clearly I am seeing the bead with the correct eye. I hope that in the future I will be able to remove the specs and have a trained right eye. But in the meantime I find that I can concentrate better because I have removed the uncertainty of which eye is in charge when taking the shot! I advise you to give it a try :nyam:  . By the way do not think this is a bit Heath Robinson there are a number of absolutely to trap shooters use the frosted patch on their shooting glasses.