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Eye dominance - food for thought


Drayman
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Timps,

I see that you have fallen foul of the knowalls on shotgunworld! Don't lose any sleep, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. I must admit that eyes are a funny subject.

I am diagnosed as RED but if I shoot RH I then find that my left eye takes over when I mount the gun and it is as though I cannot see with my right eye. Which is what I think the Yanks are getting confused with, mis-diagnosis.

Edited by Salopian
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Ok folks, I started the thread so I guess I should finish it. Remember the first post - right eye dominant, shoot right shoulder. Close right eye, mount the gun, quickly swap eyes and the gun is still on target. Went to the ground yesterday and chose a stand I know I can hit well. Checked first shooting driven pairs with both eyes open. Then tried singles using left eye only. And the result - pants! The problem was simply not being able to get my mind to ignore the barrel. No matter how hard I tried to stare at the clay, the image of the barrel made me want to pull it on to the line of the clay which would push it left. Because I knew that was happening I was pointing the gun off to the right and missing up the right.

 

Went out in the garden, made snowballs and threw with right eye closed - no problem hitting a target. So unless anyone can work out how to get the image of the gun out of the sight line (not worth the effort or thought) then there is a fresh fruit cake on the side and it's time to put the kettle on.

 

Cheers.

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I think self diagnosis is an unwise thing unless you know exactly what you're doing and even then you might not be right. In my opinion you'd be far better off spending some time with a decent coach standing behind you to see exactly what your barrels are doing whilst you're shooting. He should also be able to check the gunfit, which plays a significant part in what eye sees what, and how you're mounting the gun each time.

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Phil,

 

this was just an exercise in curiosity (see original post) and trying to understand a little more about eye dominance and how it works. I know how I normally shoot (mid/high 80's) so wanted to understand why other times when eye dominance should also play such a role (see Timps post) are different from clay shooting. But of course agree that if folks are having problems a coach is the best first step.

 

Chris

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This is getting confusing enough. If you really want to be bored **(w)itless go to www.shotgunworld.com.sportingclays, eye dominance where Timps is embroiled in 7 pages of conjecture. :lol:

 

 

I think the others on that forum are embroiled in conjecture, :rolleyes: I am the only one on that has posted proof on that thread, I have stayed away from the discussion of which way is best to overcome, misdiagnoses or even shooting only that there is scientific proof changing eye dominance can be done.

 

I realised why I stopped posting on that forum years ago, if you ignore any posted proof and keep posting the same drivel over and over again its obviously better than any scientific research papers on the subject. :lol: :lol:

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If your right eye Dom but find it changes when shooting try changing the height of the comb. If you see little to no rib it is easy for the othe eye to take over as it will have a much better view of the clay.

 

I totally agree its the main reason why I have a high stock :good:

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I totally agree its the main reason why I have a high stock :good:

 

Totally agree I have recently moved from a very flat shooting gun to an adj stock and seeing a bit more rib. I was def slightly lifting my head off the stock and then stopping the gun and missing behind. Since sorting my stock so it higher and I see lots of rib I am swinging the gun a lot better.

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Left eye only right shoulder regardless of dominance ( without a xover stock) will result in shooting to the right of every target ( or should)

 

HDAV and Timps,

 

you've obviously given this a lot more thought so your thoughts on what actually happens. Just tried this. Got my daughter (23) to stand about 20 feet away and asked her to close one eye. I then pointed at the open eye (right arm) with both eyes open and asked her whether my finger, arm and shoulder were in a straight line. Answer - yes. Did it a few times to check.

Then did the same but this time I closed my right eye but still pointed with right arm - being really conscious to look just at her eye. Asked the same question and was still pointing directly at her open eye. Note that to me it definitely looks like my finger is pointing to the right of the target but the task is to get your mind to not think about your finger when you point.

 

I know that if you point using your right eye and then look at the left eye picture it appears way to the right of the target but that's after you've pointed. So what is it that would make you shoot to the right if you used right shoulder and left eye?

 

PS. not planning to make and changes to my shooting but the science of this has got me curious.

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I know that if you point using your right eye and then look at the left eye picture it appears way to the right of the target but that's after you've pointed. So what is it that would make you shoot to the right if you used right shoulder and left eye?

 

PS. not planning to make and changes to my shooting but the science of this has got me curious.

geometry and triganometry .....

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Your eyes are x inches (1-2) apart the bead is 45" or so away, of pupil is not behind the bead and gun shoots straight at a target 25+ yards away your feet off target. If you keep your eye parallel to the gun very hard to do you are still x inches off there is a daft Irish device supposed to let you aim with the none shouldered eye link somewhere!

 

Eye dominance and gun fit are totally different but combine in shogunning like no other sport ( archery is closest but static targets make the error less relevant)

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I'm obviously missing something ( no pun intended).

 

If you shoulder right and sight left eye you would have to move the bead to the left to bring it in line with the target i.e. eye, bead, target. As the butt is a fixed point that would mean you are shooting to the left of the target.

 

However, with a shotgun you are looking at the target and, in general,not sighting with the bead. Then the target would become one point of a triangle, your left eye and right shoulder the other two points. So assuming good and consistent gun mount AND, ignoring the end of the gun, you should be able to look with your left eye and point at the target with the gun from your right. On a base size of 1 it works well with pointing and throwing but It just starts to go wrong when your left eye wants you to do something with the gun that your right arm knows you shouldn't.

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I think we are in danger of talking a load of rowlocks on this subject if we don't know what we are talking about.

There as already been some talked on here already. :hmm:

 

If you have got a problem, get a GOOD coach to sort you out.

 

What ever you do do not get into the bad habit of barrel watching or head lifting.

Edited by Salopian
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Ok, I'll try to bring this to an end and perhaps one of the admins can delete the whole thread if it makes others happy.

 

The original post and anything that followed from me was nothing to do with diagnosing a problem. It was simply a matter of curiosity and getting a little better understanding of an aspect of vision that affects all of us every day of our lives and, really shows itself when it comes to using a shotgun. It's clear that eye dominance has to be combined with many other things, not least learned information. Add to that gun fit, understanding the target, body position, movement, etc. etc. and it is all fairly complicated. There is no, "one size fits all" and whatever works for you - works for you.

 

Would just like to say thanks to Timps and HDAV for approaching this thread in the spirit it was meant.

 

There you go - all done. Admins, over to you.

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I would like this to continue besides Ed is swinging from a low branch right now!

 

I am sitting ~7m from a clock on the wall at a slight angle:

 

If i look at the clock i see the clock. (all good so far)

 

With both eyes open:

 

If i point with my right index finger at the clock I see 2 fingers my right index finger and a ghost of a finger to the left about a fingers width away.

 

If i point with my left index finger at the clock I see 2 fingers my left index finger and a ghost of a finger to the left about a fingers width away.

 

Both ghost images are to the left!

 

Closing eyes in turn from both to 1:

 

IF i close my right eye the finger is still pointing at the clock (regardless of which arm i use) if i close my left the ghost finger becomes my finger. SO my eyes are crossing.

 

IF I aim at the clock with my left eye closed then open it my real finger jumps tot he right and leaves the ghost on the clock

 

 

Anyone still with me? (I doubt it) :lol:

 

IF i replace the finger with a shotgun (checked it's empty!) and aim at the clock (right handed, right eye only) i can put it on target open my left eye and the gun is still on target but my sight picture has changed from target and rib/bead to side of the barrels (all the time I look at the clock)

 

IF i now do the same LH when i open my right eye (having aimed at target left only i still see Target (clock) Bead rib (now with a bit of a ghost image of the side of the barrels to the left of the rib!

 

Thats how my eyes work! I havent been for a sight test recently but my eyes are pretty good and never needed coorective lenses but my left eye has always been better than my right. I can read stuff people need lenses to see and in some cases magnifiers! With my eyes.

 

I would be happy to see anyone researching this field and have no idea if my experience is typical or not.

 

 

Oddly shouldering my LH O/U to my right it seems to fit better than to my left ???:oops::lol:

Edited by HDAV
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sorry havent read it all but thought i should just point out ,yes use finger pointing as a guide but until someone sees you shooting who knows what to look for its very difficult to have one answer suits all .

its a moving target ,how the eyes pick it up ,does one eye pick up the clay quicker than the other ,that could be the eyes or how the gun is mounted theres loads of different variations you need to know exactly whats happening before trying to cure it .

one thing which ive read here which works very well for me is having a high stock , i try to keep a simple style that i dont need to think about and use it till it became second nature and then just think of the clay and nothing else

not saying the above works for everyone but its just my 2p worth

Edited by fancyfowl
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