LEFT EYE DOMINANT

[oneinthechamber]

I went with my brother to a clay ground last week, he had a lesson and i went to miss a load

it turns out i,m left eye dominant and so have been shooting wrong for 22 years

I spent the first 3 years on clays and got pretty good, had a few years break and now shoot mostly rough

needless to say due to my eye I'M PANTS

 

ANY TIPS ? :blink:

[pin]

The best solution is to visit a good coach. The preferred method is to shoot off the other shoulder wherever possible. If that isn't an option then you can get all sorts of shiny gimmicks to attach to your gun to help bring your eye in line.

 

Easyhit is one, there are others. You can also wear special lenses which either block or blur one eye a bit to help bring things back on line.

 

Go see a respected coach!

[Highlander]

A very common problem and one that many people aren't even aware that they suffer from and judging by the way they shoot they couldn't give a monkeys either However once diagnosed, an easy enough thing to do, you can compensate for it in a number of ways, it's not as debilitating as many think. Lot of clay shooters use their left hand, thumb and forefinger, placed high up on the forend to block the left eyes sightline down their barrels. If your shooting correctly i.e. looking at the target instead of the barrels or the foresight then it's not usually the problem some make it out to be.

 

There you go Dr Highlander has spoken! :blink:

[deadeye ive]

Have a read here :blink:

 

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/ind...st&p=416902

[oneinthechamber]

:blink: Thanks for the info guys, maybe i'll start hitting again

[the last engineer]

I went with my brother to a clay ground last week, he had a lesson and i went to miss a load

it turns out i,m left eye dominant and so have been shooting wrong for 22 years

I spent the first 3 years on clays and got pretty good, had a few years break and now shoot mostly rough

needless to say due to my eye I'M PANTS

 

ANY TIPS ? :blink:

 

out of curiosity have you tried shooting as a lefty, that way its not your eyes you be fixing, its not that hard realy, i am a lefty who also shoots righthand right eye, just a matter of training.

 

id like to hear your thoughts.

 

Martin

[Nildes]

Take your safety glasses and stick a peelable stamp over the middle of the left lense.

Your right eye is now in charge

Mount the gun looking at the clay and not the barrel.

You may take a little time to get the lead right because your used to placing it from your left eye.

Keep the gun swinging when you fire

practice a lot

[Floating Chamber]

Breadster50 is left-eyed but has fitted one of those easyhit thingummys. His scores are now 98/99's at Skeet!

 

FC

[pavman]

I went with my brother to a clay ground last week, he had a lesson and i went to miss a load

it turns out i,m left eye dominant and so have been shooting wrong for 22 years

I spent the first 3 years on clays and got pretty good, had a few years break and now shoot mostly rough

needless to say due to my eye I'M PANTS

 

ANY TIPS ? :blink:

 

out of curiosity have you tried shooting as a lefty, that way its not your eyes you be fixing, its not that hard realy, i am a lefty who also shoots righthand right eye, just a matter of training.

 

id like to hear your thoughts.

 

Martin

 

hear are my thoughts Mart, any chance of a beer with that young barmaid we met, she would make me forget my cross eyes

[SecretFollower]

I've only just started and first thing my instructor did when I told him my right eye was a waste of space was to make me shoot as a lefty. Seemed to work just fine but I guess it may be harder if you've been used to shooting as a righty for years.

SF

[squodged]

This has caused me no end of problems with me being left eye strong but shooting right handed.

 

I have to squint my left eye, so left to right crosses cause me no end of bother.

This is because I only pick up the clay when it's just to the left of my nose.

 

Have tried shooting as lefty but i'm so right handed it was impossible.

[the last engineer]

I went with my brother to a clay ground last week, he had a lesson and i went to miss a load

it turns out i,m left eye dominant and so have been shooting wrong for 22 years

I spent the first 3 years on clays and got pretty good, had a few years break and now shoot mostly rough

needless to say due to my eye I'M PANTS

 

ANY TIPS ?

 

out of curiosity have you tried shooting as a lefty, that way its not your eyes you be fixing, its not that hard realy, i am a lefty who also shoots righthand right eye, just a matter of training.

 

id like to hear your thoughts.

 

Martin

 

hear are my thoughts Mart, any chance of a beer with that young barmaid we met, she would make me forget my cross eyes :blink:

 

 

you may quaff son, but funny you mention that,me and a few guys were down there just before i went away xmas, she's still there and vaguely remebers you, personaly i think it was a trap to get me to come down again,,,,,,,,,, it worked, she is smart i did go there again, if memory serves (6 nelson madelas) i beleive shes moving to calgary in the spring,,,,, best come over before hand buddy.

 

and from your own accounts on clays, either way you swing wont help

 

Martin

[AdamC]

I am the same. I bought and fitted an easyhit, but find since I have got back into shooting I just look at the target. It sounds strange, but I realised if I mounted the gun correctly and centred a target in my vision, the gun would be pointing in the right direction. This was quite a revelation as I always use to find using the bead to point at a target would result in the gun pointing to the left of it.

 

I think that for this to work, your gun fit needs to be good. My gun shop explained it by asking me if I needed to close one eye to drive in the middle of a road, and it is true. Now I can honestly say I dont even see the barrels when shooting. I notice the bead when I mount the gun, but from that point I look at the target, or more specifically, where I think the target is going to be.

[oneinthechamber]

:blink: Thanks to all for a great deal of advice, don't think i'd hack it as a lefty 22 years of right handed you see.

may try some sight add on but first i think i have to give the ( shut the left ) a bash, it'll be odd though.

I will let you know how it goes

again thanks

[gadgit]

 

I to suffer from this problem, but have also used the spot on the shooting glass method.

 

This works a treat for two very good reasons.

 

Thr first reason is that the spot, about 3/8th dia does not interfere with your normal sighting at all. To set it up, You put the shooting glasses on and look down the gun. You then place a sticky spot on the lens with a weak washing up liquid on it, so you can slide it into the correct position to block the sight from your left eye.

When you get it in the right place dry it off with a piece of tissue.

 

When you lift off the gun, as if viewing the clays from left or right, you should find the spot is high on the lens and you can see with both eyes again. It should only block the view when you are on the gun. I've done this and it works for me a treat.

 

As I said, this does not make you into a one eyed shooter, you just take the shots naturally.

 

And the spot goes inside the lens and most people will not even notice you have it on the glasses..................Great!

Edited January 27, 2008 by gadgit

[Peter De La Mare]

I haven't got a dominant eye.

 

I have to pick up the clay with both eyes open and just close my left eye just as my head goes onto the stock and I'm about to pull the trigger.

[the last engineer]

I haven't got a dominant eye.

 

I have to pick up the clay with both eyes open and just close my left eye just as my head goes onto the stock and I'm about to pull the trigger.

 

would that not make you right eye dominant ?? assuming your shooting off the right shoulder, if not and its the left shoulder and right eye you are seriously messed up like wot i is

 

i do tend to take doubles at skeet the left to right left handed, swap to take the right to left right handed, apparently its not against the rules

[Peter De La Mare]

I haven't got a dominant eye.

 

I have to pick up the clay with both eyes open and just close my left eye just as my head goes onto the stock and I'm about to pull the trigger.

 

would that not make you right eye dominant ?? assuming your shooting off the right shoulder, if not and its the left shoulder and right eye you are seriously messed up like wot i is

 

i do tend to take doubles at skeet the left to right left handed, swap to take the right to left right handed, apparently its not against the rules

 

 

Not quite that messed up.

 

Right handed, shooting from the right shoulder. Having both eyes open I see to crossed up sets of barrels, it's quite confusing. So it's close the left or miss.

 

It's not a handicap or anything, a round of skeet straight is fairly easy and I was a class AA sporting shot before I took a 12 year sabatical.

[clayman]

In shotgun shooting, you have a dynamic 3 dimensional environment in which you are shooting.

 

If you can shoot both eyes open, you get increased perception of the speed and distance of the target. As soon as you close an eye, that is reduced.

 

How-ever, many people have eye dominance issues, where the off eye takes over fully or partly. Test this with an old CD. Both eyes open view a distant object through the hole with the arm holding the CD fully extended. Pull the CD back while viewing the object all the time. It will come back to your dominant eye.

 

If the off eye is dominant, you will need to close it off when firing to get a clear sight picture with the shooting eye, or if its only just dominant ( ie centre vision) retraining can work.

 

Several cures, eye training using a device like an Easy hit bead, both eyes open.

 

Use a centre vision dot like Eye Master patches. With the gun correctly fitted, this dots out the centre vision of the off eye, but leaves full vision when the gun is down, for target visual acquisition, and leaves periphery vision in tact while the gun is mounted so speed and direction analysis is still possible.

 

The other way ( and how I shoot) is to acquire the target both eyes open, and close down the off eye as the gun hits the shoulder so that with a single eye you see the sight picture accurately.

 

What you need to do to maximise your score is individual to you and your eyesight.

 

Go see an experienced coach.

 

Jerry

Senior CPSA Coach

[gadgit]

Clayman........

 

As you say, I've used the Spot on the shooting glass's and as I said preiously, you keep the total vision until you bring the gun up.

 

i've started shooting with the safety glass on and notice that very few use them at the clay shoots. The pro's seem to use them? (sponsors?)

 

what do you advise your trainee's when you teach them??

[the last engineer]

Clayman........

 

As you say, I've used the Spot on the shooting glass's and as I said preiously, you keep the total vision until you bring the gun up.

 

i've started shooting with the safety glass on and notice that very few use them at the clay shoots. The pro's seem to use them? (sponsors?)

 

what do you advise your trainee's when you teach them??

 

simple advice really, you have two eyes and two ears, look after em, protection at all times, in Alberta here we use a simple rule "safety first" anyone who wishes to shoot has a choice, abide to the rules, glasses and ear protection is mandatory for shooters, trappers and spectators.

 

anyone i take out and intro or tutor has this drummed in.

i have noticed a lot of local shoots in the UK dont, whatever reason they justify it by is beyond me.

 

 

Martin

[clayman]

Martin has it correct, you cant afford to loose your vision any more than your hearing.

 

Think about it, given the choice would you rather be blind or deaf?

 

Effective clear shooting glasses can be had for under a tenner.

 

I always shoot with safety glasses ( yellow tinted Napier's) and advise all my pupils to always use them

 

The reason you note that Pro's seem to wear them, is that eye-wear is compulsory at competition level, so they will wear them at practice too, so they are the norm for them in all conditions. No point in practising with one level of equipment and then competing with different gear.

 

Clayman

[the last engineer]

Clayman, as a side to this, how often do you come across shoots that have no enforced safety rule on personal equipment, e.g. ear and eye protection?

 

do you as a senior instructor have any say in the way they operate?

 

i imagine many local small family/farm shoots do not have these policies in place, but from a legal stand point would it not be beneficial to all?

curious is i as usual, i will not take anyone shooting without ear and eye protection.

 

 

Martin

[clayman]

The special spots are called Eye Master patches - you can get them on EBay or online at the ####

[clayman]

Aaah...

 

The Last Engineer has touched on a minefield!

 

Today we live in a liability lead society. The no win no fee lawyers are having a field day, and if you are not prudent about safety and personal protection it can cost your your house.

 

It goes like this:

 

Even if you are insured, you will have signed or agreed to something somewhere that insists you have taken all reasonable steps to mitigate risk. What this basically means, is that if you can be shown to have ignored basic safety, your insurance will not pay out.

 

So, if you are shoot organiser, and you allow people to shoot without eye protection, and an accident occurs - if its a minor payout it will be paid without fuss, but if the Chairman of a major PLC got blinded and is claiming a capital sum in £millions to compensate him for loss of income, the loss adjusters will say - hey, but its well known that clay shards, pellet ricochet, and muzzle flash occur in the sport, and its also well established that safety eyewear reduces injury in 95% of cases, and it only costs £3-99 for effective BS standard safety specs, so you haven't complied with insurance conditions by insisting that the attendees wore eye protection and we are not paying. So, you now loose your house to pay Mr Chairman's claim.

 

I wear safety eye ware always. I insist my clients do to - not PPE, no lesson.

 

The CPSA insists on eyewear at competition because it cannot then be blamed for not having done all that is reasonable and practical to control the risk.

 

Not only does a shoot operator risk having their insurance not respond to a claim, but they also risk a Health and Safety prosecution. H&S law is basic , it simply says that any operation is required by law to risk assess. If there is a simple remedy to lower risk and you fail to do it, you risk criminal prosecution if there is an accident that could have been prevented by the simple measure. There are shoots that had accidents and been prosecuted - fines of H&S prosecutions are £20,000 average ( plus costs of course).

 

Bottom line is this:

 

Head and eye injuries at shoots from clay shards are fairly common. Ricochets do occur and are documented. Muzzle flash and gun failure is know to happen. In every case eyes are at risk and even cheap polycarbonate safety glasses costing £1-99 in bulk will save eye injury in 95% of cases. NGBs insist on eye protection at completion, and recommend it at all times. Nobody can possibly argue in court they were not aware that injury was possible or that eyewear reduces damage.

 

There is simply no excuse, if you operate a shoot commercially, train people, run a syndicate, do corporate hospitality and you allow people to shoot without eye protection, you might end up paying personally and be prosecuted too.

 

Incidentally, disclaimers are worse than claiming ignorance. If you make clients sign something that says they shoot without glasses at their own risk, you have just provided the prosecution with all the evidence they need to prove you were aware of the risk and failed to reduce it by insisting on eyewear.

 

The Health and Safety Executive is not very pro-active, and unless you invite them to come round and advise you won't see them until there is a complaint or accident. But if they is you wont be able to see the woods for the number of people with clip boards analysing every aspect of the operations compliance with H&Safety.

 

That starts with a health and safety Policy statement, and a risk assessment. If you haven't got these, do it quick.

 

Jerry Parks Young

CPSA Senior Safety Officer