waiting out the storm (virus)

[Jstpssng]

Yeah, a small percentage of the population are "cross wired", but not too many. My wife is one. She shoots a pistol right handed and is left eye dominate. She just shifts her head over behind the sights and does very well. She shoots a rifle poorly and a shotgun even worse. It is always good to know which is your dominate eye.

I"m the exact opposite. I'm right eye dominant but do many things left handed including writing; I shoot a handgun left handed (two hand grip) and a rifle right handed.
So I shoot a deer right handed; but when I gut him, it's my left hand holding the knife.

 

[MossRoad]

The only thing I kinda suck at is archery. I naturally grab the bow with my right hand, because my power arm is my left to draw the string back. But I naturally aim with my right eye. It's really hard to cross over with your right eye on a left draw. So I do it by feel rather than aim. Decent, but could never compete with anyone worth a lick.

 

[drssg]

Want to perform a simple fun test?

Hold up your index finger at arms length and look at it with BOTH eyes open.
Pick a spot on the wall and line up the top of the index finger with that spot. Remember BOTH eyes open.
Now close one eye. Then open that eye and close the other. Note which eye the finger and spot stays lined up with (the other one will "jump")

Which ever eye keeps the finger and spot lined up is your "dominate eye" and "usually" indicates which handedness you are, but not always. But it is your dominant eye for sure.

Perhaps I was over-thinking it, but the procedure seemed a little flawed to me. If I focus my vision on my finger, I see two images of the wall. If I focus on the wall, I see two fingers. In either case, I need to decide which image to line up, and that choice determines the result.

I decided to go with a more zen approach, and I "randomly" picked one. The result showed me to be left eye dominant, which makes sense.

OTOH, perhaps the fact that I felt perplexed as to which image to choose indicates I'm not strongly left eye dominant? I recall sometimes that when shooting a rifle (left handed), I have some tendency to attempt to aim with my right eye. Using my left eye doesn't feel mentally awkward, but it is mostly a mechanical convenience.

On a sort of related note, I bought a Gen4 Glock several years ago, with the thought that I can switch the magazine release button to be left handed. It turns out that I have become quite accustomed to releasing the magazine with my left index finger, and attempting to switch to my thumb seemed physically difficult.

 

[k0ua]

Perhaps I was over-thinking it, but the procedure seemed a little flawed to me. If I focus my vision on my finger, I see two images of the wall. If I focus on the wall, I see two fingers. In either case, I need to decide which image to line up, and that choice determines the result.

I decided to go with a more zen approach, and I "randomly" picked one. The result showed me to be left eye dominant, which makes sense.

OTOH, perhaps the fact that I felt perplexed as to which image to choose indicates I'm not strongly left eye dominant? I recall sometimes that when shooting a rifle (left handed), I have some tendency to attempt to aim with my right eye. Using my left eye doesn't feel mentally awkward, but it is mostly a mechanical convenience.

On a sort of related note, I bought a Gen4 Glock several years ago, with the thought that I can switch the magazine release button to be left handed. It turns out that I have become quite accustomed to releasing the magazine with my left index finger, and attempting to switch to my thumb seemed physically difficult.

I suspect the above bolded. But just like shooting a pistol you should focus on the front sight (your index finger in this case) Let the target go slightly blurry (spot on the wall)
Nothing wrong with using the index finger to do the mag dump. Lots of people do that. Do what works best for you.

No one can focus on 3 planes at the same time. The younger you are the more rapidly you can switch back and forth and seem to focus on all three at once. This is why older people really gravitate to red dot reflex type sights. But even young people can benefit from them. Everything appears in one plane. With "iron" pistol sights you should place the most focus on the front sight, and by definition the rear sight and the target will be more out of focus.

 

[dragoneggs]

The only thing I kinda suck at is archery. I naturally grab the bow with my right hand, because my power arm is my left to draw the string back. But I naturally aim with my right eye. It's really hard to cross over with your right eye on a left draw. So I do it by feel rather than aim. Decent, but could never compete with anyone worth a lick.

Then you are quite the specimen and truly blessed... I suck at a lot of things. Just to start the long list... Poetry, Compassion, Patience, .... :laughing:

 

[shooterdon]

Yeah, a small percentage of the population are "cross wired", but not too many. My wife is one. She shoots a pistol right handed and is left eye dominate. She just shifts her head over behind the sights and does very well. She shoots a rifle poorly and a shotgun even worse. It is always good to know which is your dominate eye.

Many women are cross eye dominant. A number of women I coached (shotgun) had that problem.

 

[dragoneggs]

Many women are cross eye dominant. A number of women I coached (shotgun) had that problem.

My wife has eyes in the back of her head.

 

[om21braz]

In regard to eye dominance shooting a shotgun, if your comfort of right or left is opposite the dominant eye - often a grease smudge on the dominant eye glasses lens is a help. Or better, change to _____ hand. Most of all, focus on the target - not the barrel. As someone told me when learning how to shoot a shotgun - "Do you look at the end of a bat when trying to hit a baseball?"

 

[4570Man]

In regard to eye dominance shooting a shotgun, if your comfort of right or left is opposite the dominant eye - often a grease smudge on the dominant eye glasses lens is a help. Or better, change to _____ hand. Most of all, focus on the target - not the barrel. As someone told me when learning how to shoot a shotgun - "Do you look at the end of a bat when trying to hit a baseball?"

Shooting with your dominant eye is the only way to ever be good with a shotgun. And both eyes open is a big help but the gun needs to be behind the dominant eye. The grease or tape over the glasses people are never excellent shooters.

 

[shooterdon]

In regard to eye dominance shooting a shotgun, if your comfort of right or left is opposite the dominant eye - often a grease smudge on the dominant eye glasses lens is a help. Or better, change to _____ hand. Most of all, focus on the target - not the barrel. As someone told me when learning how to shoot a shotgun - "Do you look at the end of a bat when trying to hit a baseball?"

There is an old wives tale about not "aiming" a shotgun. I mounted an EoTech on one of my competition guns and it really helped new and poor shooters. I only tried it for about 8 weeks and reverted back to bead sights when the large state/regional competitions started back up as I was a bit better with the "old way". I think if I had stuck with the EoTech I may have eventually been as good...maybe better. (I was averaging 98+ at the time)

One of the better competitive shotgun shooters I know has his lenses ground so his front bead is in perfect focus...he aims. Every competition shotgun used in Trap shooting has two beads. I believe most use a mix of pointing and aiming...I mostly aim.

New shooters that "aim" seem to stop the gun and shoot behind the bird...that may be why "pointing" yielded better results.

BTW, I was pathetic with the shotgun. Used to shoot scores of 15-17 in my twenties and got frustrated with it. In my early 50's I got the bug and it took a lot of rounds to get decent. 15-20k rounds a year and 10 years later fired my first 200x200 and took second place in the shoot off for the state championship. Been away from it for the last 5 years and only shoot for fun now. Had a serve injury that forced me to quit one year, and never went back. It is one of the most expensive sports to participate in. Lots of good folks and a lot of older ones...I fear coronavirus may affect the sport big time. Many shoots are being cancelled but no reports yet of deaths.