Dual dominance

[savannah]

I have been struggling for awhile with dual dominance in my eyes and have decided to stop fighting it. I have been taking sporting clay lessons and my instructor has helped me along the journey of dual dominance. I understand this isn't very common and even less common in men, but I thought it was worthy of discussion.

I have tried, magic dots, learn to shoot both eyes open with no obstructions, tape, Offeye, and black dots. All work to some degree except two eyes. With dual dominance, my eyes compete for dominance. I see double birds, barrels when shooting both eyes open. I cannot determine which target is the real one and which is the ghost target. They are equally clear.

So my instructor and I have finally settled on two eyes open and closing one just before the trigger pull. This is working pretty good and my score has improved. Using dots and obstructions doesn't work for me in skeet and sporting clays. I tend to lose the left crossing birds in my blind spot only to have it show up and try to play catch up. My biggest issue with this method is the timing. If I try to hard focus on the birds, I find I close that eye too early.

Can anyone else relate? What has been the answer for you?

[Thefeeder]

I can relate both as a shooter and a coach. I have been a one eyed jack for all of my shooting life (40+ years). I too will start with both eyes on the target and then end up with one eye at the shot. This is just how my brain is trained and can't find a good reason to change at this point in my life.

What works for me is I stare, literally open my eyes more then normal, and by nature now, squint my left eye at the last second and not totaly close it. On doubles that require a quick second shot, the eye stays squinted through the second shot.

As an instructor: I have used methods to imped the the non shoot eye but avoid, if I can, total blotting out an area of vision. . I do stress the removal of the "patch" when the shooter is not shooting. A second pair of safety glass come in handy. Each shooter is a different case there is no one method works for all.


I will respond to your statement that you see two targets with both eyes open. The only way to see two targets is when your looking at the bead/barrel and not the target. Test: Point at something in the room with both eyes open...do you see two fingers or two objects? Now point again and look at your fingernail...do you see two fingers or two objects?
Your arm is just like a barrel and the finger nail is just like a bead.

With the "catch up" issue, work on adjusting your hold points and/ or look point...until you can repeat a good clay break consistantly with no felt sense of rushing

[jay_cue]

I've seen some people put scotch tape on one lens of their shooting glasses to help "fuzz" it out. I recently picked up an easy hit fiber optic front sight. it has a "peep hole" where you'll only see the fiber optic from the eye directly looking down the vent rib. they advertise it where this causes you to keep your head/eye down. if you're not looking directly down the rib you won't see the bead. it also advertises it as you'll still slightly see double, but since it has the peep hole, again only the eye looking down the barrel will see the fiber optic bead.

http://www.easyhit-usa.com

I got it in the mail today. and although I made a couple adjustments on the gun (adjusted the drop, changed choke from IC to M, and added the front sight), I averaged higher today than normal. previously I was averaging 15-18, with a best of either 20-21. out of 3 rounds today I shot a 19,18, and 20. the ones I missed today, I was able to pick out exactly why I missed each one.

[squeeze]

I am a cross-eye-dominate shooter. Left-eyed, right-handed shooter.
I highly recommend the type of sight called Easy-Hit. I bought mine from Cabelas under a different brand name. I keep both eyes wide open and stare as hard as I can at the clay.
Without looking at the end of the barrel there will be a pink (or what-ever color your bought) dot in my vision from the eye that is looking down the rib and into the tube of the sight. The colored dot/sight gets projected into your "shooting eye" Your other eye cannot see the colored sight. At first I even increased the length of the tube by placing some electricians tape lightly around the inboard end. It has allowed me to shoot trap very effectively. It uses two sided tape for attachment.
As for losing the clay in your blind spot-mmmmmm. Nature has place them at about 8 and 4 so they don't interfere with normal vision. Different gun-hold?
Take a class from someone such as "The Feeder" who is listed at the top of this thread.
As he points out; staring at the clay will help enormously. Gotta get your eye(s) off the end of the barrel.

[savannah]

Thank you feeder. I did misspeak when I said I saw two targets. What I see when I stare at the target is one target and two barrels. Each barrel is quite clear and I really can't get a relationship with which one is the dominant eye barrel. I don't think there is one. I took a small object at the opposite end of the room and pointed at it with my left arm. I am a right handed shooter. By just staring at the object and not my arm I put my finger where I thought the object was. I opened my right eye and I was behind the object. Opened my left eye and I was in front of the object. Only one object was visible.

I will continue to try squinting my left eye. I have about given up using blotters.
I am working with a guy named Will Bruce. Good instructor and he has had eye issues since an accident. So he understands my frustration. I will check out easy hit.

[jay_cue]

here's a video of the sight myself and squeeze mentioned. it shows a good visual of how you would see 2 barrels but only 1 colored fiber optic sight. if I'm reading it correct, even with squeeze being cross eyes dominant, this allows his weak eye to sight the target in well as this sight only allows one eye to see the actual bead. plus the sight is under $20 and if it doesn't work out for you, you can simply take it off by hand.

http://youtu.be/eLSZyv0bFRE

[savannah]

Great video. Ok, I'm in! I will give it a try.

[savannah]

Just purchased on Amazon Prime for $20.00. Will report back

[jay_cue]

which one did you end up going with, 2.5mm or 3mm? I ended up picking up the 2.5mm in the event I tried using my shotgun for 3 gun, or any slug shooting. I'm not certain the .5mm would make much of a difference though. it made a huge difference the first time out for me as the stock fiber optic on my Benelli m2 was very short. the easy hit was not only thicker around, it was a lot longer to capture more light and making it tons brighter.

[savannah]

I ordered the 2.5, 5" green.

[Jules]

I've got a similar issue as you. I think it's a little more common in women than men. I shoot right handed, and am nominally right eyed, but when I'm tired or something jumps to my left, the left eye is happy to take over. Then I see two barrels, or I don't notice it and miss a target I really thought I was on.

I've been taping my lenses across the top, but only high. I have binocular vision when I'm walking around. I hold a high gun on the house, so I have peripheral vision on both eyes to acquire the target, but once I start moving the gun, I only have my right eye. I tried just keeping the left shut or blinking it, but I just can't get that together. The tape seems to be working; my scores have really taken a jump since I started doing that.

I'm trying to use it as a temporary training aid to make my eyes work right, but years of using both eyes to look at different things at once through and around a camera viewfinder may have taken their toll. If I have to tape a lens for the rest of my shooting career, so be it, as long as it works. If blinking at it works for you, so be it. Don't stress too much; there are plenty of successful one-eyed shooters.

[Tom-ADC]

As I've gotten older I have a problem where both eyes don't point at the same spot one is a tick lower than the other. My glasses are ground with a prism in them that corrects it, I haven't tried shooting clays since this problem popped up, no problems with handgun or rifle, I need to get out and shoot some clays, I do keep a roll of opaque scotch tape in my box.

[jay_cue]

so....any updates on the sight? did you get it in the mail yet?

[dellarossa13]

thankyou very nice info..

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QOGKF8/?tag=dellcoine-20

[jay_cue]

thankyou very nice info..

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QOGKF8/?tag=dellcoine-20

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