doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Master eye issue?

My Lady friend has started shooting with me! That is a good thing, but after she attended a "Boot Camp" put on by the Vintagers, we discovered that her left eye is her dominant one. She is a right handed shooter. Aside from buying her a left handed gun (just bought her a Beretta 20) does any one have any suggestions?

I went through this with my youngest son: left handed, right eyed dominant. He learned to shoot right handed. It did not take long for him to get used to it. Just be patient.

Recent thread on Trapshooters.com with lots of links on the 2nd page and discussion of 'dot' or tape occlusives
https://www.trapshooters.com/threads/cross-eye-dominate-shooter.919056/

2021 DoubleGunBBS thread
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=600538

Long threads regarding the visual processing challenges most women deal with
https://www.trapshooters.com/threads/female-shooters-using-two-eyes.836675/
https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=513876&p=4327530





If she is serious about shooting, it would be well worth connecting her with a coach who understands women's visual issues. Phil Kiner is most gracious about sharing his expertise by phone, and a clinic with Nora Ross would be an excellent choice.

I have a slightly different problem but the fix is similar. Sometimes my eye dominance will shift. I am right eye dominant and right handed. Occasionally, over a day of shooting zz birds or trap my eye dominance will shift and I will start missing targets. I really think my brain gets bored. At the suggestion of Cyril Adams, my fix has been a greasy finger print or chap stick smear on the left glass lens to force the right eye to see out of the clear lens. Now that I have I figured out what happens, I just smear the left lens before I start. It doesn't happen in field shooting or sporting clays.

Not everyone is coordinated enough to shoot with their non dominate side. For those people a simple piece of tape on the eye you don’t want to be dominate works well. Most new shooters are very adaptable and only want to see improvement. These are recreational shooters not the ones who are looking for the edge in targets to move them up into national championship levels.

I had a friend once, who was about top 5-6 in his sport, when he decided he had peaked and completely changed his shooting style so he dropped down to mediocre for a full year, before he ascended to top 5 level again. I never felt he was much better but he claimed his averages were almost half a bird across the board better. He went from both eyes open with a dot on his semi dominate eye to one eye closed and became a sustained lead shooter. Point is there are many ways to shoot and with effort and practice you can learn them all. I am ambidextrous so it helps a lot with shooting from either side. I can shoot from both left and right sides, with shooting styles that go from swing through to sustained lead. If I were serious about scores, which I’m too old to worry about now, I would pick just one style and hone it. Shooting is meant to be fun so find what works reasonably well for you and enjoy your friends.

To answer the OP.
Can your lady friend wink or close her left eye ?
Many fine shooters close an eye whilst shooting , many fine shooters only have one eye .
Which eye is your Master when shooting from the hip??????

One of the best female trap shooters ever, Lela Hall Frank, and 2 other female shooters, are shown at the 1940 GAH clearly closing their left eyes; at about 30 sec.

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/...ion-pile-of-empty-news-footage/502472065

The problem is that the eye wink muscles are bilaterally innervated, and for many it is impossible to shut one eye without partially shutting the other, or with visual distortion of the on-eye with doing so. There is also the fatigue factor, which the tape avoids.

Image of Vicki Ash with totally occluding her L eye, which she no longer does



A good video

Here you go. Magic Dot/. Problem solved.

http://www.texasshootersoptical.com/MagicDotSystem-2.aspx

forcing a shooter to swap shooting from their natural shoulder position and pointing tendencies is just wrong in my opinion. a complete novice might get used to it but the someone who has been shooting for a while will gain little benefit in the long run. Ben Hustlewaithe, former world champion and now a expert coach teaches this.

I have a new problem. After shooting with a dot on the left lens, I've had cataract surgery on the left eye. Now my left eye sees very well, while my right eye doesn't see as well as the left. I'm going to try shooting with both eyes open, as well as trying the blink method.
At 75, it sucks getting old!
Karl