TargetTalk

I am having trouble with my eyes when looking through the sights. I find (I am left handed) that when I look through the sights my vision starts to spin; I lose focus on the target and start to feel dizzy. I put the rifle on the rest and breathe slowly, then get back into position - but the same thing happens. I have had this occur in all three positions.

I use a blinder when shooting and keep both eyes open.
I am a younger shooter with excellent vision, so I doubt the problem is actually my eyes....

This has happened more frequently of late, and has gotten me to worrying – could this be caused by my angle of cant?

Thanks,

GrayJay

Being young does not exclude you from vision issues with your eyes.

Meet with a rifle coach, then visit your doctor.
What you are describing should not happen.

Here are a few thoughts:
- Are you holding your breath longer than 10 seconds, how about longer than 15 seconds? If so you are starving your brain of oxygen. You need to be aware of this as sometimes people are not aware that they are holding their breath.
Then give yourself sufficient time between shots, to let the blood get more oxygen back to the brain.

- You could have a blood problem, where the blood is not carrying enough oxygen. Need a blood test for this stuff.

- Is your front aperture size tight, or do you have a decent amount of space between the bull and your aperture? Too tight and I get a somewhat similar visually induced reaction.

- Have a coach watch you. You might be hunching your head over and pinching a blood vessel or nerve. This is something you might also want to do with a doctor (clear w the doc to bring your rifle into the office first).

- While you are left handed, which eye is dominant left or right? You could be left handed but right eye dominant.

Hi Gary, thank you for the reply.

I have recently visited an eye doctor, and he confirmed that my eyesight is in good shape.

Forgive my wording, what I meant was that I shoot left - I am actually right handed, left eye dominant.

Front aperture is fairly tight on the bull, but not overly so; I have never had a problem with that....

As a rule, I hold my breath for 8 seconds maximum - usually average around 6 or 7 for each shot, If I exceed 8 seconds I put my rifle on the rest and go through the routine again.

My coach has no idea what may be causing this - he has watched me shoot and says there is nothing unorthodox about the way I am holding my head, but that does not rule out a pinched nerve....

I do have an iron deficiency, but could this cause eye strain, dizziness and focal problems?

At one time, I surmised that dehydration was causing the dizziness, but I drink alot of water and always have a bottle with me on the line - no problems there, I think.

Thanks for your thoughts,

GrayJay

Go see your doctor. If you have an iron deficiency it could have some effect on binding oxygen to be delivered to your brain.

Doctor it is.

GrayJay

If you are pinching a nerve, you should see a ciropractor ( not sure how to spell it).If you are not familiar with them, they pop your neck & back into place by positioning your body in certain ways,and pushing .(no surgery or anything).I have a lot of neck problems, so, I can honestly say that they work.

I suspect it's an eye thing and related to strain. Iron deficiency shouldn't affect you that much unless you are very, very low - like nearly dead ! Hydration problems may compound things - so make sure your fluid intake is right, well before a match (1hr - 30 mins before) - including salts and sugar levels. I too would advise visiting your doctor and asking them to do routine blood tests.

Rob.

Iron deficiency can cause dizzyness and tiredness.
The blurred vision can be because of the dizzyness? Usually blurred vision happens when holding one's breath for too long.
I find my vision to blur the slightest bit when i concentrate my eyes' focus in a certain way. Like looking at a picture as a whole instead of at one certain point. I prefer to look at my sightpicture as a whole when lining it up, but after that, concetrate solely on the bull just before i release the shot.

Blood Pressure? It may be that you have very low BP and/or positional (standing up after sitting) lowering of BP can cause dizziness.

Just some ideas for trouble-shooting:
If you are pinching a nerve, the problem would occur also with rear + front sight removed. Try that to start with.
If the problem is gone with the sights removed, it is an eye and/or balance issue, connected to your sighting. In that case, I would start with the head position and the canting of your head. Try to aim with another head position - why not in prone just to see how it feels. And then take it from there.

Probem is gone with the sights removed, so I suppose I can rule out a pinched nerve....

I noticed that I tend to angle my head away rather than facing the front while resting it on the cheekpiece, causing my sighting eye (left) to be further away from the sight than my right eye. Could this be causing the problem?

Thank you everyone, for the ideas, :)

GrayJay

OK, so far so good :) Then we can also rule out that the cheekpiece might disturb your eye. I would go for trying to get an upright position of your head. Remember that the heads belance center is designed from an upright position. You can "learn" the centre to level itself to another position, but thats takes quite some practise over long time. If you are a right-handed shooter with left eye dominant, how is your sights set up?
Just thinking that this might be of use:
http://ahg.anschuetz-sport.com/index.ph ... duktID=386

/ BGC

Is your head pretty much straight up? What I mean is try this experiment" Stand up and tilt your head to the side 10-20 degrees. Now try to walk. Kind of hard, right? Funny sense of balance? Now try to aim a rifle with your head tilted to the side.

Something in the head called a vestibular membrane (I think) affects balance. Perhaps you are tilting your head sideways?

Jeff A20

BCG, I shoot left handed, but the rifle itself is completely configured for a right handed shooter, including the sights, with an ambidextous grip. Sights are set up normally, centred on the rifle.

Thank you for the link; very neat set-up.... Trouble is, now that shooting left has become second nature, a right-handed position feels akward and unnatural for me.... I am beyond the point of rescue :)

Thanks for the tip on balance, I will be focusing on that in future practice.

GrayJay

Just something to think about.

Also, get in position and aim at a full length mirror. You can see if head tilted.

In fact, get in position, and have someone photograph you, and then video tape you while shooting. Compare with known MASTER level shooters.

Jeff

I do tend to tilt my head sideways - my angle of cant is very slight indeed... Earlier on in my training I had developed a backwards cant (canting away from my body), which was terrible for balance, as well as a negative effect on my position and scores.

GrayJay

Think in terms of trying different things to make shooting better. It is real easy to think that you have to do something exactly a certain way.

Beware of advice that says you must do everything a certain way, with no deviation. Focus on the important concepts, and adjust you and your equipment to find the best balance of achieving the important concepts.

I suspect acertain amount of cant is normal for most everyone.

But the idea is to know what is important, and do what you can to achieve it, without going overboard.

Example: What is known medically is balance is affected by canting head. This is fact. So do what you can to minimize cant. But don't think that you have to sacrafice everything to have the perfect cant (0 degrees).

What I would do, is get into position without gun, looking straight at mirror, and then see if I could adjust gun to fit me. The same thing applies to all of the othe adjustments of the gun. Try it without shooting clothing, and see if your body mechanics match what you see in th shooting books.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff, will get on it. :)

GrayJay

GrayJay22 wrote:I am having trouble with my eyes when looking through the sights...

Grayjay22,
are you asking in relation to outdoor or indoor? Does the dizziness occur with both?

Spencer

I am asking in relation to both - dizziness, focal problems and eyestrain occur both outside and in, although mostly outside.

GrayJay