eye dominance

[Rover]

Brian, this is a troll, right?

You've just opened a floodgate of hairy-assed opinions.

[Brian Lafferty]

Brian, this is a troll, right?

You've just opened a floodgate of hairy-assed opinions.

lol. Not a troll. I had a conversation with guy who has what he claims is an excellent shooter/optometrist in CT. I didn't ask him about this exact issue, but I do recall his saying that it wasn't as simple a process of creating the shooting lens as one might think. I take that to mean it's more than just creating a lens that focuses on the front sight, especially if you have astigmatism.

Brian

[Brian Lafferty]

Came across this today,
".....After a thorough evaluation of your distance vision and resulting prescription, the doctor can put in a small amount of "plus power" to sharpen the pistol sights without blurring the target excessively. Many times shooters will try to use their reading glasses or their bifocals to see the sights clearly, but a prescription that is designed for your shooting needs will skyrocket your performance!"
http://www.coloradovisionsource.com/ind ... ticle_id=5

[Ricardo]

I am cross-dominant. Left eye, right handed. For a couple of years I shot left-handed but after lack of progress I switched to bad eye/good hand. Things got better up to a point, but I consistently had a hell of a time focusing on the front sight. I noticed that my left eye wanted to take over even though it was occluded. I just read all of Dr. Wong's writings on the subject and decided to try good eye/good hand. So I had a new lens made for my left eye. My groups are (usually) smaller and my vision does not tire out so fast. Also, I find it much easier to focus on the front sight and ignore the black dot. I just started on this new way but I feel it's going to be the right thing for me. My personal advice is to ignore what all the experts say and try good eye/bad hand AND good eye/good hand AND bad eye / good hand. It's a challenge to your wallet and your patience, but I'm convinced that every situation is unique and following advice is just doing what worked for somebody else.

[jr]

Came across this today,
".....After a thorough evaluation of your distance vision and resulting prescription, the doctor can put in a small amount of "plus power" to sharpen the pistol sights without blurring the target excessively. Many times shooters will try to use their reading glasses or their bifocals to see the sights clearly, but a prescription that is designed for your shooting needs will skyrocket your performance!"

Not too long ago I ordered some of the ShootingSight glasses with the corrective inserts (which have a small amount of 'plus power', as described above). I have excellent, uncorrected vision for anything that's further than two feet away from my eyes, so I got the +.75 lenses that are recommended for pistol shooters. In my case, those lenses place my hyperfocal point right about where my front sight is.

I can claim from experience that it allows me to focus on the front sight more easily and see it in sharp focus without thinking about it. Sadly, I can also claim from experience that it didn't improve my scores at all, and certainly didn't "skyrocket my performance" (to be fair, that's not a claim that ShootingSight makes, but the above quote from earlier in this thread says that). The reason my performance didn't "skyrocket" is because I don't practice enough. But still, I like these glasses, and I'm glad I got them.

To be honest, what I'd REALLY like to do is shoot like Yusuf Dikeç does - he competes with nothing at all over his eyes and he has 3 ISSF world cup medals (including the gold at Munich 2011), so clearly (pun alert!) it works for him. Part of the reason I like pistol shooting is that it isn't "equipment-heavy"; I like the fact that my street clothes and shoes are also my competition clothes and shoes to keep it as simple as possible.

Anyway, the ShootingSight glasses are at this website - and they're cheap enough that if they don't work for you then you can just say "oh well"...
http://www.shootingsight.com/glasses.html

[conradin]

To be honest, what I'd REALLY like to do is shoot like Yusuf Dikeç does - he competes with nothing at all over his eyes and he has 3 ISSF world cup medals (including the gold at Munich 2011), so clearly (pun alert!) it works for him.

He is my favorite shooter. No eyes no ears, shoot with both eyes open. I have no idea how he manages it.

[Rover]

He has obviously learned to hold his mouth right!

[jr]

To be honest, what I'd REALLY like to do is shoot like Yusuf Dikeç does - he competes with nothing at all over his eyes and he has 3 ISSF world cup medals (including the gold at Munich 2011), so clearly (pun alert!) it works for him.

He is my favorite shooter. No eyes no ears, shoot with both eyes open. I have no idea how he manages it.

Unless he has quite an abnormal tragus, it does look like he uses ear plugs (at least in the 2011 Munich video).

But yeah, the guy's got concentration, that's for sure. He looks like he's giving the 10-ring the stinkeye and thinking "I'm gonna get you" (or however one says that in Turkish).

[Muffo]

I thought Id drag this back up seen as there is another thread on it. Ive just read the 3 pages and I find it interesting that no one has weighed up the pros and cons for people thinking of doing it.
Really it soesnt matter which eye is you dominant eye. most people there is bugger all difference between the 2 and they dont know the difference and have to do the test to figure it out. if this is the case you should use the same eye that you hold the pistol with. For some people there is a large amount of difference between their eyes. Like me for example. So I shoot right hand left eye with pistols.
If you are only firing precision matches then there isnt much disadvantage. Still a small amount.
I have my grip offset so the pistol sits offset in my hand and lines up with my left eye. This is so I dont have to brake my wrist in order to aligne the sights. whether you do it this way or just brake your wrist, the same affect still occures under recoil. the pistol isnt lined up straight down your arm and through your shoulder. this there for wants to push the pistol sideways and also has a slightly larger affect by recoil. This becomes more of an issue when firing matches where you have to fire more than one shot at a time.
I dont really see this as a disadvantage as such as people have proven it can be done right to the very top level. However it is a trade off and its not worth doing unless you eye really isnt up to the task.
Because of this I have had to adapt my shooting quiet a lot. I cant really use open sights with my right eye because I cant see enough but I can get buy using a scope. as a result I shoot air and free pistol and service pistol right hand left eye. I shoot shotguns left handed and right handed depending the level of accuracy required. I shoot service rifle right handed, I shoot machine gun matches (GENERAL PURPOSE MACHINE GUN) left handed because it is open sights and I shoot machine gun matches (LIGHT SUPPORT WEAPON) left handed while shooting prone because its how I shoot best but then when we transfer to shooting other positions I change back to right handed

I am also about to start shooting full bore target rifle to help with my wind reading ability for service rifle. I am going to try and shoot right eye but I might have to get an outrigger setup made so I can shoot rifle right hand left eye.

Morral to the storry Its not really about the dominance of your eye more the strength of your eyes and whether the trade off will be an advantage or not

[conradin]

I was diagnosed incorrectly as a left eye dominant, right handed shooter. I am (artificially) ambidextrous due to my profession. Eventually I chose to shoot right and aim right for pistols, because I find cross sighting difficult to be consistent. I don't have a 24/7 coach to make sure I did it right. So I decide to rely on my more dominant hand then my left hand. I subsequently purchased shooting glasses for my right eye. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it does not. Obviously I need a prescription, but financially I am not capable of doing that, despite we have one of the best eye doctor in town. To my dismay, I find out that shooting glasses make little difference, and I actually shot worse with one.

The irony was not until a couple months ago did I realize that I was actually right eye dominant. I have taken up to start learning long arms, and believing that I was left eye dominant, I aim left and shoot left. My left eye is crystal clear with near-perfect vision, and in long arms my being near ambidextrous become a much bigger advantage than pistol.

The right eye has poor vision. Hence I decide to continue to shoot pistol right eye right hand, while long arm left eye left hand. My logic is that since the most important part of the prescription is to make sure you are crystal clear seeing the front sight, I don't really want to keep changing my lens; one for pistol, one for long arm. Some people do have different prescription on different lenses, but in general if you do that you run the risk, or at least I run the risk of, having vertigo. I am very susceptible of having vertigo and migraine from wearing glasses. A few degrees off is all it takes for me to start hurling. I always bring my shooting glasses (right len 1.5), and I will choose to use it depends on the environment, such as lighting.

I always use blinders so it has never been a problem. I tend to shut my non shooting eye on pistol even with a blinder, but open my non shooting eye on long arm. The blinder is being set up at the "base" of the iris, and since I am not stuffing my face into the iris, (I leave around 4" of space, the distance between the rear sight and the cheek piece), I can open my non shooting eye while shooting long arm. It actually helps because while my right eye cannot see the target, it can help me check out the environment since my left eye is focused on the front sight.

This is an opinion from a second year pistol rookie and a former rifle-phobiac barely a rookie. So please don't take my words for it. The only recommendation that I really want to point out is to avoid shooting cross sighted, despite many successful Olympics athletes that made it. Unless you absolutely cannot be remotely close to ambidextrous, then you shoot cross sight. There is a reason why if you look up at ISSF, most athletes have the same handiness and eyeness. If you train a kid early enough, ideally eyeness is much more important than handiness.

Not all pianists are ambidextrous by birth, they just learned to play with their non master hand earlier than anyone else as a kid.

[narayanan]

jr wrote:

To be honest, what I'd REALLY like to do is shoot like Yusuf Dikeç does - he competes with nothing at all over his eyes and he has 3 ISSF world cup medals (including the gold at Munich 2011), so clearly (pun alert!) it works for him.

He is my favorite shooter. No eyes no ears, shoot with both eyes open. I have no idea how he manages it.

Tan zongliang is in this category

[Spencer]

...I always use blinders so it has never been a problem. I tend to shut my non shooting eye on pistol even with a blinder, but open my non shooting eye on long arm. The blinder is being set up at the "base" of the iris, and since I am not stuffing my face into the iris...

do you mean 'occluder'?

[conradin]

...I always use blinders so it has never been a problem. I tend to shut my non shooting eye on pistol even with a blinder, but open my non shooting eye on long arm. The blinder is being set up at the "base" of the iris, and since I am not stuffing my face into the iris...

do you mean 'occluder'?

Yes! Thanks for reminding me of the correct technical term.

[conradin]

jr wrote:

To be honest, what I'd REALLY like to do is shoot like Yusuf Dikeç does - he competes with nothing at all over his eyes and he has 3 ISSF world cup medals (including the gold at Munich 2011), so clearly (pun alert!) it works for him.

He is my favorite shooter. No eyes no ears, shoot with both eyes open. I have no idea how he manages it.

Tan zongliang is in this category

I don't quite understand why he gave up FP and now is an AP shooter. He never did win the Olympic Gold Medal in FP. Age?

[David Levene]

...I always use blinders so it has never been a problem. I tend to shut my non shooting eye on pistol even with a blinder, but open my non shooting eye on long arm. The blinder is being set up at the "base" of the iris, and since I am not stuffing my face into the iris...

do you mean 'occluder'?

Yes! Thanks for reminding me of the correct technical term.

.....or you could use the same word that the ISSF use, "blinder" :-)

[Spencer]

...I always use blinders so it has never been a problem. I tend to shut my non shooting eye on pistol even with a blinder, but open my non shooting eye on long arm. The blinder is being set up at the "base" of the iris, and since I am not stuffing my face into the iris...

do you mean 'occluder'?

Yes! Thanks for reminding me of the correct technical term.

.....or you could use the same word that the ISSF use, "blinder" :-)

I would rather use the correct term...

occluder:
A device placed before an eye to block vision or to partially obscure vision. Syn. eye shield.

S

[RobStubbs]

.....or you could use the same word that the ISSF use, "blinder" :-)

I would rather use the correct term...

occluder:
A device placed before an eye to block vision or to partially obscure vision. Syn. eye shield.

S

Nothing wrong with 'blinder' it is equally correct;

"1. blinders A pair of leather flaps attached to a horse's bridle to curtail side vision. Also called blinkers.
2. Something that serves to obscure clear perception and discernment.
"

Rob.

[jliston48]

2. Something that serves to obscure clear perception and discernment."

Like the blinder I had on Saturday night. My perception and discernment were both somewhat obscured!