Testing for a dominant eye
The standard test for a dominant eye is to use your right thumb
as a front sight with both eyes open. Sight on some convenient
object -- a tree, tv screen, lamp, etc. Bring up your left hand
and cover your left eye. If the sight picture remains the same,
you have a dominant right eye. If the sight picture changes,
you've identified the problem. Test your result. Sight in on
a target object as before but using the left hand. Bring up
the right hand and cover the right eye. If the target stays
covered, the dominant left eye is confirmed. |
An interesting variation of another way
to trick a dominant eye was discovered with the popularity of
the light pipe front sights -- the kind that put a fluorescent
dot in the target area. The way some are installed, they are
visible to only the right eye. So for the shooter trying to
shoot right-handed with a dominant left eye, only his right eye
gets the hot dot, hence the message that he's got the gun pointed
in the target area. Both eyes have been operative in making the
mental calculations on distance and lead so the shooter has at
least a sporting chance. The caveat here is that there is a
tendency for the right eye to watch the bright front sight instead
of the bird. This requires tight mental discipline at a time
when everything else is at sixes and sevens.
There's an inexpensive ($12.95) commercial product called a Sight-Blinder
Crossfire Reducer -- the name says it all -- which, when mounted
on the ventilated rib of a |
shotgun, shields the view of the front sight from the
left eye and, as a bonus, gives the right eye a warning signal
if the head is lifted off the stock. Phone or Fax 434/589-5541
or visit meadowindustries.com.
Coping with a dominant eye problem ultimately seems to boil down
to curbing the left eye's ability to interfere with the right
eye's sighting process; or adapting the left eye's dominance
to a right-handed shooting style. There are no quick and easy
solutions. Some things work for some shooters, but not for others.
Those of us who don't have a dominant eye problem, usually don't
even remember what the front sight looks like -- so it's hard
for us to imagine the difficulties faced by folks who must focus
on it. What seems to most of us to be a perfectly natural function
requires concentration and tenacity in others. As K.C. Constantine
remarks in Cranks and Shadows:
". . . everybody talks talent. But give me tenacity.
Tenacity beats talent every time."
If you can't beat them, join them
One old timer, who claimed he was "too set in his ways
to monkey around" -- went back to his workshop and attached
an arm extending four inches to the left of the muzzle. He installed
a new front sight at the end of the arm, the same height as his
over/under's. It enabled him to shoot using his dominant left
eye while mounting the gun on his right shoulder. Looked kind
of Rube Goldbergish, but the laughter died down when he came
close to limiting out on opening day. TENACITY!
* * *
Bill Hanus hails from Newport, OR
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