TargetTalk

I am thrilled to get all of this great information. Thanks to all for your help!!!
Paula

How common is it for world-class shooters to use their dominant hand and weak eye? The only one I know of is Iceland's Asgeir Sigurgeirsson who is right-hand/left-eye dominant but uses his right eye for shooting. Does anyone know of other shooters like this?

Hi Roger and Tony,
While I'm able to quickly get to the right lens point (likely due to my stylin frames) you are right that it is a distraction. I like the idea of a single focus lens in an old pair of frames. Will likely get that worked on a Walmart over the weekend. Thanks for the info. But for covering the non-dominant eye, my favorite solution was the Eastern Euro shooter who taped a strip of torn cardboard to his bald pate. And he was in a WC final. :)

Good shooting,
Brian

adair wrote:How common is it for world-class shooters to use their dominant hand and weak eye? The only one I know of is Iceland's Asgeir Sigurgeirsson who is right-hand/left-eye dominant but uses his right eye for shooting. Does anyone know of other shooters like this?

There are degrees of dominance such that some people are almost equi dominant, whilst others have a big difference. In reality you can only test it by trying to see if you can succesfully shoot with the non-dominant eye. A blinder over the non-shooting eye helps but for some people that's still not enough.

To the original question I don't know the answer, but it's probably more than the number of people that shoot cross dominant - i.e. right hand left eye.

Rob.

Is there a basic test to figure out which one is the dominant eye?

[quote="conradin"]Is there a basic test to figure out which one is the dominant eye?[/quote]

Vince,
Try this. Using both your hands at a 45 degree slope, form a diamond opening by touching the index fingers and thumbs to each other. Now raise the diamond shape to eye level and look through it. Now close one eye and then switch off to the other eye. Tell me which eye sees the diamond shaped opening in front of you?
-s

conradin wrote:Is there a basic test to figure out which one is the dominant eye?

With both eyes open, hold an arm out and point at something 15-20ft away.

Close one eye. Open it. Close the other eye. Open it.

When you closed one of your eyes you will probably have noticed that you finger moved away from the object you were pointing at more than when you closed the other eye.

The eye that produced the most movement when you shut it is your dominant eye (if you have one).

bummer7 wrote:

conradin wrote:Is there a basic test to figure out which one is the dominant eye?

Vince,
Try this. Using both your hands at a 45 degree slope, form a diamond .......diamond shaped opening in front of you?
-s

How did you determine I was left eye dominant the moment I walked into the club for the very first time and tried out a pistol for the first time? I remember you hold a card over one eye, then tell me to look at something (your finger?); then move the card to the other eye, and tell e to look at the same thing.
From that moment on I thought I was left eye dominant. It did not matter much, at least I thought, since subsequent all my pistols are right handed. Being a keyboard player means both my hands are equally adapted, so there is no "handiness".
Only when I aim a long arm did I find out that using my left eye is crystal clear. Not a match rifle, but merely an old SMLE iron sight.

David Levene wrote:

conradin wrote:Is there a basic test to figure out which one is the dominant eye?

With both eyes open, hold an arm out and point at something 15-20ft away.

Close one eye. Open it. Close the other eye. Open it.

When you closed one of your eyes you will probably have noticed that you finger moved away from the object you were pointing at more than when you closed the other eye.

The eye that produced the most movement when you shut it is your dominant eye (if you have one).

I think my right eye is badly in need of prescription because if I use a finger pointing method, I was never quite sure if I point to an object correctly. Inevitably after trying your method, when I have both eyes open again after the testing, I was not even looking straight at my fingers. I was already "off".

Since my left eye is "crystal clear",I don't know whether it is dominance, or merely has no need for prescription for it. One of the problems that may contribute to my bad right eye was the long time I was working as a watchmaker, using my right eye, and sometimes I did not use the loupe. Fifteen years later, I can no longer work on women's watches, even with a much more powerful loupe. The problem is that you do need to take the loupe on and off all the time, so as time passed, the right eye started to have problems. Since the left eye is never used in this trade, it remains unaffected after 15 years.

This is why I seldom if ever take in watches to repair; I prefer doing appraisals. It is also much easier on my health.

conradin wrote:

David Levene wrote:

conradin wrote:Is there a basic test to figure out which one is the dominant eye?

With both eyes open, hold an arm out and point at something 15-20ft away.

Close one eye. Open it. Close the other eye. Open it.

When you closed one of your eyes you will probably have noticed that you finger moved away from the object you were pointing at more than when you closed the other eye.

The eye that produced the most movement when you shut it is your dominant eye (if you have one).

I think my right eye is badly in need of prescription because if I use a finger pointing method, I was never quite sure if I point to an object correctly. Inevitably after trying your method, when I have both eyes open again after the testing, I was not even looking straight at my fingers. I was already "off".

I should have made clear that you are looking at the distant object, not your finger. The finger is just a "ghost" in the middle.

This won't work if you badly need a prescription lens but are not wearing it. That would be like trying to work out which hand you can punch harder with, whilst having one arm tied behind your back.

Tried to use left eye and right hand initially for the first week, not getting anywhere. Then switch to right hand right eye, and things at least seem to make some sense.
Right now if I use a long arm, it is almost impossible for me to be right handed. I don't know whether it is due to eye domination, or that my right eye needs major prescription. My left eye is crystal clear when it comes to long sight radius.

Vince,
It does appear you are right eye dominant but as you say, you are in need a vision correction for your right eye and this may be clouding your judgement. Instead of asking for advice here, I suggest you see an eye doctor for advice and an opinion. If you're wondering who a good Optimirist would be, I would suggest you use Dr. Norman Wong in San Francisco. Norman is a conventional pistol shooter and has extensive experience in this area. He has alos published articles in Shooting Sports on vision care for shooters and other publications. Take a look at some of his articles listed below.
-s

http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html

Conradin, as we used to say about a walleyed drunken friend: "He had one eye on Tukwila."

Seeing Dr. Wong may be the best money you've spent on your shooting career. At least you'll have a clearer vision of where you're screwing up.

David Levene wrote:

conradin wrote:

David Levene wrote:

conradin wrote:Is there a basic test to figure out which one is the dominant eye?

With both eyes open, hold an arm out and point at something 15-20ft away.

Close one eye. Open it. Close the other eye. Open it.

When you closed one of your eyes you will probably have noticed that you finger moved away from the object you were pointing at more than when you closed the other eye.

The eye that produced the most movement when you shut it is your dominant eye (if you have one).

I think my right eye is badly in need of prescription because if I use a finger pointing method, I was never quite sure if I point to an object correctly. Inevitably after trying your method, when I have both eyes open again after the testing, I was not even looking straight at my fingers. I was already "off".

I should have made clear that you are looking at the distant object, not your finger. The finger is just a "ghost" in the middle.

This won't work if you badly need a prescription lens but are not wearing it. That would be like trying to work out which hand you can punch harder with, whilst having one arm tied behind your back.

OK, I use my finger and point to a distance object, some 500 yard away, neighbor's telephone pole; as if the finger is the front sight, the telephone pole is the target. Both eyes can see and concentrate on the pole using the finger. Then right eye closed, left eye has no problem; left eye closed, right eye is totally off.

Now I am confused.

Conradin, you should not be confused - this test merely suggests that you are left eye dominant. If you shoot left-handed, don't sweat it. If you are shooting well with your right eye and right hand, don't sweat it.

If you are having a problem shooting with contralateral eye dominance, you have three choices - either 1) learn to shoot with your weak hand or B) adjust your posture to get your dominant eye in line with the sights when you are shooting with your strong hand or III) or continue to practice shooting with you non-dominant eye. (A fourth choice would be to give up and find another hobby, but I don't think you want to do that.) If you are using an occluder over your left eye (and you already have a significant investment in right-handed grips) the last option is what I'd go with.

Perhaps one of the coaches on TT can recommend which is best, but my hunch is you will be told to decide which is best for you.

Roger

conradin wrote:OK, I use my finger and point to a distance object, some 500 yard away, neighbor's telephone pole; as if the finger is the front sight, the telephone pole is the target. Both eyes can see and concentrate on the pole using the finger. Then right eye closed, left eye has no problem; left eye closed, right eye is totally off.

Forget any comparison to pistol shooting; imagine it is real life.

Look at the pole with both eyes open. Raise your arm so that your finger is pointing at it, but still looking at the pole.

I think you are saying that when you close you right eye the finger is still pointing at the pole, but when you close your left eye the finger is pointing to the left of the pole.

If that is the case then you are left eye dominant.

David Levene wrote:Forget any comparison to pistol shooting; imagine it is real life.

Look at the pole with both eyes open. Raise your arm so that your finger is pointing at it, but still looking at the pole.

I think you are saying that when you close you right eye the finger is still pointing at the pole, but when you close your left eye the finger is pointing to the left of the pole.

If that is the case then you are left eye dominant.

OK. Go it. Did this again with your careful instruction now. Right eye open, nothing changes, left eye open finger ended up pointing right of pole quite a bit. Right eye dominant then?

conradin wrote:

David Levene wrote:Forget any comparison to pistol shooting; imagine it is real life.

Look at the pole with both eyes open. Raise your arm so that your finger is pointing at it, but still looking at the pole.

I think you are saying that when you close you right eye the finger is still pointing at the pole, but when you close your left eye the finger is pointing to the left of the pole.

If that is the case then you are left eye dominant.

OK. Go it. Did this again with your careful instruction now. Right eye open, nothing changes, left eye open finger ended up pointing right of pole quite a bit. Right eye dominant then?

Correct

Right hand, right eye plus prescription shooting glasses, blinder left eye, pistol.
Left hand, left eye no prescription shooting glasses, blinder right eye, long arm.
Works?

Wrong!

Whether you shoot right or left, you probably still need a lens that pulls the focus of your eye to the front sight. It can be added to a prescription that corrects astigmatism or other errors.

Rover wrote:Wrong!

Whether you shoot right or left, you probably still need a lens that pulls the focus of your eye to the front sight. It can be added to a prescription that corrects astigmatism or other errors.

Correct. I'm wondering just where the best place is to locate the focal point of the lens so that the front sight is relatively crisply focused but the target is not wiped into a total blur. I would think that the point will vary along with the strength(?) of the prescription depending on the distance of the event to the target.

Speculating totally now, might it be that for 10 meter air pistol the focal point might be three feet or so in front of the front sight whereas for 25 meter it might be a bit further out from the front sight?

Brian who speculates with optics, but never stocks. :)