Technoid,

Do you have any sage advice for a person who is trying to shoot a shotgun with both eyes open after years of shooting with only one eye open?

A little background … a shooting buddy (really, this is not me I’m going to describe) has decided he needs to shoot with both eyes open. He has been shooting ATA style trap for a number of years by closing his left eye. His scores are consistently in the 18 – 22 range. He is right eye dominant and a right handed shooter. Alas, he started shooting with one eye but now wants to shoot with both eyes open … I suspect he believes that by using both eyes, his scores will improve.

So, there it is. Boots are on … wrist watch is held high (remember to save the watch when the effluent starts to pile up) … let the advice flow.

tj

Dear tj,

Do I have any sage advice? Come on now. All my advice is sage if you have the thyme to listen to it.

I really don’t see what your friend’s problem should be. You say that he is right eye dominant and right handed. He ought to be able just to open up the left eye and go on about his business. Obviously, he can’t so there may be more here than meets the eye (!).

Your friend may be right eye dominant, but his dominance might not be too strong. It varies with the individual. He might find if best to adopt two eye shooting by steps and sort of ease into it. I am not an optometrist, but this approach might work:

Start by putting the usual tape dot over the left lens of the shooting glasses, just like they do for people who are cross dominant. Take a piece of “frosty”, not clear, Scotch tape a bit smaller than a dime. Making sure that the gun is UNLOADED, have your friend mount the gun in the normal trap shooting manner. You hold the tape in front of his left eyeglass lens and move it around until it obscures the front bead. Stick it there.

This is the standard set up for the cross dominant shooter, but I think that it will help your friend “break in” to two eyed shooting. With the tape dot in place, he should not be able to start shooting with both eyes open. Once he gets used to it, then remove the tape and he should (might) be set.

There it is. I hope that I have added some spice to your life.

Best regards,

Bruce Buck
Shotgun Report’s Technoid
(Often in error, never in doubt.)