Shooting skeet two eyed or one eyed?

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distra

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I've been out to the skeet field a bit lately and not hitting as many birds as I'd like. I can hit the high/low 1 & 7 ok, but having some trouble through the middle stations. I think I close my left eye (right handed and right eye dominant) at 1 and 7, but not at the other stations. Should I be trying to keep both eyes open or close my left eye? I've been checking out http://www.bendershima.com to get some pointers. I'm shooting a 870 12 ga and 1100 20 ga if it makes a difference. I've been told I shoot the shotgun like a rifle which I know is not the optimum for shooting skeet.:eek:
 
Both eyes open.

Score Better at Skeet - Fred Misseldine
Is a great older publication I recommend highly.
Not only will Misseldine go through how to hit each station, also go back over as to why one misses and how to correct .

Eye Dominance, Gun Fit, Correct Basics are the starting keys .

Shotguns are Pointed, not Aimed. So the keys I mentioned above are critical for the shotgun to become an effective extension of you.

Rifle shooters have a hard time in not moving the body and wanting to aim.
Just how they have programmed their human computer to be, and this is all instilled and ingrained.

New shooters tend to break targets they don't have time to "think" about.
Reason being, they don't have time to measure, analyze and mess up, what the Human Computer [eye-to-hand coordination ] can do.

You will be fine, do not get frustrated or disillusioned. Find a seasoned shooter to assist.
Self Esteem and Fun is important.
If that means shooting nothing but Low 7, and busting one right after another, then do so.
It really does assist with not only L 7, also being one with the gun, self esteem and fun factor.


Steve
 
Is your right eye dominant enough

If your right eye is stronger, enough so that opening and closing your left eye does not give you a change of impact then you are doing yourself a disservice do shoot one eyed.

That is have can hold your shotgun on a spot on the wall and opening and closing your left eye does not change your view over the barrel of the gun on the spot on the wall, your right eye is dominant.

If opening and closing your left eyes give you a change of impact your eyes are to even, and you if you are able to hit with both eyes open it is advantage to shoot both eyes open.

If you have like I do eyes so evenly matched that they take turns then you will be trying to shoot three changing point of impacts, that is the right eye when it is dominant will give you one, when both eyes are even will be another and left eye dominat will be a third. when this is going on you need to dim the sight for your left eye, tapeing, partial or completely bloking sight through the shooting glasses lense, or close the left eye.

When I have tried anything with my shooting glasses, my left eye I tries to see through the blockage and really messes with my shooting, so I fall back to one eye. there are as many if not more shooters that have cross dominance that shoot one eye because of the left eye taking over even when the lense is completely blocked, that I gave up argueing with the both eyes at all costs group.

But the importent thing is safely having fun, or is that having fun safely,and getting the most enjoyment out of the sport as you can!

learning yourself, what works and what doesn't, is a close second.

Also with skeet the hardest thing for most new shooters, is learning to get the right lead with out watching the barrel,

keeping your head down is a close second, until you get comfortable with the leads and trusting the gun so you are not looking at it, then it moves into first place
 
The first think you need to do is to figure out which is your dominant eye. If your dominant eye is on the same side as the shotgun, you should definitely shoot skeet with both eyes open. If your dominant eye is on the other side (aka, cross-dominance), then things get a bit more complicated.
 
I'm definately right eye dominant. If I pick a spot to point the shotgun at mount the gun then swing to that point, the barrel is lined up on the spot and so is my right eye. When I close my left eye I see the spot right at the end of my barrel.
 
I'm guessing your problem might be stopping your swing or not enough lead (that's "LEED" not LED) since 1 and 7 require very little- mostly straight on and straight away.
A good coach can spot the problems and help you correct them in short order.
Always shoot with 2 eyes.
 
Any advice for the deeply cross-dominant novice shotgunner?

I'm right-handed but left-eye dominant.
I don't want to shoot long guns from my left shoulder.
I shoot pistol and rifle with one eye closed
because of cross-dominance issues.
Done a lot of action pistol shooting and fair amount of rifle.

I'm just gearing up for the aerial shotgun sports.

Acquired an 870 express 12ga with 26" VR brl,
equipped it with a Lyman P110G Unidot.
(I picked the 26" over the 28" based on my modest upper-body strength.
I shuffle paper for my day job, not sacks of cement.)

I've read that the 4mm Unidot is about the best option short of electro-optical sights for someone with cross-dominance issues.
I would happily use a red dot or holosight for aerial shotgunning but I
assume that means I would be excluded from any formal competition format.

(Can someone confirm?).

Thanks
 
Any advice for the deeply cross-dominant novice shotgunner?
Click to expand...

I'm left eye dominant and shoot right handed. I use a piece of Scotch tape on the left lens of my shooting glasses to block by vision of the muzzle when the gun is mounted. I use both eyes to identify and track the target. But once I mount the gun, the tape forces my right eye to take the shot. Maybe not perfect, but it works for me.
 
I find the scotch tape thing to do more harm than good, myself. Not much help for real-world shooting, either.

I was strongly left-eye dominant.

What I did was take a Ruger .22 target pistol, 3 magazines and a few bricks of ammo, and practice shooting both-eyes-open, using the right eye to shoot. It took some adjustment, but after a couple thousand rounds over a couple weeks, my brain "got" it. I can now use either eye, no problem.

I think this is FAR more useful for hunting, defense, pistol shooting, etc. than using scotch tape, vaseline, or whatever. Since then, I've bagged more birds, and I've won a club steel plate pistol speed match, which I shot both-eyes-open, right eye on the sights. Much faster target acquisition than one-eye shooting, at least for me.

Using a dot takes getting used to, also. I tried it. IMO I'd rather get used to shooting in the most flexible way possible, rather than spending time building a dependency on a new crutch. Hiking around the high desert with one eye partially blocked is a recipe for injury, and the quail sure don't wait for you to change your glasses.

I know someone who is a good shotgunner with one eye, but he only HAS one eye. If you have two, you want to be able to use them!
 
Last edited:
distra

Am I understanding you correctly? Are you saying that you shoot with two eyes sometimes and with one eye other times; in the same round? Doesn't that create problems with "sight picture" consistency?

Why do you change?
 
mswestfall, no not at all. I've been shooting with both eyes open and missing a lot. I thought I might be hitting 1 & 7 due to closing my left eye, but I have been trying to keep my left eye open all the time. I wanted to get an idea of whether or not I should stick with both eyes open or tape my left lense. I use tape during bullseye matches, but that's a way different style of shooting.
 
Both eyes open.

3-D vision is a hindrance for bullseye, but it's a real help for skeet, birds, etc.

That's why I believe it makes more sense to train your eyes than it does to use tape, etc.
 
Use whatever works for you. Rules are for those that wont experiment 'cause they read it in a book once.

I use both eyes to pick up the bird but sometimes (often) switch to one.

But I am shooting Low Gun International Skeet and hitting 24s and 25s.
 
I use both eyes to pick up the bird but sometimes (often) switch to one.
Click to expand...

That's a technique learned through training and experimentation, That's what I think makes the most sense. I can't say what will work for any individual, or even myself before I try.

I totally agree: no simplistic rules.

Except for this one: hanging stuff on your face and expecting it to solve shooting issues should not be the first thing you try.
 
One eye for almost anything

I have shot with one eye for almost all my life, If I do not my eyes take turns running the show, then I cann't hit squat!

While in the four years I have shot ATA, I have not hit a hundred straight yet, I have been into the high 90's straight a few times. My not having shot a perfect round is a body mechanic or mental break down, but not an eye sight or one eye shooter thing! Over swing on a straightaway, or not following through, riding a bird, moving left on a right or vice versa, those are not things that I tie up to one eyed shooting! Just thinkinng to much!

2 years ago I tried several things to shoot both eye's open, they did not work as my left eye was trying so hard to be of use! when I tried the black out lense, there were times that all I could see was the blacked out lense, it is weird being blind with one good eye open and not interfered with at all. but that did happen, and talking with other shooters that saw me getting that tape off (it was so bad I had to remove it not just close that eye!) in the middle of a 25, they told me that happens quite often, when a one eyed shooter tries to be talked in to shooting both eyes!

I bought the book, SCORE BETTER AT TRAP, by Fred Missidine, on page 78 he wrote, "The shooter with cross dominance, MUST SHOOT with ONE EYE CLOSED or blocked"! then he goes one to say it won't prevent someone from becoming a champion, we will just have to work harder!

I am and I may do it again, one eyed all the way!

AZ State handicap Champion This march, and runner up in the same event last year. I guess I would be better .............. NOT....................


..............with 2 eyes!
 
if that is a question

I would say yes.

Jacket cover counts 30 world and National trap and SKEET titles.

Also for a book that was published in the 70's, "many concider this former Winchester Professional to be, The Foremost SHOTGUN most Instructor in The World Today"

When I reread my last post this morning I see that I did not add:

My Skeet league averages for the last 4 years have been 43 to 46 out of 50, my average final standing individual in a league that has had 80 to 110 shooters is 14th.
 
Big Az Al,

Fred Misseldine was a true gentleman.
I am a big fan of his, and his books. I have been recommending them forever.
Even older, basically blind in one eye, Misseldine could still paint them out of the sky.
Poetry in motion.
I miss him. Yes I met the gentleman, has lessons given by him and shot with him.

Grant Isleng, Bob Brister are two other true gentleman.

Meeting Brister was a surprise, and an honor.

Then new stuff came out, new ideas, and of course The Great Equipment Race.

I was old school, along with others, before old school got to be referred to.

"Look, that fellow is shooting pass through"
"Don't that boy know he is supposed to shoot like that video tape?"
"Swing Thru? Never heard of it".

Folks talking about me, and those like me.

Had a few folks, totally bumfuzzled, I suggested they stop shooting, go get a cane pole and go fishing.
Seriously.
Get Misseldine's book, depending on if they were shooting trap or skeet and read it.
Get Brister's too.

Come back, and start at the beginning. Erase totally everything they were confused with.
Heck some even wanted to start with a BB Gun, and ping pong balls.

Skeet/Trap and they are hitting and steadily improving.
"I'm in the shoot-off" one would say one day.
Hell, I am grinning and puffed chested and right there for support!

A is A as Rand put it. Misseldine, Brister, and Isleng are just 3, that just knew, and still passing forward what is "A".
 
Thanks for all the helpful responses. Here is my plan for improving my hits. I've ordered Misseldine's book and picked up Bender's DVD. I'll read these and try to apply the ideas on the field. I will continue to practice on the field with the two experienced skeet shooters who have been working with me so far. Most important is for me to have fun and enjoy the sport, if that means I spend an extra few rounds at 1 & 7 to gain confindence I will do it. Thanks again, you folks are a great source of information.
 
I noticed when i was shooting skeet with two eyes i did a lot better than with just one. In fact i couldn't hit anything with one.
 
Don't underestimate the value of training off the field, in skeet as in any other sport.

It's free, and you can do it daily, too.
 
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