There are hunters and shooters who encounter all-too-common shooting faults until they realise that the left eye rules. It's very easy to find out, with three simple steps. It's very easy to find out.
Which eye is my dominant eye?
To find out which eye is your dominant eye, you only need two things
- A fixed point to look at
- Your thumb
To start, you'll need to point at a fixed point far away with your arm outstretched and your thumb outstretched. You will have to keep both eyes open and cover with your thumb what you are aiming at, so the target you are aiming at should not be too big.
Secondly, you will need to close your left eye. If when you do this you notice that your thumb stays on the same distant point covering the target, it means that your dominant eye is your right eye.
Naturally, you will now have to corroborate that the right eye is dominant. To do this you will now have to close your right eye and you will notice that your thumb has moved quite a bit from the point you originally covered, confirming that your dominant eye is the right eye.
It is clear that in the case of the left dominant eye, looking with the right eye is when the fixed point is perfectly displaced. You will have to perform the same steps but close your right eye instead of your left eye in the first step and vice versa in the next step.
In case you have any doubts here below you can see an example of the three steps to follow. Cover a mark/object that is some distance away with our thumb with both eyes open, close the left eye in step two and observe if it stays the same or changes and close the right eye and observe if the thumb of the dot "moves".
This effect (of eye - target alignment) should be transmitted to the stock of the weapon, because if you look at the curvature of right-handers, the right-handed curvature allows the rifle to be positioned with the right shoulder to have the scope in front of you and straight ahead.
Why shoot with both eyes open?
- If you already know which eye is your dominant eye, our recommendations are:
Whenever you can (except for left-handed shooters) you should point as naturally as possible and keep both eyes open towards the point where you want to shoot with the aiming point of your carbine. It is highly recommended that from the time of initiation we get used to practising shooting with both eyes open, always making sure that your directing eye coincides with the cheekbone of the carbine rest.
- This will bring us important advantages in order to hit our shot, since:
- We do not reduce our field of vision, as when we close one eye we are reducing our field of vision by approximately 25%.
- We will have the ability to measure distances. Calculating how far away the target is is essential, which is impossible with a closed eye. -
- Shooting with both eyes open also helps us in a fundamental way emotionally. Closing one eye significantly increases our sense of insecurity and therefore stress, which is not good for the hunter or shooter when shooting.
Although it is not the norm, for a certain group of right-handed people their dominant eye is the left eye, which prevents them from shooting with their eyes open, something fundamental for the shotgun, for example, as both eyes allow them to calculate the depth of movement of the target while shooting. It is recommended for this group of people to shoot with a carbine specially made for left-handers, or failing that, an ambidextrous carbine. ```
