Sighting a rifle, am I whacked?
 

Ok, this may souond totally lame, but I cannot squint and close my left eye. This messes up my sightning and I miss targets. Now, if I hold the gun on the left side, I can sight down with my left eye and hit the target.

Anyone else have this 'problem'? Should I just keep shooting on the left side?

Yes, I am a novice :)

Not that unusual. I keep both eyes open when I target sight.

You have got to train your eye. Hold it closed with a finger. Keep the other one open. Took me a week or two (as a kid).

Brad, you also need to determine which eye is dominant.

Hold your arm out straight in front of you, put your thumb up point it at something (use my avatar for example). Now focus on your thumb and avatar with both eyes open.

Now, close one eye, while looking at your thumb and avatar. Do the same with the other eye.

The avatar will appear to "move" a bit behind your thumb with one eye. The eye that does not move your thumb from the avatar is your dominant eye.

Keep both eyes open. Same with operating a camera. Don't close one eye.

It's not unusual for shooters to be "cross-eye dominant". Do what Pete says and determing your dominant eye. If you are right handed and "left eyed", it will make it tougher for you. Since you wear eye protection when you shoot any way, just leave your left eye open and cover that lens with a piece of tape. Lots of us match shooters do that even if we are not cross-eye dominant. Studies have shown that closing one eye actually reduces the visual accuity of the one left open. Most experienced shooters will tell you to leave both eyes open. That's pretty distracting at first, but the tape helps. Eventually you might not even need it.

Yep. I am right hand, left eye dominant and I surf/snowboard goofy foot. Dang, what does this all mean :) Thanks for the tips, I'll try keeping both eyes open.

Maybe you'd do better shooting left handed? Actually learning ambidextrous shooting skills can be useful. If bolt action rifles are your bag, I believe some manufacturers produce models for lefties...I'm not sure who though...

no way, i am right handed and left eyed. it is only a real problem with handguns and shooting arrows. try it with both eyes open. if you are target shooting, get one of those shooting glasses with a blocked eye. wont work with hunting tho. "what deer?"

oh, is the distance of the scope to your eye correct? set right, you lay your head down and you see a big circle view.

Vash, not everybody uses a scope...depends on the hunting terrain & other factors. Iron sights can still be damned effective, perhaps even superior if you're brush hunting.

I too shoot both eyes open. But it is important to know which eye to use. Lots of people don't even know which eye is dominant.
Tactically it is important to reduce tunnel vision as much as possible. Keeping both eyes open is a big plus when it comes to peripherial (sp) vision and situational awareness.

And yes, they make leftie bolt actions, although you usually need to order them. I'm a leftie. :)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1129138970.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1129139073.jpg

damn good point! i guess growing up in the high desert made me skewed.

iron sights? you guys are GOOD :)

Lee? Is that a Remington BDL I spot with a left handed bolt? Leupold 3-9? duplex hairs? Caliber? Nice looking rifle. I had a BDL...could have been the right handed sister of yours. It was stolen from a gun shop while it was there for work. Hunting season was fast approaching, so it was replaced with a Ruger, all I could find locally in the time I had. The Ruger shoots well, but I still miss that BDL.... Yes Vash, for brush hunting, a short overall length lever action, iron sights has it's advantages. You sacrifice a bit in accuracy, but the easier carry through the thick stuff and ability to keep your eyes on the critter without peering through a scope are plusses you give up the accuracy for. I'm talking terrain where 50-75 yards could be considered a long shot. Western Cascades foothills or the coast mountains are full of thick brushy areas.

Up here in the rainy Pacific Northwest, in our thick rain forest brush, open sights or peep sights with BIG apperatures and BIG front beads beat a scope every time. Even if a scope doesn't fog (my various Leupolds never have - Oregon made might have something to do with that) they do get covered in rain water droplets. That, and they are just big and clumsy for brush whackin'.

My favorite rifles are for the most part ambidexterous. They are all single shots. Except for my couple of side hammer Sharps, all others either have a center hammer (Ballard and High Wall) or internal hammers (Ruger Number Ones). Great hunting rifles one and all, and not the dissadvantage most would think.

Jeff, you'll get no argument for me on that one. I like the looks of the Ruger number one rifles. Plus, without the length of the action, they are a great length for brush busting. Now, the HK lurking in the back of Leland's gun safe...there's a hunting iron for you! ;) Hard to tell from the pic, but that looks like a 7.62 (.308) magazine?

Looks like a G3/HK-91 to me...

+1 on the keep both eyes open. It's not that hard. I'm right handed and left eye dominant, but I shoot pistol and rifle right handed and right eyed.

Try the manual method of forcing your left eye closed. It's just muscle coordination that you need to develop. Some people just haven't 'learned' to close only one eye at a time.

take a look into a peep sight. I use these exclusively on my rifles. You can easily keep both eyes open and you won't lose your target.

Nuthin' wrong with single shot rifles. If you need to spray several bullets out there quickly in order to kill something, then someone should take your guns away.

I prefer aperture sights on my rifles as opposed to scopes. The last couple times I hunted hog, I used my M1. Next time I will probably take my Winchester 94 in .357 for closer work, and one of my K31s for longer range shots. Both will have aperture sights. I might get a clamp on scope mount for the K31 and put an inexpensive scope on it for giggles, though...

I'll share a little tip I found out the hard way. If you ever shoot at a skunk in your yard at night, make sure you pop him a couple times, because your neighbors will not appreciate a mortally wounded skunk crawling under their house to die!:eek:

Ever since that incident, I go after the nightime catfood stealers
with a full magazine and the varmints always get a couple MardiGras shots:)

I have what looks like the exact same gun. Mine is the Rem 700 BDL left hand action with the same Leupold 3-9 scope chambered for 7mm Mag. Sure can knock down an elk.

Agree on the two eye. It will help acquire the target faster especially with a scope. Interesting thing happened to me. I started life as right eye dominant. As I got into late teens I developed a condition where the cornea gets really cone shaped in my right eye. My dominance actually changed to the left eye. Sucks too because I was a really good shot before. I am having to relearn everything about shooting lefty now.

O.k., this might raise a few eyebrows and get me in trouble, but I thought I'd share my favorite "backyard pest control" recipe.

Start with your favorite .45-70 single shot or lever gun. Lacking one of those, use your .458 Winchester mag. Cast up some pure lead bullets, with a minimum weight of 400 grains; 500 is better. A flat nose really helps. Again; pure soft lead - no wheel weights or anything like that. Lube them up with your favorite soft lube and load them in the cases over about 3 grains of Unique, then 4 grains, 5 grains, 6 grains, and maybe finally 7 grains. Load about half a dozen of each. Grab a cleaning rod and a mallet and head to somewhere you can shoot.

Start with the "hottest" loads. Shoot them up, making sure all of them exit the barrel. If they do, grab the next bunch with one grain less Unique. Keep going down one grain, making sure they all exit the barrel, until one sticks. Pound it out with the cleaning rod and mallet. That is where you finally have gone too far; go back up one grain to the last one that did not stick. That's your load.

You will notice it makes almost no noise at all. They will only be doing about 300 fps, but they sure will smack the crap out of "backyard pests". Far more effective, quiet, and fun than any air rifle or .22. That big lead slug bowls over the racoons and possums like no one's business. Be carefull of you backstop as always.

To block out the non-dominant eye, smear a bit of chapstick on the lense of your shooting glasses. (The non-dominant eye lense that is.)
I was told once by a sporting clays instructor that a certain percentage of women have a dominant eye that switches sides. Sometimes it switches sides in response to recoil.
-Chris

Jeff,

I got a better idea... what I want to do:

.357 Mag lever rifle. Thread the muzzle, 9mm suppressor. Shoot .38s out of it that are subsonic anyway, and you'd end up with about the same sound as a pellet gun being shot.

Yep, that's what I see too. Unfortunately there is some wooden thing in the foreground that got in the way when the picture was taken...

Save for this little thing called the Second Amendment.

Aside, thinking that you don't need to have a quick followup shot (by using a semiautomatic rifle) when hunting is just plain ignorant.

Case in point, I was hog hunting a couple years ago with my M1 (that's a semiautomatic .30-06 that the military used during WWII and Korea). At about dusk we happened upon a group of small hogs. I pop out of the truck and take a kneeling position, and fire a round at one of the little bastards. Hit him. He was squealing like hell, and I realized I had basically hit him in the ass, which is not usually a fatal shot. I quickly and easily fired another shot through his ribcage, which put him down.

That would work, Matt, but you would need the special FFL that allows citizens to own suppressed arms. My way is perfectly legal and, believe it or not, probably quieter. Plus that 400-500 grain flatnose .45 just flat smacks 'em.

If you reload you can do the same with your .357/.38 Special lever gun. Get a mold for one of the 250 grain rifle bullets, like for the old .35 Remington, .35 Whelen, or something. Cast from pure lead, and load them over a couple grains of Unique. No suppressor and a lot more oomph on the pests.

The very heavy for caliber bullet is important to success here. It helps the powder, which in no way even begins to fill the case, to burn cleaner. The pure lead is also important at such low velocities for two reasons. First, you will get a few stuck in the barrel as you decide on your load. Pure lead pushes out pretty easy. Second, you can drive them much slower without getting them stuck in the first place.

The combination has to be seen and heard to believe. All you hear is a hollow "foop" like a cork coming out of a wine bottle. Accuracy to 50 yards or so is usually on the order of one-hole groups from good rifles.

Jeff, remind me to never piss you off ;)

Jeff, you do not need a special FFL. It's a Class III item, you just go through the process (if it's not illegal in your state).

You fill out a form, get it signed off by the cheif law enforcement official in your area (usually the county sheriff), go through a class III dealer, pay a $200 tax, get on the list with the BATFE, and get your suppressor. I have several friends her in Texas that have suppressors. Several have full autos. Several have both. (I have neither, sadly...)

GOD BLESS TEXAS! :)

Washington is a "class III state". I know several people with suppressors and full autos. Not my cup of tea per se, but to each his own. The registration process and backgroung checks always seemed a bit much for me. I'll stick with my black powder single shots for the most part. This modern whiz-bang stuff is highly over rated. Just remember, "smokeless powder is a passing fad".

Nice... living in a more free state is a wonderful thing.

Myself, I'm going to SBR my AR15, get a 9mm upper with about a 6" barrel, threaded, then get a can. :)


That's when I'm not shooting my 1874 Sharps with black powder cartridges launching lead bullets I cast myself....

My tastes vary a bit...

My eyes are messd up I guess. I tryed the domanant eye thing its not working for me.

If I use my finger to point at something on the wall with both eyes open I have this problem.

When I focus on the point on the wall I see 2 fingers and 1 point on the wall. If I focus on my finger I see 2 points on the wall and 1 finger. Why am I seeing double when I do this? Anyone ever heard of this?

When shooting I have always used my right eye because it just feels right. Next time I go I will try both eyes.

Kyle

New Hampshire's state motto is "Live Free or Die". When I used to shoot bowling pins (its a sport for those of you who haven't heard of it) it wasn't unusual to be teamed up with guys shooting suppressed MP5's.
(An HK-MP5 is a 9mm submachine gun)
As an aside, they suck on pins. They fill them full of 9mm subsonics and tip them over but don't necessarily get them off the table.
-Chris

Chris, i have heard of others mention about shooting bowling pins. Do they shatter, or can you shoot them multiple times?

Are you sure you're holding up one finger? Are you drunk?
Just kidding. :D
If you point and focus at something 6 feet away you will see 2 fuzzy fingers - at least I do. When you close the dominant eye you will see the finger move a lot more than when you close the non-dominant eye.
-Chris

The pins are wood with a tough plastic covering. People can and do shoot them with 12 gauge slugs and they don't split. I used to shoot them in the top "bulb" with downloaded 44mag and they didn't split.

Hmmm, is it OK to go off topic in Off Topic? :)
Here's the story on Pin Shooting.
Each cntestant faces around 5 bowling pins on a steel table at 10 yds. The object of the game is to clear the pins from the table as fast as possible. (If one splits in half you need to shoot the pieces off.)
Different clubs have their own variations but generally there are a few classes: shotgun, small bore (like 9mm), large bore (like 44mag,45acp) and sometimes a class for .22's.

The club I used to shoot with would have 6 table and we'd divide up into teams of 3. Each team member would clear his own table and then he could help his teammates clear their table. I.e. I would clean up the "dead wood" from the guys shooting MP5's. At the very rear of the range (25yds) would be a candle pin (the "stop pin") that you would shoot last.

It's great fun.

-Chris

Any bowling alley will just give you old pins so they don't have to pay for disposal. They make great targets and can be shot quite a lot before they start to come appart. Depends on what you shoot them with, of course.