Sighting a rifle, am I whacked?

[Vipergrün]

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

[Rot 911]

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

[gaijindabe]

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).

[Leland Pate]

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.

[Superman]

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

[Jeff Higgins]

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.

[Vipergrün]

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.

[pwd72s]

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...

[vash]

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.

[pwd72s]

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.

[Leland Pate]

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.

[vash]

Originally posted by pwd72s
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.

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

iron sights? you guys are GOOD

[pwd72s]

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.

[Jeff Higgins]

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.

[pwd72s]

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?

[id10t]

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

[FrayAdjacent911]

+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.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

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.

[Superman]

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.

[FrayAdjacent911]

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...