Contact Lenses & Shooting

Am new to all this and am just after some advice if possible..

I have started shooting and am having some difficulty with certain clays and the guy who is giving me lessons ( Scott @ Mickley Hall ) is having difficulties figuring it out as I am.

Sat at home last night I had a possible eureka moment, but before proving my stupidity to Scott thought I would ask a question..

I wear contact lenses but use what are classed as mono vision lenses, right eye does close up, left eye does distance and somehow brain makes it work.

Could this be the problem and if so would a pair of glasses be best or a set of contacts just for missing clays with ??

Thanks,

I would say its more than likely the issue, but are you left or right handed when shooting? Perhaps a proper pair of shooting glasses would help

Chris Reedy said:

Am new to all this and am just after some advice if possible..

I have started shooting and am having some difficulty with certain clays and the guy who is giving me lessons ( Scott @ Mickley Hall ) is having difficulties figuring it out as I am.

Sat at home last night I had a possible eureka moment, but before proving my stupidity to Scott thought I would ask a question..

I wear contact lenses but use what are classed as mono vision lenses, right eye does close up, left eye does distance and somehow brain makes it work.

Could this be the problem and if so would a pair of glasses be best or a set of contacts just for missing clays with ??

Thanks,

Click to expand...

Testing for master eye, with or without contact lenses is very easy. Did your coach test you?

Mick,

Am right handed..

my thought is the being right handd and right eye being set for close up may be a problem ??

Les,

No not yet, he is doing some tests for my eyes this Saturday.

Master Eye ?

He is checking for dominance and similar things that I will hopefully understand more of this weekend.

Is that what you mean by Master Eye ?

It appears then that your left eye is picking up the target at distance? As Les said did your coach test for eye dominance? If not i think i would look elsewhere (no pun intended)

Chris - the expert on this is Ed Lyons - there is a thread about a few of us who have visited Ed to sort our complex eye issues (I'm still in the middle of my journey with him)

http://www.shootclayforum.com/topic/2750-a-visit-to-flint-partners-optometrists/page__hl__flint

http://www.shootclayforum.com/topic/3245-a-second-visit-to-flint-and-partners/page__hl__flint

I'll ask Ed to look in on this thread, but I might suggest a call to him...

Chris Reedy said:

Les,

No not yet, he is doing some tests for my eyes this Saturday.

Master Eye ?

He is checking for dominance and similar things that I will hopefully understand more of this weekend.

Is that what you mean by Master Eye ?

Click to expand...

Yes Chris master eye is another term for eye dominance. Most right handers, but not all, have a right master eye. It's reversed for lefties normally. Some people have no master eye at all. Whichever is the case, your coach will be able to advise on a suitable course of action. Most coaches that I've known will generally test for master eye on the first lesson, if the pupil has never shot before or if they are shooting to one side.

Thanks to all for suggestions and advice.

We are doing various checks for eye dominance tomorrow.

Its probably my fault he is struggling as not sure if I have actually mentioned that I wear contacts, I have worn them for years and its just the way things are.

Am also going for lens check up next week so with mention to optician then.

Thanks again..

Chris Reedy said:

Am new to all this and am just after some advice if possible..

I have started shooting and am having some difficulty with certain clays and the guy who is giving me lessons ( Scott @ Mickley Hall ) is having difficulties figuring it out as I am.

Sat at home last night I had a possible eureka moment, but before proving my stupidity to Scott thought I would ask a question..

I wear contact lenses but use what are classed as mono vision lenses, right eye does close up, left eye does distance and somehow brain makes it work.

Could this be the problem and if so would a pair of glasses be best or a set of contacts just for missing clays with ??

Thanks,

Click to expand...

It concerns me that someone has already started giving you lessons (and I assume charging you for them ) yet they didnt immediately establish your master eye situation. Surely after a safety briefing, eye dominance would be the first thing a coach should look at before you even picked the gun up?

Hopefully you have sorted your issues out today. What you see when looking at a clay with a pre-mounted gun is very important. Type of gun, stance, gunfit, choke and cartridges are of no consequence if you can't see what you are supposed to be shooting at. Eye dominance is a completely different issue which can very easily be wrongly diagnosed and have an enormous influence on shooting ability.

Poor eyesight here also, peripheral vision with most spectacles is compromised, unless you buy certain brands prescription shooting glasses that is. Keep to contact lenses

went yesterday and problem seems to be sorted although still somewhat confusing.

first 50 clays not a problem with left eye dominance then half way through 2nd 50 for some reason eyes started to fight each other and left eye took over.

quick bit of tape over left lens of safety glasses and shot far far better than was before..

seems to be when eyes start to get a bit tired then left eye takes over, so need to sort that out...

I wear a pair of Peltor Maxim ballistic grade wrap around glasses with a prescription insert.

These are popular with the US military etc apparently, they have 3 sets of lenses or 4 sometimes, the arms remove from one set to another, then the prescription inserts remove and move from 1 set to another.

I've got on with them very well, very light and comfortable and you can't see the inserts at all when your wearing them. I actually bought 2 pairs, 1 for work (construction sites) and 1 for shooting they were that good.

You buy the glasses with the inserts then get a optician to pop some lenses in the inserts for you. They don't work out very cheap, but are good as you can you cheap changing your prescription in the inserts if your vision changes, with out buying full new glasses.

Regards Martin

WTF!

You are right to have worked out that your lenses are probably causing you a problem hitting certain targets..

Right handed shooter (shooting off right shoulder), shooting with both eyes open, needs to be right eyed dominant. Due to your lenses (left eye set up to see distance) your left eye will be dominating.

Maybe when you concentrate and are fresh you can get your right eye to work.....but it's set up for reading! So how can you be relying on it to be your dominant eye for shooting. It seems blindingly obvious to me.

Left eye dominant shooters, shooting off their right shoulder, can either close an eye or tape/cloud their left lens. You can do that but you will still be at a disadvantage as your right eye is using a prescription for reading......You would probably be fine if your lenses were the other way round or you shot off your left shoulder...... It would probably scramble your brain to swap around the way your mono lenses are working, but it may be possible. It is also possible ( and may be the easier option as you have just started shooting) to shoot off your left shoulder.

I'm short sighted, and wear contact lenses, but can't read a thing with them in. If I put reading glasses on, I can't see a thing if I look up. If you close your left eye, how well can you actually see the target??

Good luck with sorting it out.

Hi Chris,

Really interesting thread here! Monovision is a useful method of vision correction for everyday life, but not ideal for sport as it will reduce/remove your depth perception and can certainly affect your eye dominance, smooth tracking movements and timing.

If you have been wearing the lenses like this for some time, your brain will have learned to suppress the image from the right eye (your near focus) when you are looking into the distance.

However, this can break down and become inconsistent when you are stressed, dehydrated, tired etc. This can then draw the eyes to the muzzle and AWAY from the bird which will lead to a miss.

This can sometimes get WORSE as we become a more experienced shot - beginners often shoot with feel and without fear ("beginner's luck") and as we try harder and start to analyse such things as "lead" then this focus bounce from muzzle to bird and back can become a bigger issue.

The simplest solution would be to ask your Optometrist for some daily disposable contacts to correct the right eye for distance when shooting, although it may take a little bit of practice to get used to the different target picture.

How are you getting on?

Ed,

Have over the last couple of weeks had 2 very thorough eye tests plus other visual tests.

I have used mono vision lenses for approx 3 years now and normally dont have any issues with anything I do, apart from reading music off a stand but for that I have a pair of glasses that go over the top of my lenses.

Outcome currently is.. Optician has ordered me a lens just for my right eye for when I am shooting, he has suggested that I use this and cover part of my left lens with a bit of magic tape to ensure I use right eye as much as possible.

If lens doesnt work only step left is to have a set of prescription lenses made for a pair of shooting glasses..

Just have to wait & see now

Hi Chris,

The great thing about contacts is they are relatively inexpensive and give us lots of options to try.

I would be cautious about going for prescription shooting specs as an alternative to the contacts as, realistically, they will just correct the eyes in the same way - you will be pretty adapted to monovision now so give the new shooting contacts lenses plenty of time to bed in.

Taping an eye off can be handy for new shooters to build confidence and target inventory, but can often cause us to plateau.

A well balanced, relaxed and efficient visual system that keeps TOTAL focus on the bird, coupled with a good consistent move and mount will lead to success.

Keep us posted!

There is going to be no rush with the prescription lenses.

I dont like wearing glasses of any sort hence contacts for about the last 25 years.

The tape across a lens is only a strip top to bottom, hopefully this way still keep perifril vision and not interfere to much.

Am new to al this so just planning on seeing what happens and how things work hopefully