Dominant Eye, Sighting and Marksmanship Techniques

Each of us is either right-handed or left-handed depending on which hand we use most frequently to do daily tasks.

In the same way, each of us has one eye which we use to focus directly on an object. That eye is known as our dominant eye.

To shoot effectively, we must know which is our dominant or master eye.

If you have a right dominant eye you should shoot from the right shoulder, and if you have a left dominant eye you should shoot from the left shoulder.

There is a simple exercise we can do that lets us determine which is our dominant eye.

Pick a partner and stand ten to fifteen feet apart facing each other.

Extend your arms to full length.

With both eyes open, form a tight circle with your hands through which you can see your partner's nose.

Making sure you continue looking at your partner's nose, bring your hands back to your face.

When your hands touch your face, you will be looking through the circle at your partner's nose with your dominant eye.

If at all possible, shoot from the same shoulder as your dominant eye.

If it is impossible to change shoulders, you must always shoot with the master eye covered.

A piece of tape on the shooting glasses covering the dominant eye will work.

Right shoulder shooters: Bend your right arm at the elbow, touch the center of your chest with your right hand, raise your elbow so it is even with your shoulder.

With your left hand, right arm still raised, find the pocket in your right shoulder.

The pocket is located between the shoulder muscle and the collar bone.

Press hard on this pocket, remember where it is.

If you are a left shoulder shooter, bend your left arm at the elbow and touch the center of your chest with your left hand. With your right hand, left arm still raised, find the pocket in your left shoulder.

Take the gun in your left hand (in your right hand for left shoulder shooters). Grip the gun at the forearm.

Raise your right elbow.

Now, with your right hand place the butt of the gun in your shoulder pocket.

With your right hand, place your hand on the pistol grip, and keep your finger off the trigger.

Keep the gun pointed up in the air.

Place your cheek very gently on the stock.

With both eyes, look at the front sight.

Keep your cheek on the stock, gun pointed up in the air, finger off the trigger and left hand on forearm.

Move your left foot forward, about one foot, and slightly shift your weight to your left foot.

Keep looking at the front sight. Move the gun down to shoulder level, keeping the gun to your shoulder.

The five most important things to remember in firing a shot are: Proper sight alignment, Proper sight picture, Breath control, Trigger squeeze, and Follow through.

Breathing is very important in shooting.

For correct breathing, take a larger than normal breath, then let half of that breath out.

While holding remaining breath, sight and squeeze the trigger.

The reason you do not breathe while shooting from the prone position is the fact that the expansion of your chest will cause you to rise in your shooting position.

Just as important as breath control is trigger control.

The trigger itself should be squeezed using the first joint of the first finger.

This trigger squeeze is a steady pull on the trigger, straight back toward the eye of the shooter.

For a right-handed shooter, if the trigger is jerked or squeezed quickly, the shot will hit to the right of the bullseye.

For a left-handed shooter, if the trigger is jerked or squeezed quickly, the shot will hit to the left of the bullseye.

From the moment the trigger sets the shot in motion, a certain amount of time is required for the projectile to be free of the barrel.

Even though the time span is very short, any movement of the gun during this time will affect the accuracy of the shot on the target.

Now that we know how to hold the gun and we know which eye is our dominant eye, the next thing to learn is how to sight the gun.

We must learn correct sighting in order to shoot safely and accurately hit the target at which you are shooting.

The rear sight on the Model 499 is called a peep sight. This is because there is a very small peep hole to look through the rear sight.

Different guns feature different types of front and rear sights based on the purpose of the gun.

Knowing how to align the various types of sights is important in order to be a good marksman with different guns.

Many rifles utilize a rear notch sight with a front post or blade sight.

These are commonly referred to as iron sights or open sights.

When shooting with open sights, the bullseye is placed directly on top of the front post sight which is centered in and level with the top of the rear notch sight.

Some guns will have a rear peep sight with a front post sight.

Some front sight kits will have interchangeable front post or aperture sights.

A proper sight picture using these sights requires positioning the bullseye on top of the front post with the top of the post in the center of the peep sight.

On guns used in match competition, such as the guns we'll be shooting, the most common sight combination is a rear peep sight with a front aperture sight.

An aperture is simply a small hole in the center of a disc.

The size of the hole can vary to accommodate various targets and shooter preferences.

In a proper sight picture using this sighting system, the front aperture is centered in the rear peep sight and the bullseye should be centered in the front aperture.

As a rule of thumb, the front aperture sight should appear to be about one and one half times the diameter of the bullseye when centered.