Magazine Review CLAYTARGET-NATION - March 2021 Over the last 14 years I’ve read over 100 shooting articles a year. That’s just the instructional articles. I read all of the ones on ammo from Tom Roster and L.P. Brezny and some of the new gun critiques also. The instructional articles come under several headings, but the two main ones are the lengthy textbook kind and the actual shooting theory ones. Textbook articles give you long explanations of how your mind works or your eyes. These are great for a coach who can turn that information into something useful when working with a student. For the average shooter they are tedious and never finish with any solutions to your problems in the real world. This is the nature of Ed Lyons’ article this month. It’s more of a textbook chapter than one of instruction. He provides good explanations on the eye and its function in the shooting process. For example, he notes disassociation of the eyes from the target to the barrel obviously causes visual dissonance disrupting the sight picture usually ending in a missed or at best a chipped target. Most of the article is a dissertation on the eye, but Mr. Lyons does give us good advice
along with his physiological explanations. Dry eyes can be a problem, especially early or late in the day. Recently my vision was foggy one morning at the Florida State Trapshoot. I stopped by and asked my friend Dr. Frank Rively, an optometrist who specializes in shooting glasses, for some eye drops. He handed me a bottle after putting some drops in my eyes. It took about 15 minutes, but it did fix the problem. The old saw “use the palest lens to allow the most light into your eye” should be taken with a grain of caution. Mr. Lyons notes, if you are light sensitive using lighter lenses can obviously be counterproductive. Same is true with people sensitive to glare. Stick with the darker lens. Getting regular eye exams is implied as he talks about having the highest visual acuity possible. Seeing the target with more acuity allows for better visual fix on the target and better definition. An Insight to Sports by Dr. Wayne F. Martin is a classic book on vision and its relationship to the shooting sports. Dr. Martin outlines several eye exercises to improve your visual muscles and their ability to see and concentrate on a moving target. While not mentioned in the article, Mr. Lyons does talk about the eye muscles and how they effect your ability to see. 6
