Both eyes open?

[petemacmahon]

Would love to, but..........

I've struggled with this for years. If anyone in my family had been a shooter back when I started hunting/shooting in 1974, it might have saved me allot of hassle. While I am right handed, for some reason from a very early age I always batted lefty. Not sure if it is related to natural dominance. When I starting shooting rifles as a kid, I did it righty, and always had to close my left eye to see the sights correctly. Growing up, I never could hit the broad side of a flying barn with a scattergun but grew to shoot rifles very well.

It wasn't until my late 20s when I started shooting handguns that I realized that my left eye was my dominant eye. But I had been shooting righty for so long and shotgunning never was important to me, I never saw the need to change.

Fast forward in aging, and in the last 5 years I've realized that the front sight is much crisper using my left eye. I've switched over to shooting my handguns using my left eye, still shooting righty.

BUT, two eyes have never really worked for me. It seems that I don't have a strong dominance and so I can never seem to get the handgun naturally aligned up with my left eye every time up. So, I tend to slightly close my right eye all the time now so the dominant eye takes command.

Maybe this can be learned or trained with repetition - IDK. But I've never had the patience for it. I wish I could.

 

[colin1230]

Both eyes open all the time. Learned when shooting a shotgun years ago. Bird hunting will break you of closing one eye.

 

[arjay]

I became a much better shot when I worked on using both eyes,though I've reverted back to using one now.Cant tell if it's just rust or old age,but it's a bear to get em both focused.

 

[federali]

The Eyes Have It

Closing one eye costs you half your vision and so it is always preferable to use both eyes. The problem arises for guys like me who are cross-eye dominant. That is, I'm right handed but my left eye is dominant. There's no easy fix for this.


If nothing else, once I forced myself to shoot shoulder weapons off the right shoulder, I became ambidextrous with long guns, a really welcome tactical advantage in the deer woods. I've taken several deer left handed when the deer approached from my right.

 

[nobounty]

I've been practicing this, always closed one when shooting as a child. At first it seemed totally impossible. I couldn't tell what I was supposed to be looking at, and everything was in double. So I spent a night in my basement with my rifle and pistol drawing down on a salt shaker across the room over and over and it started to become clearer. It's a weird feeling, you can really sense your brain working it out and figuring out which sights are real. At this point I hardly see the imaginary gun and am seeing big improvements.

The best tip I got was to momentarily close your weak eye and then slowly open it while focusing on keeping your vision focused in your strong eye. Then I moved on to just squinting my left eye but not fully closing it. Try it out, it really helped me learn how to keep both open. I also found the pistol much easier at first as the rear sight is so much further away than the rifle which helps limit the double/blurred vision.

 

[AlphaSig]

Nope. Right handed and Left Eyed dominant.
Shoot handguns w/right eye closed. Shoot rifles w/left eye closed. Works for me.
Too much going on w/both eyes open - feel like it limits my concentration also.

 

[Hapworth]

Interesting discussion at pistol-forum.com on eye dominance and the role it plays in helping or hindering shooting with both eyes open:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?17584-Eye-dominance-really-need-advice

Through-line is vision (focus, doubling, convergence and accommodation, etc.) are highly idiosyncratic and ultimately it doesn't really matter what you do -- eyes open, squint, one closed, etc. -- so long as its the best method for you to get fast, accurate hits...

 

[OLDSTER]

both eyes ?

In my younger years (back in the stone age ), I shot lots of Bulls-eye and PPC. Always shot single action Bulls-eye with only dominate eye open, and double action PPC with both eyes open. Now at my age it still works the same for me, but the results are not quite the same

 

[aarontart]

I have always shot with both eyes open. It just feels right to me and the only time I don't is when I am using a powered scope.

 

[MAZ711]

Interesting. I worked at S&W in 78' and 79'...I took their "Employee Shooting Program". It was a 6 month training. I really felt I had quality instructors,Don Vivenzio and John Contreau..who were the armorers for the "Armorers School" at S&W. Not once did they ever instruct us to use both eyes open. I can remember hanging with Don after class,lighting up the 100 yrd range...him squinting as he took his 3 shots from a .357 to try to hit a 2 ft steel plate at the end of the range. Then I would take my 3 shots. It's pretty rewarding to hear the "tink" when you hit that steel plate. I still use one eye. I've tried both open a few times but it wasn't comfortable. My model 41 is a better gun than I am a shooter. I did pretty well in the league with 1 eye at 50'.There are a lot of good opinions and might try to give "both" more of a chance now. I thought you might want to know how highly qualified instructors (shooters) at S&W taught me when I was a "newbie". After 39 yrs I still though a tight group at 50'..even with my 40 cal Model 99. I hope this helped.

 

[MAZ711]

PS I do feel squinting is tiring . Especially if practicing with multiple guns and if brought a lot of ammo. A comment earlier about using a cardboard from ear plug box to cover the non dominant eye....I get it. I used to put scotch tape over my non dominant on my glasses. Now I just smear on a "waterproofing" cream (more the consistency pf a Chap Stick) so at the end of shooting I just shine my glasses up !

 

[Bkreutz]

My Dad (WWII and Korea Marine) taught me to shoot with both eyes open, years later I appreciated it during my time in SE Asia (being able to see other things surrounding my intended target). Now I shoot USPSA pistol competition and peripheral vision comes in handy. I don't shoot bullseye but I can see why one eye might be more advantageous there.

 

[vytoland]

Both eyes open? = yepper

 

[Rastoff]

Not everyone can shoot with both eyes open.

 

[tops]

There are people that do not have a master eye and they have to close one eye. I do not have a master eye and it was years before I discovered why I have to close one eye. I have been shooting for 70 yrs. and for several years I shot over 30,000 shells per year so I know first hand that shooting more will not change the problem of not having a master eye. Larry

 

[jtcarm]

I was always an eyes open shooter, but my right eye has gotten so far-sighted with age I sometimes have to close the left to pick up the FS.

Fading eyes has got to be the most frustrating part of aging.

 

[Gulfecho]

Interesting question, I shoot a scoped or iron rifle with my left eye closed. I shoot a shotgun with both eyes open. One seems to pick up the bird one seems to locate the bead.

 

[oldylocks]

BUT, two eyes have never really worked for me. It seems that I don't have a strong dominance and so I can never seem to get the handgun naturally aligned up with my left eye every time up. So, I tend to slightly close my right eye all the time now so the dominant eye takes command.

I have this exact same problem. Unless I squint my left eye (not fully closed), my left eye will try to take over. I recently took some trap shooting lessons and the instructor put a small piece of plastic over the lens of my left eye glass. This little piece of plastic blurred my left eye vision, allowing my right, dominant eye to clearly focus.

The plastic is clear shrink wrap, sorta sticky on one side, the kind of plastic film that you peel away from a surface that needs to be protected when boxed, prior to shipping. Cut a little square of it, and stick it on your safety glasses.

This technique is useful at the range, but I'm likely not going to walk around town with a hunk of plastic on my eye glasses . So, I'll still practice with a little squint.