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Can't shoot with both eyes opened...


NicoR

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I was in the same boat. It took me a long time, probably months, to tranfer it to matches from dry fire. Im working on keeping them open when targets are close together. Sometimes I get double vision, but I know I have to fight through it and focus on the sight

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I think that it's a must.  I feel that you must have a relaxed, natural face, and relaxed view of the world when trying to take it all in at 1000mph.  Closing an eye, opening an eye and chopping off half of your vision along with limiting depth perception is not what we need to be doing during a run.  At worst it's changing your view and adding steps to your shooting.  At best it's simply wasted movement/processes that should be eliminated.  I would personally work on it until I was able to overcome it.  Do it early in the game while it has the least impact on your scores so you don't reach like A class and then have to try to train it out of yourself.  

 

  

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Try using a small piece of tape over your non dominate eye, just position it so it blocks the sights from that eyes view but lets you see the rest of the world around it. I use a piece of target tape and take it off when I'm not shooting, it bugs me when I'm not shooting but I know several people that just leave it. some people use regular clear tapes and i have heard of using chap stick as well anything that blocks the sights from one eye.

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I made Master shooting with one eye closed.  I tried to train myself to shoot with 2 eyes open and failed.  You can see it in my classifier scores.  About 5 months of bad scores.  I just couldn't get used to seeing 2 slides and 2 targets.

I will try again one day, but this was a 5 month experiment that did not work for me.

 

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I use a very small amount of chap stick or sunscreen to slightly smudge the view from the right eye.

For myself, both eyes open isn't an option. I'm left handed, right eye dominant, with a slight astigmatism in the right eye. The left eye is ALWAYS clearer when I leave the optometrist. So I simply decided to train myself to shoot using it.

Blurring the view from the dominant eye just slightly allows the other eye to do the job without squinting or other facial strain that might promote blinking.

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I use a very small amount of chap stick or sunscreen to slightly smudge the view from the right eye.

For myself, both eyes open isn't an option. I'm left handed, right eye dominant, with a slight astigmatism in the right eye. The left eye is ALWAYS clearer when I leave the optometrist. So I simply decided to train myself to shoot using it.

Blurring the view from the dominant eye just slightly allows the other eye to do the job without squinting or other facial strain that might promote blinking.

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3 hours ago, Nemesis Lead said:

I made Master shooting with one eye closed.  I tried to train myself to shoot with 2 eyes open and failed.  You can see it in my classifier scores.  About 5 months of bad scores.  I just couldn't get used to seeing 2 slides and 2 targets.

I will try again one day, but this was a 5 month experiment that did not work for me.

 

 

Thanks everyone for the input!

 

German Romitelli, one of Argentina's top IPSC shooters (9th at the last IPSC WS, 5th at the last IPSC EEO and winner of the Production Super Six), shoots with just one eye opened. That, too, clearly shows that it can be done... but I feel limited and sometimes my face hurts from closing one eye. So I will start training it slowly after the Nationals next month.

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I started using tape a few months ago, and recently I have started to dri fire with both eyes open, it took me a long time to get to where I could see the correct sight picture without the tape and two eyes open.

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Shot with one eye for years, did pretty well, read all the stuff about 2 eyes, tried it.  I used tape never could get used to it.  I'm using 2 eyes now but I see 2 slides, I just know which one is the correct one.  Usually at speed I don't even notice it.  The point being is if you can use 2 eyes great, if you can't it's not a big deal.

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I haven't seen it mentioned so I'll throw this in.  It works for me and many others at our range.   As a last resort, I saw an optometrist who is a GMaster shooter.  He recommended a prescription for my glasses that has my dominant eye corrected to be clear on the front sight and the non dominanant eye corrected to focus on infinity.   I just have to put the glasses on at least a half hour before a match.    Do a search on dominant eye and you'll see other success stories.

 

Joe

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I too am struggling with this. I have + lenses, astigmatism, neutral dominance and am also slightly cross-eyed (not sure if this is the correct term).

 

That's just one of the many reasons I shoot open :) with a dot i only have to look at the target and not worry about focusing on the dot, thus clearly seeing what I need to :)

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On 9/27/2016 at 10:40 PM, NateTSU said:

I have been dry firing with both eyes open for a little over a week now, my transitions are faster and I feel more balanced and faster when shooting on the move.

That is where my vision came together.  Spent several hours now in dry fire with both eyes open and it finally clicked.  Still have to go one eye for 15+ yard shots.

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I've tried a few times to use the both eyes open technique and it ONLY works for me when using a red dot.  I can pick up my open gun and see a clear dot on the target every time but never with iron sights.  I always get doubles of some kind.

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Another week of dry fire now and it's clicking,  I need some live fire practice before I'm comfortable doing it in a match. Transitions have got faster and my first shot from my draw has got faster. I think the line for me is 10 yards on a partial and 15 on an open target with both eyes open. I hope to move the distance out further with more dry fire and live fire practice to build my confidence. 

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I have had to work to shoot both eyes open, when I'm having a hard time with that instead of fully closing my non-dominant eye I more or less briefly squint and then open again after the engagement is complete. Two reasons IMHO that the "both eyes open" mantra has stuck is 1) situational awareness, and 2) traditional target shooting, where forcing one eye closed and keeping the other open causes a lot of additional strain and rapidly decreases accuracy. 

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