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How long did it take you to learn to shoot with both eyes open?


Nemesis Lead

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My situation is opposite of most here. I began shooting with both eyes open, but after being diagnosed with MG (Myasthenia Gravis) I had to go to one eye closed.

The disease is neuromuscular and effects the signal from the nerve ending to the muscle. In my case it primarily causes a weakness in the muscles that control eye movement so when I see a target I see one on top of the other. Double vision. It's very frustrating.

Now, however, I am relearning one eyed shooting and from what Brian, and others have said, it may turn out to be a blessing rather than a curse.

I've also begun wearing an eye patch which takes the stress out of squinting, and that helps. Of course, at my age I don't know whether looking like a pirate is cool, or not.

I have no real advice to the OP other than we do what we have to do to get along.

Good luck.

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17 minutes ago, MikieM said:

My situation is opposite of most here. I began shooting with both eyes open, but after being diagnosed with MG (Myasthenia Gravis) I had to go to one eye closed.

The disease is neuromuscular and effects the signal from the nerve ending to the muscle. In my case it primarily causes a weakness in the muscles that control eye movement so when I see a target I see one on top of the other. Double vision. It's very frustrating.

Now, however, I am relearning one eyed shooting and from what Brian, and others have said, it may turn out to be a blessing rather than a curse.

I've also begun wearing an eye patch which takes the stress out of squinting, and that helps. Of course, at my age I don't know whether looking like a pirate is cool, or not.

I have no real advice to the OP other than we do what we have to do to get along.

Good luck.

 

Another MG’er here. Mine is manageable with prism lenses in my glasses. I still shoot primarily with both but turn my head far to the right so my right eye is blocked by my nose (left eye dominant). On particular difficult shots - like plate racks of shame from outer space - I’ll close my non-dominant eye.

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I have the opposite.. I can't seem to shoot with one eye open. I've been shooting with both eyes open for a long time, mostly because of a LE thing. I've been trained to keep both eyes open and it stuck. When I close one eye, it's actually uncomfortable and it requires a conscious effort for me to close one eye. I actually find it distracting since I have to try to keep my non dominant eye closed.

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On 3/10/2017 at 2:48 PM, Nemesis Lead said:

This question is for those who once shot with one eye open and now shoot with 2 eyes open.

 

How long did it take you to fully make the transition?  

 

I have shot with one eye open for 6 years and made M class in Production.  I have plateaued a bit and want to try shooting with both eyes open.

 

I am asking how long it takes because I am shooting Area 1 in 20 days.

 

I plan to go all in on dry fire and live fire to make the transition, but wonder how long it took you guys to do this?  How long did it take for your "2 eye game" to equal your "1 eye game?"

 

 

 

 

 

I was stuck on "both eyes open" all the time, but I found it makes focal plane transitions difficult for me personal

 

During a class I took note of instructors doing demos without eye-pro on, all of them did varying amounts of squints with the non-dominant eye to help engage the focal muscles on the dominant eye.

 

For me using squints in practice now I has improved my accuracy, I was under the impression that the shredders kept both eyes fully open and did focus shifts like robots, poor assumption.

 

Might just have to find a blend that works good for you

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, just to be difficult:

 

His problem statement is: He wants to progressed from M to GM.  He thinks it is a seeing issue; one eye v. two eyes.

 

Perhaps the improvement will come from another aspect(s) of his game/technique rather than seeing. 

 

Having talked extensively with quite a few GMs; I concluded they were always trying to improve their movement (foot work perhaps) to differentiate them from their competition.  Granted most classifiers focus on draws, reloads, and accuracy so I am truly not sure of the correct course of action. 

 

Perhaps Jake might pipe in here.  Steve Anderson wrote a book or two on how he did it via classifiers.  His match performance was another issue.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not bragging but it only took me a couple of days, granted i was shooting all day and dry firing constantly with draws and target acquisitions in between live fire but it was 3 max and i was comfortable with it. 

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For me it just sort of happened one day and I can't say how long it took for sure. I would suspect that it gradually happened over the course of a year. It reminds me of those old 3D pictures that used to dominate mall kiosk in the early 90's. You know the ones that you can only see when you stop trying to see.

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I learned to shoot with both eyes open during a Direct Action Course in the military, within only a few days. It took a lot of slow draws and presentations in dry fire and live fire where I would get a hard front sight focus with both eyes open, before getting a good sight picture and taking the shot. Even now during matches I will switch back and forth from both eyes open to one eye depending on the distance and difficulty of the target I am engaging. 

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I tried to shoot with both eyes open for a while and it sort of took in practice but when I went to shoot a match I would chicken out from trying it and go back to using cheater tape or shutting an eye or whatever worked.  Then I started shooting open with a dot, both eyes open certainly not a problem with that, may not of used iron sights for a year possibly except the occasional few rounds through my carry gun.  Then a funny thing happened, picked up my old XDM with the big green front fiber optic, and both eyes open just seemed to be natural.  Been shooting that way ever since.  

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  • 2 months later...
On 3/30/2018 at 6:39 PM, Piracy85 said:

using a red dot to shoot pcc for the past few months has helped me shot pistol with both eyes open. not sure why, but it works.

 

A red dot on a rifle or pistol has made it way easier for me to keep both eyes open.

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I have tried and tried, but I just can't get the hang of it. So I cheat. I put a piece of Scotch tape across my weak eye. Just across the mid-field. I can see above and below it, but when focused on the sights only my strong eye is working. This saves me squinting the other eye and helps reduce the strain associated with doing that.

 

 

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On 4/24/2018 at 10:04 AM, SwedishMoose said:

I still can't. I don't know what it is but I can't get my eyes to focus with both open. 

I’m the same, but with cross-dominance. I *want* to shoot both eyes open, but I can’t get the sights to line up in front of the correct eye. 

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Just thinking about it--I put a  small piece of scotch tape over my left eye shooting glasses lens when I shot clay birds, it work for cross over, left eye dominance, squinting and you still kept your perifial vision.   Might be worth a try.  

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When people shoot with both eyes open on irons is it the same as when you shoot both eyes open with a red dot? I can shoot both eyes open with a red dot perfectly fine, but when doing it with irons my weak eye is about half closed.  If I leave it all the way open I can't see my rear sight, but with half closed everything is in perfect focus.  I wasn't even really sure it was open until I covered my dominant eye to see what I could with my weak eye!  Anyone else Experience this?

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