shooting two eyes opened...

[tocata]

Hello everybody,

I'm shooting with standard major guns 40Sw for about two years now

it's funny how things,let say progress, come one after the other, sometimes brain learns to the body and sometimes the body is learning to our mind...

I just discover accidentally the way to shoot two eyes opened and I really appreciate it as it allows me to see mutch wider around

this happened by surprise while I was practicing Benos "transition drill part 2" this is not at all the aim of that exercise but I discover there that I was able to shoot with my two eyes opened and the results on the targets were pretty good, may be better, and I was quicker on each next target...

so I was wandering if you guys shooting for a long time were shooting two eyes opened and if this was a natural evolution...

[calishootr]

for me,I shoot with both eyes open because I am cross dominant(right handed but dominant left eye) and I dont or cant close my left eye, so I typically leave both eyes open all the time, as you have discovered, especially on transitions and field courses, you can 'see' more with both eyes open, and are able to move or transition more quickly

[pjb45]

I am cross dominant also. I started by shutting my dominant eye. Then I switched for a few years to shooting with my dominant eye and both eyes open. Now I am back to closing the dominant eye.

The perception was shooting with both eyes open was better.

My reality was it did not make any difference, the percentages for the classifiers were about the same, the standings in major matches were about the same.

[Chris iliff]

I don't know if it is a natural evolution. I would guess, Yes, because our sport is mostly a vision thing and the body is bound to do what it can, subconsiously, to help. But, I don't know, just guessing.

I shoot with both eyes open . I am right handed and left eye dominate. I do not know of anyone in our sport that closes an eye, I'm sure some do tho. I shoot that way because as a kid my Dad said try to shoot that way. Plus my cousin, who has been in the game forever, suggested to me on starting USPSA to shoot with both eyes open.

I'm glad you got part 2 of the drill. Cool huh, did you guess what it was going to be before you got it?

[CocoBolo]

Shucks it must just be a Texas thing, we got a lot of winking shooters and those with tape on their glasses etc. I was one when I started, then I was watching a Matt Burkett video with Ole Benos himself talking about being cross eye dominant and he just said put the gun in front of the left eye and shoot. Sounded easy took me months to master it. I see more and it shoot better with both eyes open espcially since my non dominant eye sees a lot better.

[Field]

i dont think i ever closed either eye even when i bought my first gun and started shooting. Right handed/ left eye'd . Putting my head in a certain position i generally am seeing the exact same thing (and more) than when using only 1 eye. Kind of annoying for shooting rifles though i almost feel like putting the rifle to my non dominant shoulder and looking through the scope/sights with my dominant eye...and keeping the other eye open.

whenever i look on a rifle and squint my dominant eye im always blurry eye'd when i open it again.

[sperman]

I wish I could shoot with both eyes open. When I try, I get two sets of sights, two targets and a whole lot of confusion.

[tocata]

I'm glad you got part 2 of the drill. Cool huh, did you guess what it was going to be before you got it?

not at all ! I was even guessing there were no part two ! to force us to do it....and now I know it, it is obvious that it had to be given that way, I mean second part by MP ,just try it

I wish I could shoot with both eyes open. When I try, I get two sets of sights, two targets and a whole lot of confusion.

I suppose this is because you make your non-dominant eye working on the sights too,just let it like "lazy opened"; work the sights with your dominant eye only with kind of "wide vision"

I feel like it is still the dominant eye that's working (my left eye )and the other one stands there but doesn't work sharply on the sights it just integrate a deeper vision of what is all around, other targets and moreover a better evaluation of distances

In my sens, it is a bit like when you look around you with one eye or two eyes ,out of shooting I mean : with two eyes you get a really better appreciation of deepness.

kind of : two eyes= 3D vision, one eye = 2D vision

a question then: I'm a cross dominant too , but what the difference if not (cross) as the gun stays usually right in front of us ?

[Field]

I wish I could shoot with both eyes open. When I try, I get two sets of sights, two targets and a whole lot of confusion.

try tilting/rotating your head a little bit so your dominant eye is closer to the sights

[calishootr]

in a class I took yrs an yrs ago with our now USPSA president, he remarks while my draw was very consistent, and centered, i was moving my head, I told him that I was cross dominant, hehe nuff said, I used to draw cleanly and straight up to my eyes and ever so slightly cock my head to the right so the dominant eye would be able to 'see' a little better, dont know if I still am, its been so long

[Field]

he remarks while my draw was very consistent, and centered, i was moving my head, I told him that I was cross dominant, hehe nuff said,

huh funny you mention that ive watched myself drawing a few times on camera and i do the same thing

[carlosa]

I think it's a natural transition (if your shooting enough). I have shot with one eye for years, but recently really cranked up the number of matches, practices and number of weekly rounds down range.

I've noticed a few weeks ago i was shooting groups with both eyes open! Just happened.

I still can't do it on the move and or on more dynamic stages. But I think my shooting is becoming a bit more organic and natural so my buddy and mind are starting to self adjust.

I've been shooting about 2000 rounds Tuesday thru Friday plus matches. And have stopped worrying to much about specific technics and focused more on letting the shooting happen, I think this training mindset let's your buddy learn what it needs to with out my having to think to much. Anyway that's my experience might not be the same for others

[tocata]

I think it's a natural transition (if your shooting enough). I have shot with one eye for years, but recently really cranked up the number of matches, practices and number of weekly rounds down range.

I've noticed a few weeks ago i was shooting groups with both eyes open! Just happened.

I still can't do it on the move and or on more dynamic stages. But I think my shooting is becoming a bit more organic and natural so my buddy and mind are starting to self adjust.

I've been shooting about 2000 rounds Tuesday thru Friday plus matches. And have stopped worrying to much about specific technics and focused more on letting the shooting happen, I think this training mindset let's your buddy learn what it needs to with out my having to think to much. Anyway that's my experience might not be the same for others

what you say is interesting : I already notice that this may be applied to any other sport or manual work : the more you practice, the more the action is bringing to you sensations and then understanding and if still practicing, feeling and understandings brings you to assimilation...

like : you repeat a shooting exercise , again and again and again and at one moment you just feel right and at that point you think : "that's the way, I can feel it know, I'm in" and then you have to repeat more and more to do it the same right manner till you won't have to think about it : it is becoming natural for you.

I love those sensations

[W_Buck]

I have to put tape on the left lens of my glasses so I can keep both eyes open. I found that if I try to close my non-dominant eye it causes me to squint my dominant eye and thus not get good sight picture.

Edited September 4, 2010 by W_Buck

[Mbauer67]

When I first started shooting as a little kid, 5 or 6 years old. I used to close my non-dominate eye because I had a hard time focuing on the sights. Now that I am old and shoot a lot more pistol and stages with movement and multiple targets, I am learing the value of keeping both eyes open. Which is proving to be a difficult habit to shake after so many years closing the eye. But dry fire helps tremendously, and it is pretty cheap to do.

[ck1]

Learning to shoot both eyes open made the biggest improvement in my overall shooting ability compared to everything/anything else, I highly recommend taking the time to force yourself to learn it and get used to it.

Squinting your non-dominant eye or using the opaque tape over it is a good training method, but in time your brain will just stop seeing the two sets of sights and you'll be all set... Just like good trigger-control, good grip, etc. it's counter-intuitive at first and takes some time but it's totally worth it.

Edited September 7, 2010 by ck1

[Biloxi23]

Today I was doing a draw and single shot with a friend, and he had me draw and come up on target without firing. After a buch of repetitions, he had me fire one shot with each draw, and then went back to the draw and sight picture. sometime during this process, I started doing the whole thing without closing/narrowing my left eye. I'v done smoe two-shooting with reflex type sights, but I don't remember shooting handguns with two eyes. when I noticed it, I was surpirsed how well I could see and it took me a minute or two to determine what was different. Who'd a thunk it.

[broadus123]

after you shoot a while it becomes automatic both my eyes are always open i don't think about it any more

[benos]

Learning to shoot both eyes open made the biggest improvement in my overall shooting ability compared to everything/anything else, I highly recommend taking the time to force yourself to learn it and get used to it.

Squinting your non-dominant eye or using the opaque tape over it is a good training method, but in time your brain will just stop seeing the two sets of sights and you'll be all set... Just like good trigger-control, good grip, etc. it's counter-intuitive at first and takes some time but it's totally worth it.

I think that will vary with the individual, and the strength of the dominance of each person's eyes. In 20 years of training, double vision, shooting with either eye, never went away for me.

be

[Duane Thomas]

I think it's much more a problem for people whose dominance is really close. For instance I have a friend whose eye dominance is absolutely identical. She wears contacts but the prescription for both eyes is exactly the same. Weird. And she absolutely cannot shoot with both eyes open without seeing, like, two sight pictures and four targets. Whereas my left eye is hugely stronger than my right eye, so for me shooting with both eyes open is no problem.

[calishootr]

I'm with Duane on this one, everyone I asks me if I see double when i shoot w/ both eyes open and I say no...and they cant seem to replicate it, forthem, like was said, their dominance is probably much closer, for me, the left is HUGELY more dominant than the right, thus I can 'get away' with leaving both eyes open with no blurred/double vision...hehehe first time I have ever thought of my crappy eyesight as somthing good hehehehe

[carlosa]

When I first noticed I was shooting groups with both eyes open I noticed I was seeing a single sight picture and a single target. I can replicate this at home when dryfireing to.

But as soon as I add a transition or movement the double sight appears again.

I'm guessing that this might change if a continue to let my shooting to evolve naturally.

I think it's just a mental barrier.

I'm not sure dough

[ck1]

Yeah, I'd tend to agree that dominance and variance in different people's eyesight plays a definite role in how easy it is for an individual to adjust to shooting with both eyes open

That said, in my case I wear contacts and both of my eyes are really really close in their prescriptions, so close in fact that my Doctor actually asked if I'd prefer to just use the same prescription in both eyes for convenience-sake. Since for me that leaves my non-dominant eye ever so slightly weaker I'm sure it probably helps me avoid seeing double more than most as in-effect I've got built-in "tape over the weak eye" all the time.

[benos]

I think it's much more a problem for people whose dominance is really close. For instance I have a friend whose eye dominance is absolutely identical. She wears contacts but the prescription for both eyes is exactly the same. Weird. And she absolutely cannot shoot with both eyes open without seeing, like, two sight pictures and four targets. Whereas my left eye is hugely stronger than my right eye, so for me shooting with both eyes open is no problem.

You are right on it Duane.

be

[lugnut]

My eye dominance is strong. I have recently tried shooting with both eyes and here are some additional things I have noticed:

Sometimes when I see the sights I look "thru" the sights and also see the target- even for target beyond 10 yds. Never happened with one eye shut. Need to work on this.

I see more of the sights moving- I think I'm calling shots better.

When the lighting is poor or targets are far, I still want to shut an eye.

When my eyes are tired keeping both eyes open doesn't work as good.

Shooting with both eyes open is definitely easier when I use the stronger prescription in my dominant eye, normally my contacts are +3.0 left (dominant) and +3.5 right. With mono vision I'm using a +3.75 in my left eye. Yeah I laugh when people think their eyes are bad when they use a +/- 1.5 or something!