Shooting with both eyes open

[pangris]

I've always wanted to, but haven't accomplished shooting with both eyes open. It seems to be a good idea for a number of reasons.

I've read (here?) that taping over your weak eye lens can help, and boy did it - no "ghost" at all. Do people actually do that at matches? I just used a piece of tape that was about 1.5" square, so I didn't lose all my vision, just the straight ahead aspect.

If that would be the most silly thing in the world, are there any drills or techniques I should be using?

[Loves2Shoot]

Been doing it for years, I couldn't shoot limited without it. I only use a piece about 1/2" square just to knock out the duplicate front sight. If I'm in a weird spot I close the left eye, just in case the tape wouldn't knock out the shadow sight.

[schmitz]

Mama gave you two eyes, try to shoot with them as well, it's not difficult. With one eye shut you see 50% less. (handgun&rifle)

Your brain will do the rest! Dominance is the key. Shooting with one eye shut is not a good idea, you don't see what you need to see (f.i. the next target)

DVC, Henny.

[spook]

Shooting with one eye closed seems to work for Eric Grauffel.

It all comes down to personal preference. Sure, I taught myself to shoot with both eyes open at distances up to 15m, but beyond that, and on tight shots, I'll close one eye as soon as I see the front sight in conjunction with the target. If I don't do that I'll see two targets and don't know where the bullet will go. I don't like taping one eye, because (for me) it gets in the way of moving fast and agressive (no depth perception etc.). Like I said...personal preference. And don't let anyone tell you that you can't become a good shooter if you can't shoot with both eyes open.

[schmitz]

And don't let anyone tell you that you can't become a good shooter if you can't shoot with both eyes open.

This is true!!!!

[tightloop]

Spook

Do you think there is a comparison to shooting with both hands on the pistol?

I wouldn't want to shoot exclusively one handed, would you want to shoot using just one eye, if you had a choice?

[pangris]

I'm going to experiment with various things like taping, lens clarity, etc. Will report.

Thanks for the replies so far, the more input the better!

Paul

[kevin c]

I'm trying to overcome the tendency to close my weak eye, and actually not completely suppress the image from it. I find that the image from the weak eye is actually helpful, in that I see a ghost image of the whole target over which the dominant eye superimposes the image of the sights. I get more visual information that way. I see the whole target, not just what's over the blade and the front post (iron sights, of course).

[spook]

Spook

Do you think there is a comparison to shooting with both hands on the pistol?

I wouldn't want to shoot exclusively one handed, would you want to shoot using just one eye, if you had a choice?

TL, I think the effect of shooting with one hand or two is more dramatic. If I had a choice, I'd shoot the long range targets with two eyes open. What I'm saying is that to some people shooting long range with two eyes open is more difficult than to others. And if you can't do it, that doesn't mean you cannot become as good as the others who can. It has more to do with comfort than results. Or to return a question:

If you had one free arm and the other tied behind your back, would you shoot using one or two hands?

[eric nielsen]

Only one eye can see the sights in alignment. Your left or your right.

The "other" eye will bring something else to your visual inputs. Either something helpful, or something confusing. But nothing anywhere near as important as the alignment of the sights. Just "something else."

If the "other" eye brings you confusion or a lack of decisiveness, consider not using the other eye. My $.02

[schmitz]

Just for me,

when one closes the non-dominant eye, the muscles in your face contract, doing so it affects the muscles of your dominant eyes as well, thus seeing less.

For me this is a NoNo!

I agree on the part that just the dominant eye sees the sights aligned, but I like as much visual input as I can get!

Henny.

[Lee Dimaculangan]

ever since i picked up a gun - ive used both of my eyes - but people tell me that when i hold a gun up and shoot - its not actually centered after all... my right arm has a wider angle than my left - giving my left eye (dominant eye) the full view of that dot/target

[Nik Habicht]

ever since i picked up a gun - ive used both of my eyes - but people tell me that when i hold a gun up and shoot - its not actually centered after all... my right arm has a wider angle than my left - giving my left eye (dominant eye) the full view of that dot/target

Lee,

if you're a righty who's left eye dominant, that's pretty much how it should look...

The value in learning to shoot with both eyes open is that the face can be more relaxed and that the eyes aren't trying to do two different things. While shooting a dot for the first time in a match recently, I noticed that the I could see the hair on my wrist and hand in sharp focus in my peripheral vision --- never had that happen with iron sights...

[jkmccoy]

I learned to shoot with my left (non-dominant) eye closed. When I started competing I discovered that keeping my eye closed for long periods added way too much strain and I shot for a long time with a patch/blinder over my left eye. That works fine for slow fire sports where I don't have to move, but is not practical for USPSA shooting. So I tried the tape thing. I'm down to using a small (~ 1/2 inch) piece of scotch tape on the left lens of my glasses.

Without the tape I see two sets of sights and although I can figure out which one to aim with it slows me down. Although I am right eye dominant, I suspect that the dominance is not real strong and I can't easily focus on the image from my right eye alone. The small piece of tape gives me most of my peripheral vision and depth perception for close things (loading magazines, etc.). The tape does block out one set of sights and really helps my shooting. For me, the input from my left eye is just distracting.

Cheers,

Kelly McCoy

[mai]

Really glad to read this toppic. I learned how to shoot with both eyes form the first moment that I know IPSC (3 years ago). And like Spook said, I had been told that "You must shoot with both eyes open". Well I tried really hard, so I can shoot with both eyes, but the second vision always wait for me. I have no problem at all with open gun, but some annoying with ltd. gun.

The early of this year, I designed to try shotting ltd. gun with only right eye, the result was CONFUSING, some time one eye the other both eyes or may be 1.5 eyes. I think, because I used to shoot with both eyes for long time. Any way, I did some experiment, I line up 10 of coke cans about 1 inch apart, each one show different view ( I turn the cans in different angles). I just selected one can, let say the 4th one, and tried to aiming at it with one eye alternate with both eyes. As you can guest, the fastest aimimg was one eye and it was much faster for this targets arrangement. But at that time, I was still not sure how to do with my shooting eyes.

After read this toppic, for sure, I will repractice how to shoot the Ltd. with only one eye open.

mai

[Charlie P.]

This is my initial post to the forum so if I breach protocal, bear with me.

I started my competitive shooting as a rifle shooter. It wasn't easy for me to shoot with both eyes open and I solved my problem by placing a "blinder on to my rear sight and scope - about 2"-3" in front of my left eye. Worked just fine as eyes are made to work together and closing or putting a patch over my left eye caused me to become somewhat disoriented after a shooting for about an hour. I had tried hanging a translucent piece of plastic on to the frame of my shooting glasses which worked pretty good. The "blinder" worked best.

Then along came the IPSC/USPSA game. Shooting with a dot sight presented no problem for me at all. Both eyes open, normal glasses - I had no problems. Shooting iron sights was a different story. One of my long time shooting buddies told me to get glasses with my right (dominate eye) lens groung just for the distance for the front sight. I thought it was so good that I had both lenses made for that didtance, but there was one problem, I could not see hits over 6-8 yards. I then changed the left lens to full distance and that works real good for me. After the first target, I no longer even thought about two lenses being prescribed for different distances and the results are just fine for me.

I hope this can be of some use to some.

[kevin c]

Welcome to the forums, Charlie P.!

The technique you describe is used by some, but, unfortunately, gives some people headaches or nausea.

Personally, I see more with both eyes open, and shoot that way on close targets (under fifteen yards), but still feel I shoot faster and more precisely on distant targets with one eye closed.

[bountyhunter]

I'm trying to overcome the tendency to close my weak eye, and actually not completely suppress the image from it. I find that the image from the weak eye is actually helpful, in that I see a ghost image of the whole target over which the dominant eye superimposes the image of the sights. I get more visual information that way. I see the whole target, not just what's over the blade and the front post (iron sights, of course).

Amen. And when you shoot at cheap indoor ranges where the owners refuse to replace the target lights at 25 yards (that keep getting broken by rebounding lead) you will discover the second target image from your other eye to be a huge advantage in actually seeing the ten ring. Then you will feel a little guilty when you start beating people (who are actually better than you) because they are one-eyed shooters who are basically "shooting in the dark" and don't know where the ten ring is.... but winning is always good.

[short_round]

If the "other" eye brings you confusion or a lack of decisiveness, consider not using the other eye.

This is where I am right now with my Limited gun. After running taped for a few months to train my strong eye to be more dominant, I've gotten rid of the tape and am trying to use both eyes now.

I can see the "other" image now and am resigned to the fact that the "other" image will never go away. However, during dry fire I know which images to pick. The right target and the left set of sights. Because with both eyes open I can see two targets, two front sights, and two rear sights.

I have a hard time replicating this is live fire because I'm not confident with my sight pciture. However, when I close my weak eye to verify my alignment the target and sights are right on. I'm beginning to understand the posts that tell you to "trust yourself."

With the open gun I don't have this problem. My biggest problem there is keeping my mouth closed so the concussion doesn't pop my ear drums. It's hard to do since everytime I pick that gun up I can't stop smiling.

[sargenv]

In my case, when I started shooting a long while ago, I never knew why I had so much trouble with range and trying to hit things at shotgun distances. Before IPSC shooting, and all my other disciplines, I was first and foremost a duck hunter using a scattergun.

As I got older and was then able to start shooting on a range, I picked up trap and skeet. I finally figured out I was left eye dominant, but right handed, so instead of relearning to shoot left handed, I instead trained my right eye to be the dominant of the two. When I lined up for my shot at Skeet, I'd look down the rib with both eyes, shut my left eye, get my alignement, then open my left eye and proceed to make the shot. Over the years, I've changed my eye dominance or learned how to work around it. I naturally keep both eyes open regardless of the firearm or sighting system. I tried the left eye closed when shooting a rifle or handgun, but I found that after a bit of time, I was straining way too much, just like other people report. The tape method never really worked for me as my aiming ability went into the toilet. I think that the close one eye, get aignment, then open the eye can eventually train you to just use the eye you want to use. It just takes a very long time to do it.

Anyway, that's how I worked around being left eye dominant but right handed. I find that even at long ranges, I use both eyes open, but just take more time getting aligned before taking the shot. Sometimes I get lucky, but most times I simply miss if I rush things.

[xsrdx]

This is a great thread! I'm a stalled B Class shooter that learned to shoot Weaver, and have until now been shooting with my non-dominant, left eye - effectively, I've been shooting one-eyed because I turn my head enough that the bridge of my nose blocks the view from the right.

A brief range session this week with Todd Jarrett convinced me that I was, of course, doing pretty much everything the hard way, and that switching to Iso and my dominant eye, with my head forward, was the way to go.

So now I'm airsoft-ing my way around the house, trying to get my dominant eye to pick up the sights and disregard the ghost images. I'll probably try the tape for a few matches, but so far it seems to be working out ok.

Good to see that I'm not the only one that finds shooting with both eyes open is a challenge, anyway.

Fortunately, my right eye is pretty strongly dominant, so I'm hoping this will be a rapid evolution.

[kurtm]

Ah another one bites the dust!! I can't believe you are abandoning the weaver. I firmly believe in both eyes open, but getting rid of the Weaver???Blasfemy!!! Are you going to get out to the RM3G?? KURTM

[xsrdx]

Are you going to get out to the RM3G?? KURTM

Man I'd love to. I'm starting a new job in July though and I don't think I can get the time off.

That and I hate flying with so many guns. Waaah! With Kyle's match cancelled it looks like my 3 Gun this year will be entirely local.

At least I'll get a shirt, LOL! Take it easy.

-Craig

[bountyhunter]

A brief range session this week with Todd Jarrett convinced me that I was, of course, doing pretty much everything the hard way, and that switching to Iso and my dominant eye, with my head forward, was the way to go.

You have Todd Jarret as a coach? Dude!

[tightloop]

Like TGO says, Weaver for the close fast stuff, and Isolese for the stuff farther out. Both eyes open is the cats A$$. Just takes practice....