Both Eyes OPEN?

[Sin-ster]

If your sights are not perfectly aligned, slowly adjust your hold (WITHOUT breaking your grip) and remember how it feels.

Why not adjust the equipment to point better with your grip?

Because real men shoot Production.

[PistoleroJesse]

If your sights are not perfectly aligned, slowly adjust your hold (WITHOUT breaking your grip) and remember how it feels.

Why not adjust the equipment to point better with your grip?

Because real men shoot Production.

With both eyes open

[DirkD]

wow lots of reps, tnx

well I think Im gonna dry fire a lot with both eyes open

gonna go to the range this weekend and practice

[kneelingatlas]

Because real men shoot Production.

Don't tell my wife.

[bobby hated]

hell we're all gonna be shooting production like it or not if Obama gets his way after this school shooting

[toothguy]

Looks like she slightly shuts her left eye. Edited December 17, 2012 by toothguy

[kneelingatlas]

I didn't see her eyes, I better watch it again...

[SouthpawG26]

Her eyes are up "there......"

[Sin-ster]

Looks like he definitely keeps both open.

[carlosa]

Looks like he definitely keeps both open.

Open is a whole different beast..

It's all target focus..

Keeping both eyes open is muuuuuuuch easier..

It would be interesting to see the same footage with iron sights..

[phearkno1]

The answer to your question lies in another question. What kind of sight picture is needed for you to get your 2 A zone hits? You need to be able to adjust throughout the various targets during the stage. On close targets I don't even see the sights and point shoot them with my natural point of aim. As range increases or scoring zone decreases (hardcover or no shoots) then I need a more focused sight picture, most of the time both eyes open does the trick and is faster for acquiring targets. When extreme accuracy is needed I then close the non dominant eye. Remember this sport is a balance of speed and accuracy. So you must judge on the fly what you need to do to efficiently get the hits you need. There is no hard fast rule of when this do this.

[Sin-ster]

Open is a whole different beast..

It's all target focus..

Keeping both eyes open is muuuuuuuch easier..

It would be interesting to see the same footage with iron sights..

Do you honestly think he changes anything?

I'm too lazy to dig through YouTube for shots of Max, Vogel, etc. shooting irons for reference-- but I know they're out there.

[toothguy]

It's probably not that important as long as you have at least one eye open.

[Joe L]

I had trouble with double vision with both eyes open until I smeared a little lip balm on the top half of my weak eye glasses lens. If your vision is blurry through the weak eye, your brain will ignore it and the double vision seems to go away.

I've also had cataract surgery in both eyes and the replacement lenses are set to focus at distance, both eyes. I have a set of shooting glasses that has the right dominant eye focus set at the front sight distance and the left side still at distance. I shoot with these glasses plus a little lip balm on the left lens. I can leave both eyes open now and don't have to put much lip balm on the upper part of the left lens any longer.

Joe

[Steve Anderson]

For the vast majority of shooters, simply deciding to keep both eyes open will be the way to go.

You'll have about 3 hours of visual confusion over 2-10 days depending on how much you practice. Then your brain will only show you what you need to see.

Obviously there will be exceptions and I'm no Eye Doctor, but most shooters will experience the above as described. Many of the tricks like tape over the eye are unnecessary if you plow through the few hours of visual confusion and let the brain sort it out.

[Xcaliber]

Personally, i have always shot with both eyes open. That was how I learned to shoot as a child and I can't seem to do it any other way. Even when I use a scope, I still have both eyes open but my weak eye kind of "turns off" once I have bead on the target. That said, I know some very good shooters who close one eye.

My philosophy these days is not to dwell on things unless it is an actual problem or hindrance. Yes, technically you should have both eyes open and in a tactical situation it is imperative IMO, but for competition, if it works for you, if it isn't holding you back,... /shrug.

These days I feel that I am at the stage where I try not to over think things. I do my best when I simply focus on sending the round where I intend it to go. To me, the round is simply an extension of my will. I don't have to think about the mechanics of breathing, I just breathe. Similarly, I no longer think about the mechanics of shooting, I just shoot. Except when working on improving certain specific weaknesses of course.

[Xcaliber]

For the vast majority of shooters, simply deciding to keep both eyes open will be the way to go.

You'll have about 3 hours of visual confusion over 2-10 days depending on how much you practice. Then your brain will only show you what you need to see.

Obviously there will be exceptions and I'm no Eye Doctor, but most shooters will experience the above as described. Many of the tricks like tape over the eye are unnecessary if you plow through the few hours of visual confusion and let the brain sort it out.

And they should buy your book and go through it every single day until the pages wear out. Then buy another copy and do it again...

It worked for me.

[Steve Anderson]

These days I feel that I am at the stage where I try not to over think things. I do my best when I simply focus on sending the round where I intend it to go. To me, the round is simply an extension of my will. I don't have to think about the mechanics of breathing, I just breathe. Similarly, I no longer think about the mechanics of shooting, I just shoot. Except when working on improving certain specific weaknesses of course.

Exactly.

Technique is a bridge back to shooting. Do you want to get there, or do you wanna hang out on the bridge?

That's how the last couple dry fire sessions have been for me. there doesn't seem to be anything between the buzzer and the end of the drill... It's a new feeling, but it may just be nicotine withdrawal hallucinations.

[beltjones]

Open is a whole different beast..

It's all target focus..

Keeping both eyes open is muuuuuuuch easier..

It would be interesting to see the same footage with iron sights..

Do you honestly think he changes anything?

I'm too lazy to dig through YouTube for shots of Max, Vogel, etc. shooting irons for reference-- but I know they're out there.

He has stated that he shuts one eye for long shots. There is also video of him - I think at Moscow - that shows him shutting one eye during a stage.

[Xander]

Open is a whole different beast..

It's all target focus..

Keeping both eyes open is muuuuuuuch easier..

It would be interesting to see the same footage with iron sights..

Do you honestly think he changes anything?

I'm too lazy to dig through YouTube for shots of Max, Vogel, etc. shooting irons for reference-- but I know they're out there.

He has stated that he shuts one eye for long shots. There is also video of him - I think at Moscow - that shows him shutting one eye during a stage.

Yep, he shuts his one eye on 12m or so farther for better accuracy

[bountyhunter]

Good day to all

I'm new to the sport of practical shooting and I had a blast the past couple of months I was practicing

I'm really curious on how most of as acquire a target?

I myself used to close one eye and open only the dominant eye.

But when I asked a class A shooter he told me he opens both eyes when shooting paper or steel

I tried it on ipsc classic targets and it made a huge difference, I mean I can see where the bullets are punching a hole

but when i tried it on a steel plates I have a hard time acquiring the target,

that's why both eyes are open on paper targets and only the dominant eye on steel plates.

Im just curious how do you guys do it?

I always use both eyes open for either open (red dot) or iron sights. I focus my eyes on the target and bring the gun up along sight of the dominant eye. I use a different prescription in the dom eye so that eye gets an image focused around the distance of the sights while my weak eye is focused on the target. I basically see a pretty clear sight picture image floating over a clear target image when I fire.

I sometimes go back to one eye squint for bullseye but my scores do not improve and both eyes is much easier for me.

[Jesse Tischauser]

I shoot with both eyes open on every gun with scopes and without. It was fairly quick for me to learn. I am told it has a lot to do with eye dominance and focal length. I struggle to keep both eyes open on my shotgun but its doable.

Someday is like to work on shooting everything with my other strong hand while using my non dominate eye to squire the sights in hopes if training my brain to use that left eye more often. Not sure if that's even possible but it would have to improve your shooting from a target and sight acquisition standpoint.

[Beacon22]

I was closing one eye or putting tape over one lens for around a year until one day in practice i realized it was more comfortable to shoot with both eyes open (at least for closer targets) and I could see more clearly. I was too worried about "the right way" vs. what worked for me and what was more comfortable for me.

But.... I dont think that applies for everything. I tried taking the "what is more comfortable for me" approach to how to grip a gun but realized over time that the "proper text book grip" with both thumbs facing forward and hands locked into each other was more effective. I just needed to keep putting my hands back to the same position repetitiously until finally my grip felt like second nature.

It is hard being a newbie because the right thing to do is to listen to everybodies advice and the wrong thing to do is to listen to everybodys advice. It really comes down to what works for you and deciphering what advice to listen too and what advice to dismiss.

Plus... When ever you say repetition... you get to inadvertently say "tit".

[Sin-ster]

He has stated that he shuts one eye for long shots. There is also video of him - I think at Moscow - that shows him shutting one eye during a stage.

Whew-- I'm not so embarrassed to say that I have to shut one eye when bench shooting, then. Or with apature sights on a rifle, for prime precision.

For what we do, I've never encountered a shot so precise that I felt that both eyes open were a hindrance. That's interesting stuff, though-- I wonder if I should try it out...

12m isn't very far, though. Grah-- just one more thing for me to try out.

Thanks for the corrections though, Andy and Xander!

[johnhhuber]

I have always squinted my left eye. After seeing Steve's post, I am going to try keeping both my eyes open during next week's dry fire practice and see where it takes me. Thanks Steve!