how can i improve my sight picture?

[aspiringpistolero]

im a 16 year old limited 10 ipsc shooter in texas and im having a problem that i cant seem to resolve. whenever i focus on my front sights i automatically see double of my rear sights and, more detrimentally, my target. i used to compensate this by using a large red painted front sight with a black rear and shooting with a target focus. That worked well enough but i can seriously feel it holding me back as an aspiring shooter. I have heard tell of some eye training techniques that can remedy this problem, but when i asked no one seemed to recall what they were. I would like to know if any of you shooters out there happen to know these eye training techniques that were hinted at, or any other way to remedy my double vision problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[bountyhunter]

I use both target focus (both eyes open, locked on target) where I sight the gun through fuzzy sights and also front sight focus where I close the left eye.  In some cases, I close the left eye and check sight alignment then open both eyes and look back to the target and "set" the guns sights on target and fire.  Some shooters do the reverse:  they "locate" the target point with both eyes on the target then close the left eye and pull into the front sight before firing.  I think if you ask 10 people what was best you'd get at least ten answers.

I honestly don't know how it is possible to focus on the front sight with both eyes open because the laws of parallax will cause two rear sight images and two target images to be seen.

[3quartertime]

My oppinion would be to buy benos's book.  I'm rereading it now and the 'practical' parts are more than worth the read.  If I were 16,  and hell I was once upon a time!!!  I would read the book,  study and practice as much as possible.  Then start working on competing.  I didn't but I'm also struggleing from the bottom too!!!

[ErikW]

That's what happens to me when I try to shoot with both eyes open. Try closing your weak eye.

[Ron Ankeny]

Gotta love the screen name. Heck, we are all aspiring pistoleros around here. I looked for the thread on the eye strengthening drills, but I haven't found it yet. I did find a good discussion about one eye vs. two here:

http://www.brianenos.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard...1&topic=217

If Flexmoney shows up he will probably find all of those old threads with one search.

[Duane Thomas]

I'm with Erik. Just close the weak eye. Or squint it, you may find that's enough. If you get the opportunity to view the 3rd tape in Matt Burkett's series, it's a VERY interesting interview with our esteemed host. Brian is/was the only top shooter who's cross dominant (i.e. his strong hand and strong eye are on opposite sides of his body). Like me, he's right handed but left eyed.

For years Brian used a piece of tape over his left shooting glasses lens to cause his left eye to "blur out" so he could aim with his right eye and keep both eyes open. Then he decided to aim with his left eye, and put the tape on the right lens. Then he just decided to close one eye, no tape needed. And all through these experiments, using all these different approaches, he's one of the top shooters on Earth. Take that into account when I give you upcoming quote - this is not coming from someone who's never done it any other way. And what Brian said went something like: "After all these years I've come to the conclusion the importance of shooting with both eyes open is seriously overrated."

[Bill Schwab]

See my regurgitation of Travis Tomasie's post here:

http://www.brianenos.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard...=3&start=30

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I hope it helps.

Bill

[aspiringpistolero]

thanks all for your thoughts and advice, im definitely gonna give a few a try. once again thanks for the advice.

[Steve Anderson]

I switched to both eyes open about two years ago and have never regretted it.

The doubling can be ignored, and it goes away with time.

I learned both eyes open by shooting a pop can on a string at 7-10 yards with a .22, 500 rds per session, sometimes more.

That's great practice for eye co-ordination, trigger control and removing/ignoring doubling.

It's also fun.

SA

BTW, I don't intend to belittle closing an eye...it's just that my hard contacts are so thick that if I close an eye with the eye off center, the lens pops out. You don't get a re-shoot for that.

[bountyhunter]

Maybe two eyes is over rated, but IMO it's a very valuable skill to have in the toolbox and you are at a disadvantage if you don't have it.  Out here, all our competitive shooting is at poorly lit indoor ranges.  At PPC, we have to shoot a medium-blue colored target with white rings which means the rings are BARELY visible at 25 yards with direct focus onto them (and a Millett sighter for us old guys).  basically, I switch to target focus for PPC and smoke about a half dozen bullseye shooters who beat the crap out of me when we shoot the B-8 (black bullseye on white paper) target.  It's real simple:  Using target focus, I can see the "10" ring on the blue target when I pull and they are guessing where it might be in the middle of a man sized fuzzy blue blob.  When we shoot B-8 in Bullseye league I go back to one-eyed front sight focus because the target is clearly defined.  I don't think any specific sighting method is perfect:  but some are advantageous depending on what your trying to hit.

[Ron Ankeny]

Bountyhunter:

Yeppers, being able to shoot with two eyes open is a real valuable skill and I wish I would have developed that skill many years ago. I also agree that there is an advantage to shooting with two eyes. Most notably, most folks have quicker transitions with two eyes.

Still, I shot as a Master in PPC for many years using one eye focused entirely on the front sight, aiming center of mass (or neck hold) on that black blob. I would go so far as to say that PPC is best shot with a Type 5 focus and one eye rather than two. I also broke 100 straight more than once shooting trap singles with one eye.

My point is that shooters who just can't use two eyes, no matter how hard they try, need not despair. There is more to making Master (or GM) than the number of eyes you use to get there.

[bountyhunter]

"aiming center of mass (or neck hold) on that black blob."

The black silouettes are easy, the one we have is a medium blue color.  The white lines don't show up worth a crap against that color.  The guy who still beats me every week has trick gun with a front sight that has notches and he can click it to the place where he can aim at the "neck" spot and hit the 10 ring.  Cool gun.  He can't see the 10 ring either, but he's got a way around it.

[George D]

Bountyhunter,

You said

"I honestly don't know how it is possible to focus on the front sight with both eyes open because the laws of parallax will cause two rear sight images and two target images to be seen. "

This is exactly right. The situation is worse for multiple targets close together because all the target images over-lap.

So, if the front sight is to be focused upon and multiple images to be avoided, the non-aiming eye must be eliminated by either closing it or using a frosted lens occluder or tape to blur the front sight and, IMHO the targets.

Some contributors have said that it is possible to get used to multiple images. Does this include multiple images of multiple close targets???

I am becoming convinced that Duane's reference to Brian's quote is the ultimate wisdom.

(Edited by George D at 3:49 pm on Oct. 16, 2002)