Shooting on the Range:One Eye Closed or Both Eyes Open

I shoot both eyes open with “normal” strong side dominance. Practice in dry fire and all draw and dry fire drills. Some reason it’s been fairly easy for me to do.

I, too, am right handed but left eye dominant. Trust me, with both eyes open you won’t hit anything. Need to close your left eye. FWIW, I’m a forced rightie from a very young age. Otherwise, I would have been left handed. I’m not sure if that matters or not.

I don't think it matters what my dominant eye is...I force myself to shoot with both eyes open and focusing on the front sight. The reason for keeping both eyes open is so my peripheral vision will alert me to any threat coming from the side. I turn my head to each side as I practice so I can use the peripheral vision to see 360°.

Brubz said:

I'm sure this has been covered before but remember I am new. I am right handed but left eye dominant. Some people say it's better to shoot with both eyes open when you have this cross eyed dominance. others say no. I have been using the turn my head slightly method on the range but I know that won't work in a self defense situation.
What say you guys?

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Well it depends on the situation atv200 yards depending on temp wind and elevation and mirage I might go either way if it were a combat situation again depending on the quick ess of attack or if speed shooting if so one eye and depends on other variables which I will not divulg but if it's the long range and for me a while If it is nice with slight overcast average florida humidity and and less than a 2 knt wind then I'd go both eyes but it also depends on the color and other variables most even the best will only ever see things in 1 or 2 d some people like Jerry Mickulueck I might have misspelled he may not even realize it but shoots in 3d which is pretty impressive for his age and speed but also depends if you are ambedextrious now me I can't even operate my bolt on this chinese catastrophe of a sks but it would shoot like a dream open sight way better than the ar 15 with a lot more takedown but personally in combat I like both eyes open in close quarters for speed and to compensate for degree remember timing is your most fierce element in that type of situ toon and poor planning with one eye and debree get in and we'll you know the rules game over so yes but leisurely I just relax and go with it you should try it out it's like electricity sometimes. That was a pretty good topic though it's been a while for me and I'm so excited to take my son and and use the new canik 9 mm I really have heard good things and it fits like a glove and is speed friendly.

I have a situation that my optometrist says is ideal for mid 50's gentleman like myself. My right eye is near sighted, my left is far sighted, combined I get 20/50. That lets me read without glasses and drive the same, I do wear glasses at night driving. Not perfect but good enough. Problem is I am left eye dominant. So sights are fuzzy using my dominant eye but target is clear. Opposite with the right eye. I was taught that the sights need to be clear and the target a bit fuzzy. This does not work with both eyes open therefore I shoot as I always have with my left eye closed. Works fine pistol past 25 depending on the target. A peep sight will help clear things up on a rifle to a degree, out to 100. Anything beyond that I need optics these days.

I like that blurry can be your friend during dehydration periods the body can also become unbalanced and that can have an opposite affect on some individuals but it does help with equilibrium when shooting tryvs little pepper spray before the old test run or better yet the old m40 gasmask especially when you lose 1 tint in the dessert that sucks.

Brubz said:

I'm sure this has been covered before but remember I am new. I am right handed but left eye dominant. Some people say it's better to shoot with both eyes open when you have this cross eyed dominance. others say no. I have been using the turn my head slightly method on the range but I know that won't work in a self defense situation.
What say you guys?

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Both eyes practice practice practice center stance and feel the pull relax if you learn speed on the range as nd body pivoting then in squares and triangles like a dance then in combat it will flow naturally but if you ever flinch stick to the range it shows hesitation and not personal but if that habit does not break in combat you will, I had a cute ex a long time ago me and stepdad gave her the 12bgauge thinking she was going down like the titanic wellc7 rapid shells later she was hastily being relinquished of the shotgun and personally made sure she could not get to one in the house probably better than most men I ever knew ha ha. If you are starting out find an ex finger or operater like a seal or forced reco they train pretty hard and are well worth the money of you have it especially those Seals great operators K.I.S.S. They are really worth it if you want competition remember speed is their ally so of you prep for confrontation then there really is no training better than that speed gives you confidence and after a while it becomes second nature a.lot of people never learn that they are happy with. 2.5 ok n the 25 yes line with 6 in spread go for the gusto the lessvtoime it takes to hit the target the more time to evaluate the situation.

A friend of mine and I shot about a years worth of biweekly matches “2nd gun” first gun was for score and the 2nd was the same firearm, weak side holster, strong side mag, change grip, aiming eye, everything. I learned a lot during that time.

orpington said:

I, too, am right handed but left eye dominant. Trust me, with both eyes open you won’t hit anything. Need to close your left eye. FWIW, I’m a forced rightie from a very young age. Otherwise, I would have been left handed. I’m not sure if that matters or not.

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Same here. I have to close my left eye if I want to use my sights.
Running defense drills. I more look at the target and shoot it. It took a lot of practice and point then look down the sights drills to get my instinctive shooting up to par.
Cross eye dominant can be a help in the long run because it makes it easier to shoot weak handed.

So I thought everyone did this but I am also right handed and left eye dominant but I shoot right handed with my left eye doing the aiming. Just move your hands over a bit and turn your head a little bit. That is for handguns.

I shoot long guns lefty as well as bows.

I have the opposite affliction I am left handed but right eye dominant. I learned to shoot rifle, shotgun, and bow right handed but I still shoot pistol left handed. I do shoot everything both eyes open. Well not quite I do close one eye when bow shooting.

If possible it is best to shoot all guns with both eyes open regardless of whether or not you are cross dominant. That includes handguns, shotguns, and rifles. Even scoped rifles. It is harder for some to do with scoped rifles, and the more magnification the harder it is to do, but certainly possible. At least for most people of they put in the time to learn how. There are some that simply cannot physically do it.

With shotguns it is VERY important that both eyes are open when shooting moving targets. Both eyes open make it a lot easier to judge distance and speed of moving targets. If you're trying to hit something moving with one eye closed you're really handicapping yourself.

Since handguns are usually shot with both hands and not directly in line with either eye it is less critical which eye is dominate. Both eyes open shouldn't be hard to do. With any gun used for SD it is important that both eyes be open. If not you're blocking a lot of peripheral vision.

If you're cross dominate I'd suggest you learn how to shoot from the side with the dominate eye. My younger brother does most things right handed, but is left eye dominate. For years he struggled with both shotguns and rifles until I talked him into learning how to shoot lefty. There was a learning curve, but he fairly quickly became a much better shot left handed than he had ever been trying to shoot right handed with his dominate left eye.

I'm cross-dominant also. Whenever I pick up and aim a handgun, that right eye closes and my head turns a bit to the right, automatically. Works for me. Even on steel.

9x56MS said:

I have the opposite affliction I am left handed but right eye dominant.

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I wouldn't call that an affliction ; it's just the way you came off the assembly line.

Stevie-Ray said:

I'm cross-dominant also. Whenever I pick up and aim a handgun, that right eye closes and my head turns a bit to the right, automatically. Works for me. Even on steel.

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I'm not cross dominant but right hand shooter, but a cataract in my right eye gives me a little ghosting or double vision in that eye. So, with HG, just use my left eye.

Much tougher with a rifle as I can't really shoot left handed nor use my left eye so I just kinda guess(red dot)..pretty good making that plate 'ding'..

A lot depends on what kind of sight you're using, eye dominance and type of shooting. I shoot iron sights only these days in competition and I shoot with both eyes open but I don't have a cross dominance issue. I've found that years of shooting competition, it's just sorta automatic to blank out the non dominant eye when aiming. When shooting 3gun using a low power scope, it's a great thing to be able to do as it helps in quick target acquisition. The right eye has the reticle and both eyes are looking at the target.

When I'm instructing with new shooters, I'll always check for eye dominance. Give the new shooter some time on the line while I observe his technique and we'll start from there. I've found that occluding the dominant eye of a cross dominant shooter to help quite a bit meaning they'd be shooting with the "off" eye closed.

I practice both ways some. think I actually shoot better with both eyes open, but it takes a few mags to get comfortable with it at the range. I don't imagine if I needed a pistol, I would really care - but, pretty sure I would squint my off eye closed hard, and not sure I would really even think about it.

for whatever reason, both eyes open makes me less prone to flinch if I am a little fatigued.

I'm left eye dominant, left handed, but also shoot right handed.

To me, it doesn't matter which hand the gun is in; if I'm shooting for speed both eyes are open, for precision I close my non-dominant eye.

Here's a useful article : https://brianenos.com/eye-dominance-shmominance/

Enos says: Because no two people see alike, there is not a correct way to aim.

orpington said:

I, too, am right handed but left eye dominant. Trust me, with both eyes open you won’t hit anything. Need to close your left eye. FWIW, I’m a forced rightie from a very young age. Otherwise, I would have been left handed. I’m not sure if that matters or not.

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I am right handed and have had to switch to my left eye when shooting handguns. I keep both eyes open and have no issue. Took a little time to get used to it but is natural now.