shooting both eyes open vs. one eye ???

I think this was recently discussed, Richiequan. It's a fairly common question the search function might help with.

Personally, I've always shoot handguns with both eyes open and usually rifles with only one eye.

Both eyes open is better. Why?

If you close one eye you lose depth perception. This is not good, especially in a gunfight.

I'm completely crosseyed unless I close my right eye. Which is odd since I'm right handed but left eye dominant. Can shoot a handgun from either side, but can't line up a rifle sight on the right to save my life.

One or two eyes. Depends upon what game your shooting. When shooting close up rapid fire combat or plate games then two eyes open work as long as you can stay focused on the font sight.

For precision work at 25yds or greater like shooting bullseye then one eye is better. It is actually better to keep both eyes open and occlude the other eye. When shooting bullseye many competitors will tape over one of the lenses of their shooting glasses to block off the vision of the non aiming eye allowing both eyes to remain open. I've seen some specialized shooting glasses that have one lens opaque. This avoids the tension caused by holding one eye closed or squinting the non aiming eye.

Defensive shooting: Both eyes open is best if you can do it... Give depth perception but more importantly it gives you periphery vision. Many cannot keep the target or the sights from "jumping" and many don't even know if they close an eye or not.

Some that are cross-dominant eyed have trouble keeping both open.

I close an eye when target shooting, but I have no idea what I do while shooting in a PPQ or IDPA... I'll have to have someone watch

Likewise it is said that shotguns are better shot with both eyes open. I personally cannot do that. I close an eye as I do with a rifle...

So, I think if you can keep both open and do as well as closing one... do it!

Both eyes open!

I've tried to shoot with both eyes open on several occasions, I can, but not fast and definitely not on a moving target. From my teaching (NRA Rifle, Shotgun and ML'ing Rifle Instructor, mostly for BSA), the kids with perfect vision could do this pretty easily, the kids that had to wear glasses had a VERY tough time keeping both eyes open.

For instance, I'm a glasses wearer, if I keep both eyes open, and keep my front sight focus, I literally have two targets. At 10 yards, the targets are several feet apart. With practice I could probably get good enough to trust to hit the correct one at speed, but squinting one eye is pretty natural for me (boxing and martial arts do this a lot with incoming strikes).

I only close the eye to line up the shot, the rest of the time it's both eyes open and scanning for targets, identify, close eye, bring gun up, fire, open left eye and scan.

YMMV.

When I shoot a rifle with iron sights I keep both eyes open but I shut my left when using a scope. When I fire a pistol I shut my left eye. I am a righty.

Jeff Cooper pointed out that shooting a scoped rifle with one eye closed led to the "annoying habit of getting 'lost in the scope'", i.e. holding up the rifle, closing an eye, looking through the scope, not seeing the target, waving the rifle around in an effort to find the target, and so on and so forth.

Personally, I found that the rifle scope was a good trainer in ridding myself of what the good colonel convinced me was a bad habit. "Shifting" between looking through the scope with the right eye and then looking at the target with the left eye -- without moving the cheek weld -- was not horribly hard to master, and the technique was then easily transferable to the handgun.

I now shoot everything with both eyes open. And no, I'm not any more accurate than I used to be, but I never get "lost in the scope"!

BTW, one effect of closing an eye is that the iris of the other expands. This may or may not affect shooting, depending upon who you talk to.

Usually both eyes open, focused on target. If I focus on the sights with both eyes open, it's impossible to figure out which sight is supposed to be aligned with which target.

If using a red dot, always both eyes open. Cross-dominance is probably an advantage when using a 1X red dot. Lower priced glass doesn't allow a very clear picture in low light, but your other eye sees everything unimpeded, and your brain will automatically put the dot in the right place, even if you have the lens cap on.

Lately, I've been shooting with one eye closed. I am right-handed, and I believe I'm left-eye dominant. I'm going to experiment with both to see what works best for my accuracy with a pistol. I have always closed one eye when using a rifle with a scope, just seems to work easier.

Both. Eyes. Open.

The way God made ya.

I shoot with both eyes open unless it's a scoped rifle or my accuracy is starting to fall off from range fatigue.

Two eyes gets you better depth perception and allows a wider field of vision.

After reading this http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html I decided that two eyes open is better than one eye open. I'd just started doing it with a tactical red dot sight, and these series of articles convinced me to switch. It didn't take long to train my eyes to focus correctly and I only saw one image. I think my shooting has improved because of it. Of course, that only means that my groups have decreased from 0.6 barns to 0.45 barns (doors closed).

sorry for bring old thread back. (better than making new thread)

When shooting with both eyes open, you still bring guns to one eye right? i meant line up with right eye, instead of bring gun to center of your face (line up with nose).

I "try" to keep both eyes open when shooting handguns and shotguns but I do close one eye when looking through a scope on a rifle.

well, i can shoot both eyes open with scope, but hand gun so hard. lol i need to keep practice.

Kang, yes, with both eyes open you are still just using one eye to aim. If you find the gun ends up centered on your face instead of one eye, you may have eye dominance issues.

I always shoot with both eyes open in order to maintain better situational awareness (i.e. depth perception and peripheral vision), as a real life situation can be quite fluid. Strangely, neither of my eyes seems to be dominant over the other, but as long as I keep the gun to the right side of my face (I'm naturally right-handed) I can use my right eye to aim; my left eye is used to aim when shooting with my left hand, and that works fine, too (I could cross over with either hand, but that would be silly).

So you compensate for bullet drop?

"If you close one eye you lose depth perception. This is not good, especially in a gunfight."

cornman said:

So you compensate for bullet drop?

Click to expand...

No, but depth perception gives me superior awareness of my surroundings in case there are other assailants or bystanders moving around, or obstacles in my way if I'm moving around. Wouldn't you feel more aware and even more comfortable with both eyes open in an actual gunfight, as opposed to shooting at a paper target? Keeping your other eye open is analogous to using a head-up display (HUD) in a fighter jet instead of staring down at your instruments during a dogfight.

I like to close both eyes, scream like a girl, and spray bullets in all directions. I sign in at 3 gun competitions as "Captain Death Blossom".

In all practicle defensive senerios I've practiced, I use both eyes open. Unless my contacts/glasses get screwed up or I get water or smoke in my eye. then sometimes I have to squint my "off" eye a little to keep my brain planted on the correct eye.

But usually it deosn't matter. Either eye will do at combat pistol ranges. Just point and shoot. And my rifle has an Eotech, so anyway that dot gets on target is fine.

I always enjoy this question when it is raised. I was a fairly good shot before I lost the sight in my left eye and I can still hold my own pretty well. If I close my left eye, as I do when I shoot a rifle (from being taught that way) it doesn't really matter. If I shoot with both eyes open, it doesn't matter either. If you loose sight in one eye the other one will take over and be a lot more acute. I suggest you try both and do what ever works best for you.