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

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I am right handed and right eye dominant. I have bad eyesight and wear glasses. I have found that I can shoot with both eyes open only if lighting conditions are right. Too dark, I have to close my left eye. Also, barrel length plays a part. Short barrel - I can have both eyes open. Long barrel handgun and rifles - left eye closed.
No matter what, when I bring the gun up to shoot I keep both eyes open until I am ready to aim and at that point I can decide to leave both eyes open but at the range I almost always close my left eye. The same goes for scopes and optics. I nearly always have to close my left eye.
 
Brubz said:
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.
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Why would this not work in a self-defense situation? If both eyes are open, and the turn or tilt is “slightly”, what is the problem?
 
Brubz said:
I'm the one who started this thread I'm right-handed but left eye dominant when I'm on the Range I close my right eye turn my head slightly and aim with my left.
My point is that in a critical self-defense situation when my brain switches to fight or flight I'm not going to think about closing my right eye and turning my head maybe that's a reason why I should learn to shoot with both eyes open?
I'm sorry I did not make this point clear in my starting post:oops:
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OK, try squinting with your right eye. Aim with left eye, and do a Clint Eastwood Man With No Name with your right eye. Both eyes will see, and so depth perception will be preserved.

Also, try bolder sights. Handle a pistol that has suppressor sights, preferably with the rear being a wider notch than normal rear sights.

Be positive. We will get this sorted-out.
 
Another thought: Try shooting left-handed, more of the time. You may be more lefty than you realize, and be able to recover/rediscover it.
 
Brubz said:
... I am right handed but left eye dominant. ...
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Same-same.

I shoot handguns with my left eye and both open. Rifles, right eye w/ left eye closed.

I can recall during my first(?) shooting lesson with my dad saw me hanging my head w-a-a-a-ay over the comb of that little single-shot .22 bolt rifle in order to sight with my left eye. He corrected me, telling me to close my left eye and use my right for sighting. It was the '50s ... who knew? :)

It was decades before I tumbled to the truth of my eye/hand cross dominance.

Prior to my presbyopia slowly deteriorating my ability to properly focus, I always preferred shooting over irons (only in the last 20 years did I glass any of my rifles) ... and I was accounted a very good shot.
 
Brubz, you would be miles ahead in learning to shoot left handed. I, too, am Right handed (slightly) and left eye dominant. (very) When I was learning to shoot around 50 years ago, lefties were considered evil, and were taught to shoot right handed. Later, after seeing deer on my right side more often while in a stand, I figured it would be easier to slowly switch the rifle than twist my back out of shape trying to shoot off the right shoulder. I learned to shoot rifle, then shotgun, left handed. Learning pistol left handed was automatic, and I still shoot pistols better left handed. This ambidexterity also served me well in the Army; half the corners in the world go to the left.

Brubz said:
Some people say it's better to shoot with both eyes open when you have this cross eyed dominance.
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Those people are fools, and not RH/left eye cross dominant. Many such people can shoot with both eyes open, but not all. I shoot shotgun right handed with just the right eye open for Trap (except as noted below) , but when hunting, I rarely close the left eye, and only on long crossing shots.

I practice shooting off both shoulders with long guns, and with both hands for pistols. I am better right-handed due to shooting that way exclusively for 20 years before learning to shoot off of both shoulders//eyes, but I'm still a decent shot LH. The sooner you learn LH shooting, the better you will be at at.

Rexster said:
OK, try squinting with your right eye. Aim with left eye, and do a Clint Eastwood Man With No Name with your right eye.
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I use what Rexster suggests, when shooting Trap at stations #1 & 2, so as to get a 'jump' on the clay coming out at a left hard angle.
 
Christophe07 said:
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.
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I think you left in a period.
 
I am right hand/right eye dominant. When I was a kid I was a pretty good bowler, I got used to focusing on targets (lane arrows) while I was moving with both eyes open.

After 30 odd years of police range-sub gun/rifle/handgun CQB type training, I’m using both eyes to 20 yards or so for pretty much any shot I fire (especially moving). I also shoot both eyes open for trap, I see flying things better with them both open.

Beyond there, if I’m trying for a more slow aimed-precision shot I will shoot right eye open and left closed. For these types of shots I really do seem to shoot better by hard focusing with the right eye.

No one style works for every situation nor for every shooter. Try to shoot a variety of ways to see what works for you best. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
Rexster said:
OK, try squinting with your right eye. Aim with left eye, and do a Clint Eastwood Man With No Name with your right eye. Both eyes will see, and so depth perception will be preserved.

Also, try bolder sights. Handle a pistol that has suppressor sights, preferably with the rear being a wider notch than normal rear sights.

Be positive. We will get this sorted-out.
Click to expand...
I love the Clint Eastwood anthology back in my 20s I could do a dead on perfect Clint Eastwood vocal impression the girls at work used to get me to answer the phone I would pick it up and say "you got to ask yourself do you feel lucky..
pause... well do you punk?
Somehow I did not get fired and everyone had a good laugh:cool:
 
I am left handed, but learned to shoot right handed, because all the rifles I had were right handed. Fast forward about 55-60 years, and due to complications of a detached retina, I am shooting left handed again.
The question I have is what type of stock seems to work the best for shooting both left and right handed. I find that most are more comfortable right handed, which I can no longer do.
 
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I have massive stereopsis problems which basically precludes me from shooting both eyes open.

I also cannot see magic eye pictures or see 3D movies or anything else through 3D glasses.

If I concentrate hard enough and relax my eyes in just the right way I can catch a 3D image through those glasses here and there. Never have seen a magic eye picture though.
 
I am right and right. I do best with both eyes open. But you should try it both ways. Figure out which combo of shooting and sighting works best and then train that way till it is automatic.
 
Wow! I, too, are right handed but L eye dominant. Seems to be a lot of us out there! I figure you just do what works for you.
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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My mother was born LH but was forced in grade school to be right handed. Back in the early part of the last century one was not allowed to be left handed. Mom always said it was the biggest favor anybody ever did for her.
 
earlthegoat2 said:
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.
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hso said:
I found that cross dominance benefits from keeping both eyes open, but tilting the handgun at a slight angle to bring the sights in front of the dominant eye.
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I do the same as these gentlemen. Right hand, left eye. I instinctively bring the gun up in front of the left eye and shoot both eyes open. Rifles, I shoot right and close left eye. Shotguns shoot right and both eyes open.
 
I'm curious what does US military train folks to do? Both eyes open or one eye closed? I think US is both eyes open but some countries one eye closed.
 
I'm right handed/left eyed. When handgun shooting I use a weaver stance with my right leg being the "back" one, and I turn my head slightly to the right to bring my left eye in line with the sights which also puts my right eye in a position where it won't interfere. That makes it possible to shoot with both eyes open for me, but I do still close my right eye sometimes if I'm trying to be more precise.
 
Brubz said:
My point is that in a critical self-defense situation when my brain switches to fight or flight I'm not going to think about closing my right eye and turning my head maybe that's a reason why I should learn to shoot with both eyes open?
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In answer to that specific question:

While I am not an expert in physiology I am pretty sure that , in the case of a life threatening emergency , both eyes will be instinctively wide open gathering all the situational data possible. It is for that reason that I practice putting rounds on a silhouette target rapid fire with both eyes open.
 
tark said:
Could be James Joyce writing from his grave. :what:No, for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about.....I"M not gonna explain it.!! Look up JJ and discover what he was famous for.
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That’s funny! Within the past week, I cracked Finnegan’s Wake for the first time, and I had to put it down cause I got spooked. It seemed like it had been written all about ME, which got weird after a few pages.
 
I'm left handed and right eye dominant. I learned to shoot left handed before I realized this, and I always needed to keep my right eye shut when shooting left handed. Once I learned about eye dominance I eventually trained myself to shoot handguns and rifles right handed, and shoot those with both eyes open now. I was stubborn with a shotgun though and continued to shoot that left handed for the last 15 years, up until December 2020 when I decided I needed to make the switch. I've been on a couple successful hunts now shooting right handed, it still doesn't feel completely natural but as long as I get the gun mounted properly I think I'm a tad more accurate with both eyes open on moving targets.
 
Thanks guys for all the helpful advice I think I'm going to learn to shoot left-handed I always hold a handgun with both hands anyway so it's just a matter of triggering with the left hand bracing with the right with my right eye closed instead of vice versa.
I'll start off with my Walther P22 before I move up to the big guns:cool:
 
I was cross eye dominant. Neuroplasticity allows for a dominance shifting with forced practice. Takes awhile.

Both eyes open.
 
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