Both eyes open thru an ACOG not for me.

Status
Not open for further replies.
rdmercer

rdmercer

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
96
Location
northern Idaho
I have a STAG ARMS ar15 with a 3-4 power ACOG mounted. Can someone tell me how in the world you shoot both eyes open when my left dominant eye is seeing the target non magnified and my right eye is seeing the target thru a magnified tube? I even tried it off my left shoulder so I could see thru the optic with my dominant eye and it made no difference.
I have a Bushmaster with an AIM POINT non magnified and I can shoot easily with both eyes open. And it is mounted farther ahead with alot of eye relief, but I can't move the ACOG forward because it needs to have just a couple of inches of eye relief, at least for me.
 
always worked well for me but i'm not sure how to troubleshoot it over the internet.
 
I can't look down any sight or scope, magnified or non, with both eyes open. Never been able to do it even with red dot sights. My military qualification score suffered greatly the one time I tried to qual with both eyes open using an Aimpoint CompM4. I look for targets with both eyes but close one to focus when it is time to pull the trigger.

Moral of the story: Shoot however you are comfortable.
 
If you're a right handed shooter but left eye dominant, you're going to have to close your left eye to hit anything. People have been shooting that way since people started shooting things. Use what works.
 
I feel your pain. I'm also cross dominant and its a pain. I found red dot sights are about the only site I can shoot accurately with. Luckily I'm mostly a handgun guy...it sucks sometimes.
 
Last edited:
I can't imagine being able to shoot with a magnified optic in front of your weak eye.

It takes some practice at the best, and at the best you're going to have to swap shoulders.

Or give up and close your good eye.
 
Like a said in the original post, I can shoot with both eyes open thru a non magnified AimPoint and even the Eotech 512 but not with the magnified tube such as the Acog. I am 66 years old so I guess I'll just close my left eye. I'm probably lucky to be able to see just as it is at my age. I can still use iron sights but I sure can't shoot both eyes open with them.
 
Put a piece of frosted cellophane tape over the left lens of your shooting glasses
 
Try shooting with both eyes open and a strip of duct tape over the front of the acog. We did this in the army to get use to both eyes open. I'm not sure how it works but it helped make shooting with both eyes more comfortable.
 
The brain can integrate almost 3x for most people (It's not accident 2.75x is a standard for scout scopes). Above 3 is pushing it.

Mike
 
The mistake most people make is learning to shoot from the side of their dominant hand, rather than their dominant eye.

Learning to shoot at all is of far greater value than not learning to shoot at all. However, most people learn from friends or relatives, very few of whom are actually good at either teaching or marksmanship. Not really a knock, we just make do with what resources we have available to us. Using myself as an example, my Dad taught me to shoot. Then I joined the military and actually learned how to shoot.

So if your dad, uncle or family friend teaches you to shoot, that's infinitely better than learning nothing of the shooting sports. But if you have the luxury of having someone qualified teach your kids, take advantage of it so they have fewer struggles than you did. And they will quickly outshoot you.
 
it does take a bit of practice and its not for precise shooting its for up close and personal get on the chest type shooting. First thing you have to do is quit trying to focus on the sights or the target. Just try seeing the lit triangle in the scope. You mind will take over and plant it on the target. I thought at first it would be impossible because even to this day this old fart closes an eye when using a scope. No way i could shoot a group at a 100 yards with both eyes open but i sure can plant holes in targets out of 50 yards real fast with my acogs with both eyes open. Go out with your gun and put some targets up at 25 yards and just throw the gun up and look for the triangle and shoot. Id bet before the first clip is gone your going to be hitting that target well enough to make a vital hit. Once you get it down youll wonder why you ever put anything else on a combat gun. Nothing gives the versitility of being fast up close and precise out far and low light capabilitys as an acog does. I wish i was rich enough to have them on all my ars.
 
I learned to shoot with ACOGS, Hensoldt ZFs, and Aimpoints in the Army with both eyes open and using my non-dominant eye.

The reason I made myself to do it was the eye strain on an eye forced closed and the compromised vision that follows.

What ended up working best for me until I became comfortable with the process was to find a cant of my head that effectively took my left eye partially out of play without squinting or forcing it closed.

Try using slightly un conventional angles of your head to present your non firing eye in the outside corner of its socket and your mind will begin to disregard its input in visual interpretation and over time you can enforce the disregard for its input to the point of (in my case) even shooting pistols with both eyes open and very effectively.

I hope this makes sense though it is significantly easier to teach in person and when the firer is committed, I have been 100% successful in training it.
 
Try shooting with both eyes open and a strip of duct tape over the front of the acog. We did this in the army to get use to both eyes open. I'm not sure how it works but it helped make shooting with both eyes more comfortable.
Click to expand...

This helps with the whole Bindon Aiming Concept. I used to have a BAC sight that you could not actually see through, just see the dot inside. The idea is that the dot or crosshairs will materialized in your FOV of the eye that can see at distance. I don't know in what percentage of the people that BAC works, but apparently it depends on the dom eye not being hugely dominant and that the eyes are close to perfectly aligned. So folks with various binocular vision disorders such as strabismus, find that BAC will not work for them (4-10% of the population).

I shoot both eyes open but cannot do BAC. I am strongly right eye dominant and have little or no actual 3-D perception, LOL.
 
It did take some practice a little(?) conscious effort, but I think I'm pretty much there, although in a pinch I'd probably close the other eye for quick shots.

BTW - I'm normally cross dominant, but due to varying pressure on my dominant eye, my dominant eye can change minute to minute depending on eye pressure.

Just another screw thrown in the works - if my acuity was a constant, it would probably be a lot easier to master / have confidence in shooting with both eyes open, particularly those quick first shots.
 
Binden Aiming Concept is designed for using a magnifying optic in close quarter combat scenario.
It works well with practice but as noted in previous post, if you have vision problems the technique and would be better served with a non magnifying dot optic.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

E
  • Locked
How to use and ACOG
Replies
4
Views
2K
Ragnar Danneskjold
R
S
  • Locked
Ar-15 sights, Cannot shoot with both eyes open
Replies
18
Views
5K
jim243
J
F
  • Locked
Boresighting a reflex optic on AR
Replies
2
Views
352
Frog48
F
D
  • Locked
Cross dominance and both eyes open
2
Replies
47
Views
3K
WayBeau
WayBeau
bikemutt
  • Locked
PS90, what magnified optic?
Replies
3
Views
768
Trent
Trent
Back
Top