Do you close one eye to aim your pistol?

[Headless]

Well guys, I've been fighting with my S&W 659 for months, quite unhappy with my ability to hit anything with it. Today i took ~500 rounds out to the range with me and decided to really work on it and figure out where i was going wrong with aiming. Turns out, once i stopped closing one eye and left both eyes open, i was able to aim perfectly (14/14 in the 8" target @ 10yards) whereas i was totally inconsistent previous and tended to aim low all the time. I'm wondering if i was doing 'the wrong thing' by closing one eye.

 

[RustyFN]

I did the same think thinking it would help my dominant eye focus better.:banghead: I was shooting in a pistol league. After a few weeks I tried shooting with both eyes open and I started scoring a lot higher.
Rusty

 

[Standing Wolf]

You left out the third choice: close both eyes.

 

[kludge]

I was taught long ago (NRA/4H Shooting Sports) to target shoot with both eyes open (rifle and pistol). I can close one eye and aim, but I don't remember this ever changing the point of impact. If I'm 'point' shooting I have to have both eyes open -- it's just the way your eyes work.

Then there's the "front sight" crowd. I've tried this on occasion, but this absolutely ruins my ability to shoot with both eyes open, and in my mind focusing on the front sight with one eye closed is not a good "tactical" thing to do. I've quit trying. Some say it helps accuracy/group size, but I haven't seen it (no pun intended).

 

[Kor]

Keep 'em both open...

1) Closing one eye will slightly throw off the vision in the other eye - this is why my first visit to the optometrist(@ 8 yrs old) took over 1-1/2 hours. He gave me the little paddle to cover my eye with, but I ALSO closed the eye I was coveringo ), so the indicated prescription he figured out for each eye still looked wrong to me when I looked through the clicky-lenses gadget with both eyes open.

2)To help yourself overcome the "double vision sight picture" you may initially notice with both eyes open, put a small piece of Scotch tape on the lens of your shooting glasses over your non-dominant eye. This removes the "sight picture" seen by your non-dominant eye, leaving visible only the correct sight picture seen by your dominant eye. Do this in dry-fire practice at home for 15-30 minutes every night, for a month - eventually, you will get yourself so grooved-in physically and mentally that you will see that correct sight picture almost without conscious effort, while being able to "automatically" ignore that "non-dominant sight picture."

 

[johnny blaze]

When I was younger, I used to close one eye.
I noticed that after awhile I could not see very well. And my closed eye would feel really strange.
An older gentleman told me to keep both eyes open. That is what I did.
I have been keeping both eyes open for years now, and it just feels natural.
The shot patterns are much, much better.
WORKS FOR ME

 

[Punkermonkey]

Unfortunately I have to close my left eye. Being that I am right handed and left eye dominant, It makes it very difficult to shoot with both eyes open. I can do it, but I don't shoot as well.

 

[jlh26oo]

Once you get used to it, binocular vision provides more depth clues. Though some would argue target shooting is 2d not 3d. It's close, but I think it helps.

 

[AStone]

I, too, am a right handed shooter that is left eye dominant.

That makes shooting my handguns more difficult.

Yet, as I learned on THR a year ago, there is a ... "zen" to shooting with both eyes open. It takes practice to be able to resolve that weird double image that results when shooting with both eyes open, but it can be done. Lots of dryfire practice helps. One gets used to which image (of the two) is the right one.

Dang, I'd rather do most anything with both eyes open, including shooting a handgun when my life is at stake.

Nem

 

[psychophipps]

I close my non-domininant eye for a moment and then I'm fine.

Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )

 

[AStone]

I close my non-dominant eye for a moment and then I'm fine.

That technique helps me learn which image is "real".

 

[Justaman]

I face the other direction while using a mirror to aim through the Iron sights. Kind of like in those old parlor trick shots.

This give you an extra cool factor when facing down violent felons.

 

[cloudedice]

+1 psychophipps

 

[possum]

I have found that either way i shoot my xd i do just fine, but i personally have adopted the two eye open method and do just fine. i practice this way so if the time comes in the real world i will go right to it and see my target but at the same time be able to see the objects around the target, you have much better field of view when doing the two eye open method.

 

[MT GUNNY]

Both eyes open

Snapcaps are a great tool not only do they teach trigger contol, after a while
when shooting your mussle memory will take over and you lookright through
your sights. after my first competition shoot I couldnt remember one time i looked at the sights, thus normal vision with both eyes open

 

[10-Ring]

How about (C) - close both eyes?

Seriously, I was taught to keep both eyes open so that is what I do.

 

[OpFlash]

I use both eyes open typically, but sometimes the environment makes for confusing double images and I have to revert to one eye. Imagine multiple white targets downrange and now you have one halfway superimposed over the other, very distracting.

 

[Screehopper]

Right handed, left eye dominate (annoying). I tried forcing myself to use the right eye as the dominate eye, but it doesn't work. Both eyes open. Obviously I can't close my right eye or else the target would shift.

For rifle I have no issues using my right eye w/iron sights or scope.

Go figure.

 

[Reyn]

Im right handed left eye dominant. My right eye has slightly better vision though. If im shooting for groups which i do out to 60yds i will either close my left eye or put tape over my left eye lens. For 15yds and under workin on speed and target transition i use both eyes open with my left eye being dominant. I generally will start with both eyes first because im not as good if my right eye gets used to shooting first.Its a tug of war with my dominant eye.

 

[dillonuser]

I selected "close one eye" because I only have one,thanks to some dummy driving a car...

The above driver probably did the following:

You left out the third choice: close both eyes.

 

[mp510]

I can't shoot a rifle with both eyes open regardless of how hard I try, unless it uses a dot sight. Handguns are another matter.

 

[Jack19]

I haven't read all of the thread, and I'm sure others have commented similarly...but keep both eyes open. Closing one eye limits your field of view.

You need two eyes to look for bad guys.

 

[Geno]

Point shooting

Point shooting: both eyes open

Doc2005

 

[highlander 5]

closed/open eyes

I keep both opened but I tend to be monocular for shooting binocular for distance I don't find it that difficult to shoot this way in fact have tried closing off eye and find it awkward.
Was told once by someone much wiser than I most people tend to be Left or Right eye dominant they just don't realize it
BTW I've had 5 eye surgeries 2 for cataracts at 5 yrs old 1 detached retina and 2 to repair the damage from the first 2
first surgeries were back in the 50' they didn't have the neat painless methods they have now Yeah I know i've been thru the mill

 

[Jeff Timm]

I have an astigmatism of +3. It helps.

Geoff
Who hits what he aims at, usually.