Shooting with both eyes open - question?

[70extreme]

I want to learn to shoot shotgun with both eyes open. In the past, I keep both eyes open until I am ready to pull the trigger, then I close one eye.

I have tested myself and I am right handed/right eye dominant. I can easily shoot both eyes open with my handgun and my scoped rifle. No problems.

The problem is with the shotgun. I think my eyes have problem due to the longer barrel. I actually see two barrels. It is like I am getting a sight picture from each eye that alternates back and forth.

I tried using scotch tape on my glasses and this problem went away instantly.

My question: will practicing with scotch tape dry firing and live firing eventually train my eyes so that I do not need the tape anymore?

 

[451 Detonics]

On clays I am only partially aware of the barrel and beads, my focus is on the bird. Both eyes are open throughout my swing. I use this same technique for steel targets as well and, back in the day, for pins.

Do you shoot a rifle with iron sights with both eyes open?

 

[Pete D.]

hmmm

I think my eyes have problem due to the longer barrel. I actually see two barrels. It is like I am getting a sight picture from each eye that alternates back and forth.

OK. Stop looking at the barrels. Stop looking at the sight. Look at and concentrate on the target. If the SG fits you properly and if you have mounted it properly, it will shoot where you are looking.
My experience is that the barrels are visible peripherally as I track a bird - clay or real - but the bird is crystal clear.
You can't have both the bird and the bead; if you try to then your eyes are going back and forth. Focus on the target. That is one of the big differences between shooting a SG as opposed to a rifle or a pistol - for those two, we are routinely told to focus on the front sight, target should be blurry. Not for a shotgun.
Pete

 

[70extreme]

Even with a target focus, I still see two shadowy barrels on stationary objects. Then when a clay bird is thrown, and I look at the target not the barrel, my eyes immediately go to the target. The result being that my eyes are not lined up straight with the barrel of the gun. My eyes are pointing in a completely different direction than the barrel because they are looking for the target.

Make sense?

 

[oldfool]

makes sense if shotgun used doesn't truly "fit" you
what those fellows were saying
if it fits you throw it to your shoulder with your eyes CLOSED, and when you open eyes, the barrel(s) will be pointing where you are looking
it's what you need to do when checking out an off the shelf shottie vs a custom fit SG
(unless it's a turkey gun or slugger psudo-rilfe w/ rifle sights/scope/red-dot)

expecting any just one to be a fit for both "rifle" sighting (red-dot/scope hold) and wing shooting... that is asking for more than can likely be had

 

[70extreme]

Thanks oldfool. The gun actually fits me. When I shoulder the gun with my eyes close and then open my right eye, I am right on target.

The problem is that my eyes do not track with the barrel when the gun is mounted. If I see something off to the side, my eyes will go there independently. They don't necessarily stay aligned right down the middle of the barrel.

Does that make sense?

 

[blackops]

I hunt for birds with one eye. I'm not as good of a shot with both eyes open. Same for this pistol. I try more with a pistol though. It's still more difficult. Do most people shoot with both eyes open?

 

[oldfool]

some shooting disciplines, no shortage of folks shoot one eye

but for action shooting, moving targets, I do believe the great majority do use both eyes, no substitute for depth perception you know, absent a scope or red dot
but if you are real accustomed to shooting stationary targets at the range one eye, it takes a little practice to acclimate your "mental focus" to both eyes open, but it is at least as accurate as one eye target shooting, even on still targets

6" revolver with open irons, 12-15 oz soda pop not that hard to hit at 100 yards, one eye or both eyes, no big skill trick if it ain't moving (if your hands are not that good, and mine are not, cheat with a small sandbag to park grip butt on)
I broke myself from the one eye aiming thing by off hand revolver shooting smaller stuff at longer ranges; hands to shaky to hold that one eye sight picture long enough anyhow, have to let it go when the sight picture is "there"; higher hit ratios for me both eyes open, be it 10 yards or 100
(scoped rifles, no of course, open iron sight rifles, not me, but skilled action shooters can do)
a whole lot of shooting stuff is at least as much mental focus as physical focus

then again I never did much believe in telling anybody that hits really really well that they are doing it "wrong"
if you hit all your targets, that pretty much qualifies as "right" in my book, dance with the one what brung you

but... that mental focus thing, not meaning to sound harsh.. if your eyes drift to other than the target, you know, work on not doing that...
"If I see something off to the side"..
you do have to keep looking at what you want to "kill", brown feathers or blaze orange, mental focus
when nothing else exists but that target, that sight picture will come, even for "old shaky"
don't out think yourself, thinking is not focus

 

[Pete D.]

Old Fool: +1 about the mental thing.
70ext:

The problem is that my eyes do not track with the barrel when the gun is mounted. If I see something off to the side, my eyes will go there independently. They don't necessarily stay aligned right down the middle of the barrel

Probably it's just the way that you wrote it but...just in case....Your eyes shouldn't be tracking with the barrel. If anything, it's the other way 'round. The barrel follows your eyes. In any case, if your eyes drift off to the side (you write about your eyes as if they have a mind of their own, as if they are not you) - that, to reinforce what has already been said, that a is lack of focus. It is why some shooters wear blinders on the side of their shooting glasses. Shut the world out; the bird is the only thing.
Pete

 

[70extreme]

I am focused completely on the bird or the clay. Let me explain it a different way:

Imagine you have mounted your gun pointing at the exact center point of the path that the clay will travel and for this example, the gun will not move. You will not break your cheek weld.

If someone were to release the clay bird, your eyes could track it as it moved along the path. Only at one point would the clay, barrel, and your eyes be all in alignment.

So what I am saying is that it is easy for your eyes to see the target and not be aligned with the barrel. It is difficult for some shooters to align the barrel where their eyes are pointing if they see two barrels when they keep both eyes open.

 

[Pete D.]

It is difficult for some shooters to align the barrel where their eyes are pointing if they see two barrels when they keep both eyes open.

No doubt.
I am not arguing with you.....the concept - may be just differences in our wording - the concept is that the "aligning" takes place without any effort from the shooter other than properly mounting the gun; it is, at its most basic, not a visual thing. While it is difficult to ignore a 28" long dark object intruding into your field of view, you should not have to align it or the multiple "its". Another way to think about this is to imagine that your forehand, the one up front on the gun, is pointing at the target. when your hand is pointing where you want (You can't see it but you sure can "feel" it), you shoot.
I do this with my SXSs which really do have two barrels - and, in fact, are criticized for presenting "too wide a sighting plane".
Pete

 

[oldfool]

"you have mounted your gun pointing at the exact center point of the path that the clay will travel"

not how wing shooting is done, friend, though I think you meant that as an analogy thing
forget "leading/predicting" for a moment, and google "swinging through", don't wait on target to get there, catch up with it and swing on through the shot... when it powders, your barrels best be looking where it would have been if it didn't get poofed, and your eyes will be with those barrels when the poof behind them happens
skeet in the air look pretty predictable
dove, not so much

you are looking at where the target is before the shot, and predicting where it is going to be soon, instead of following it to where it is going, and ought be after the shot, if not busted
if your barrels stop moving when the shot goes off, you are out thinking yourself
it is not aiming, it is pointing
(which is why some do wear blinders on their glasses, because it's doggone intuitive to look where it is coming from, instead of where it is going)
if your gun fits you as you say, your barrels will follow your eyes, your eyes follow the target and your barrels follow where your eyes are looking
eyes on target, not on barrels, not on bead, if your eyes see the target in different places than they see your barrels, you really are focusing on barrels, anticipating, not focusing on and following target.. focus is not same as seeing

you maybe just don't realize you are maybe (?) back swinging that gun to target before swinging to/thru the target; no bird is that fast, no need, just start swing towards where they going, let 'em "catch up' to you, and then keep up with them (unless you really want to poof the clay 15 feet off the end of the thrower, which can make the guy on the thrower a tad nervous); those barrels will try to go where you focus, you can't hardly force them not to by willpower alone
you can see many things all at once, but can focus on only one
I do it every time I lay off too long
takes me box of 25 shells just to get over myself, two boxes to get into 'rhythm'
but I don't doubt I am making a sloppy job of trying to say it

user tip, pen raised quail, they ain't getting up, they getting back down.. best track thru their feet, but keep your eyes on the birds feet, not the bead on your barrel (but don't shoot the dawg)

edit, afterthought -"it is easy for your eyes to see the target and not be aligned with the barrel"
sure is
try holding your arms out ~180 degrees apart - if have good peripheral vision, can "see" both hands at once, but can focus on neither

PS
c'mon folks, there are 3000 better wing shots than me on this forum, somebody say it right

 

[Mr Kablammo]

An article I read, or maybe in Brister's book, stated that top shooters kept both eyes open until trigger pull. Just before the press they went a one eye squint.