Shooting with both eyes open

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chutestrate

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I've been shooting for a long time shutting my left eye, and using my right open eye. I am finding that I am left eye dominant and I'd like to shoot with both eyes open. Is anyone aware of how I could train myself to use both open eyes.
 
Lots of practice. :) The more you look at the sights with both eyes open the easier it will get. Dry fire practice is good for this. Also are you using a target focus or a sight focus? For some people a target focus works better since both eyes are focusing on the same thing instead of fighting over which one sees the sights.
 
Close your left eye. Bring your sights up, focus on what you normally focus on (typically focusing on the target with a fuzzy sight picture 15 yards and in, or focusing on the front sight with a fuzzy target if shooting further than 15 yards). Get your sight picture, then slowly open your left eye. You should stay focused.

I started this a few months ago, and I'm at a point where I can bring my gun up and just see the sights without closing an eye. It's not as clear as with one eye open... I still see two images, but I'm focused on the image my right eye is seeing.

This may sound confusing, and I'm not sure I'm explaining it well, but it's worked remarkably well for me. It does take a lot of repetitions, though.
 
Take up trap shooting! I taught myself to shoot trap with both eyes WIDE open.

Once I started doing that, my scores went up, and I began to shoot 25's consistently from the 16 yard line. It took me about 6 months to really make the switch, shooting 2-3 rounds per weekend.

I used a blurry spot of tape over the lens for my non-dominant eye, but that was just a security blanket phase that only lasted 2-3 week. Then I just "Manned Up" and kept both eyes open all the time.

For trap shooting at least, it's the best way to really pick up the target quickly and apply depth perception to the movement of the bird.
 
If you are shooting a handun, turn your head to the right a little and the sights will get clear.
 
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When shooting a handgun concentrate on 'sight alignment' with the front sight blade and the rear sight slot. Read up on the 6-o'clock hold.

One sight or the other sight will be clear but not BOTH!!! . If you focus on the rear sight the front sight blade will be out of focus and vice versa.......

Another fact(for me): shooting double action vs single action REQUIRES9 (for me) different parts of your trigger-finger engaging the trigger !!!!!!! And this apply's to semi-auto's as well, especially those with double action.

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AND ALWAYS PRACTICE SIGHT ALIGNMENT WITH BOTH EYES OPEN.... I have not done much hand gun shooting in the last year but it is intuitive to me now, acquiring the 6-o'clock hold with both eyes open...even with my TRIFOCALS...

Peripheral can save your life!
 
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Mike Sr. said:
Another fact: shooting double action vs single action REQUIRES different parts of your trigger-finger engaging the trigger !!!!!!! And this apply's to semi-auto's as well, especially those with double action.
I didn't know schools or mainstream instructors were still teaching that technique.

I remember that was the belief/common knowledge/urban legend back 40 years ago, but I thought most instructors had adopted the current technique of not changing finger position between the DA and SA trigger strokes in SA/SA pistols.

I know that many DA revolver shooters still prefer a smooth trigger face to allow the finger to roll across the face of the trigger as it rolls back...but there is a growing segment following Jerry Miculek in using a serrated trigger to keep the finger pad in a consistent position.
 
I shot part of my last metallic silhouette SB pistol match with both eyes open and noticed that my hit-rate improved somewhat from one-eyed shooting.

Shot releases felt more fluid as well, something which might have to do with having a greater sense of confidence.
 
The last time I tried to use both eyes, while zeroing my M4 w/ a red dot, my groups immediately went to hell b/c I was now superimposing the red dot in my right eye on the picture my left eye was seeing. Closed my left eye, was able to zero & then qualify.
 
I practice with my pistol by my side then bring it up to join my other hand and fire at the target with both eyes open. I point rather than aim. Doing it on the move like this makes it easier to keep the eys open. You can do this at home with an empty gun and the more you do it the more automatic it becomes. I have to do this because I shoot lots of p-dogs and look thru a scope with one eye closed.
 
9mm....

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It is just info, not gospel, if it doesn't work for one it doesn't work....try something else! The suggestion was just basic info for the poster....to explore. I am sure there is a plethora of books on 'trigger pull' ....he'll have to find one that fits his style. And the size of one's hand can not accomodate all hold's...


They are finding out now that finger placement on the trigger has a whole bunch of influencing factors on placing rounds down range....'especially' in long range shooting...

Like I said it is just information, a starting place to explore or not to explore.
 
Mike Sr. said:
It is just info, not gospel,

I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood your use of the words "Another fact" and "REQUIRES" as meaning the information you were stating was meant to be true and imperative...especially since you capitalized the latter.

I haven't found finger placement on the trigger critical either, but I guess it depends on how you define long range...I usually don't shoot much beyond 50 yards at any speed, but likely more careful when shooting out to 100 yards with a handgun
 
I specified 'for me' in my post hope that helps you rather than extrapolate that what I wrote was gospel! As as a matter of FACT they are teaching trigger technique: where and how to touch the trigger with the finger and then pull.....but I am sure you can find that...
 
Thank you for the clarification

I didn't mean to pick on you, as much as I was trying to prevent newer shooters from being misled as to current training technique
 
I'm RH and Left Eye Dominate too. I've been shooting both eyes open for a few years now. It's very doable with some practice.

I found that if I squint my left eye just a little bit my right eye will take over. After a while I was able to shoot with both open easily after a few rounds of squinting the left eye. The main thing is to be consistent. Don't revert back once you start! If I shoot a handgun using my left eye it will take a little while to regain the control it takes to shoot with the right and leave the left open as well.

Don't give in and start shooting left handed or cock your head at stupid angles to shoot RH with left eye. Stick to it and you will be rewarded. Soon it will be 2nd nature.
 
...but there is a growing segment following Jerry Miculek in using a serrated trigger to keep the finger pad in a consistent position.
That's probably true, but in his videos (that used to be on myoudoortv and now seem to be gone) he showed his version of the proper DA revolver grip, and he started it by rotating the gun in the hand as necessary to make sure the first joint was firmly hooked over the trigger, definitely not the pad.

So, while he doesn't want it to move, he does seem to prefer to use the joint when shooting DAs.

I've never watched him closely while shooting SA guns, but I would certainly assume he uses the pad for those. So I think this may remain a bit unclear.
 
Jerry is a very unusual guy...a lot of his gripping style has to do with the size of his hands...they are huge. The hint is the size of the grips on the S&W 625JM. Not quite as big as Bill Jordan's hands (look at the Jordan grips) , but Jordan was a lot bigger guy too
 
Right, but (DANG ...wish I could find those vids!) he was talking about that exact same issue -- different hand sizes. He was showing how if you had smaller hands, he'd have you turn the revolver in your grip until the trigger rested under the first joint.

It struck me really profoundly as most of what I thought I knew was based on the idea of the barrel of the gun being placed directly in-line with the wrist bones of the strong hand. This broke that concept as the gun might be several degrees out (or possibly even "in") from that line.

Then I realized that Isosceles shooters probably aren't doing that either most of the time and it made more sense.
 
Sam1911 said:
It struck me really profoundly as most of what I thought I knew was based on the idea of the barrel of the gun being placed directly in-line with the wrist bones of the strong hand. This broke that concept as the gun might be several degrees out (or possibly even "in") from that line.

Then I realized that Isosceles shooters probably aren't doing that either most of the time and it made more sense.

This was a huge revelation to my shooting too and was the beginning of my understanding of how the Isosceles was really different from everything before.

Rather than take this thread further away from the seeing toward the gripping...let me post a couple of links where this is discussed in more detail than most would care for. The good stuff is on page 2 with additional grip related discussion here
 
One trick that I use to shoot both eyes open is to put a piece of scotch tape over the lens of my shooting glasses on the non-dominant side. It's a good way to practice and I actually shoot High Power rifle competition this way. For a run and gun type shooting environment the tape may cause other issues however. Either way it helps train your eyes to stay open but only focus with the dominant one. My scores did improve with both eyes open. Squinting one eye close causes muscle fatigue in your eyes and over a long shooting session your scores will suffer.
 
When my prescription ran low once, I spent a few weeks only wearing the contact lens in my dominant eye.

Now I have a pretty easy time "choosing" which eye to focus through. I shoot with both eyes open, sometimes with the non-dominant eye halfway lidded. When using a high-power scope I tend to use just one eye, but sometimes it's convenient to use the left (non-dominant) eye to get on target when the I'm too zoomed in to tell which stand is which.
 
for decades i shot left eye closed, until i bought a blow gun and found that the easiest way to aim was cross eyed (weird as hell i know) with both eyes open

That led to using both eyes at the range (NOT cross eyed, though it'd probably work), and now i cannot imagine going back to one eye. I wonder if it has something to do with 3 points of reference, 2 eyes, one target ?
 
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