Shooting with one or two eyes?

[gonoles_1980]

I have been closing one eye to shoot. This last time at the range I tried two eyes. Seemed to shoot better, but had to work to bring the double sight into one sight.

What do you guys think is the better way to shoot?

 

[jeepnik]

God gave you two for a reason. Closing one reduces your peripheral vision. Having a blind side isn't good when things go bad.

 

[jad0110]

Both open. Keep at it. It takes some time for your brain to make sense of what it is seeing.

 

[nettlle]

I shot with one eye all my life and taught myself to shoot with both eyes about a year ago. I shoot better with both eyes open.

 

[25-5]

I shoot righty and lefty switching eyes. I can't seem to keep both eyes open for pistol. I do for rifle and shotgun though. Old dog new tricks thing. I'll be back at it next range visit,

 

[joem1945]

I shoot with both eyes open. I shoot pistols either right or left. Sometimes I have to consentrate a bit more when switching to make sure I'm using the correct eye.

 

[Shaq]

Depends on your eyes. I have to close one eye just before firing, otherwise I see two or three guns & sets of sights.

 

[Bobson]

I grew up shooting both eyes open because it felt right. Then someone taught me to close my non-dominant eye, and I relearned to shoot that way.

Now I'm learning to shoot with both eyes open again. Oh well, it's a good opportunity to learn ambidextrous shooting at the same time.

 

[chicharrones]

It depends.

With a red dot or low powered scope (1x to 2x) both eyes open.

Scopes going 3x and above, I tend to close one eye.

Iron sights, well my vision won't play well with those anymore, so I'll close one if it seems to help at that moment. But, normally both eyes open.

 

[MaterDei]

 

[gonoles_1980]

Thanks guys. I will continue to work on keeping both eyes open.

 

[Deanimator]

I've tried shooting with both eyes open and simply can't do it. After a while, I concluded that it wasn't worth the effort.

Shoot whichever way works best for you.

 

[MaterDei]

Congrats on 10K posts Deanimator!

 

[jmr40]

Some people just cannot do it. But if possible it is better to keep both eyes open regardless of the firearm or sighting system.

 

[JohnBiltz]

I can't do it. Which does not mean that you can not but everyone's eyes are different. The same person's eyes are different as he ages. If you can great if you can't you are not alone.

 

[Walkalong]

I shoot both ways.

With a red dot both eyes open is much faster.

 

[DIY-Pete]

I shoot with both eyes open but it took/is taking a lot of work. I have had to overcome a couple issues. I am right handed but left eye dominate. This wouldn't be a big issue except I have much better vision in my right eye. So I have trained enough that when shooting with both eyes open it is my right eye that is "seeing" the sights.

I have to practice my sight alignment a couple times a week or I start to lose my ability to quickly get on the sights.

Pete

 

[IL Guns]

I actually had PRK (like Lasik but much nastier) and they have a thing called monovision. They set your non dominant eye nearsighted to 20/40 and your dominant eye to 20/20 or better for distance. When I asked would this effect my shooting because I look at my sights with my dominant eye, hence I might not be able to see them, they set me up with contacts and did a reverse monovision test. It took about a month in contacts before I said OK lets do it. The first week I had nasty headaches. I see 20/10L-20/40R and 20/18 combined. I will never need reading glasses.
I shoot pistols with both eyes but rifle one eye right before the shot. Let the scope do the work. Anyway it took a while to get used to but at 45 I shoot better then I did in my early 20's. I shot against people who would wear an eye patch in competition.
BTW I don't recommend PRK because they have newer and better technology but be prepared to spend 10k+. I had PRK six years ago. Pretty barbaric but worth it.

 

[1911 guy]

The best situation is to shoot with both eyes open. I say "best" because not all situations are optimal conditions.

If you are cross-dominant (right handed and left eyed, for example), you may have issues using both eyes. Many people learned to shoot with their dominant hand, not realizing (or their teacher noticing) they were opposite eye dominant. The result is usually closing the dominant eye so the non-dominant eye can see the sights clearly.

Age can be a factor on both ends. For kids, it's sometimes better to teach them to shoot with their non-dominant hand to make use of the dominant eye behind the sights. For adults, vision often changes and sometimes that means the dominant eye deteriorates at a faster rate, making squinting necessary.

 

[IL Guns]

There is a simple test for eye dominance. The thumb test.
http://www.themaninchina.com/eyedominancetest.htm

Age and in general eyesight can be a pain. I didn't even know that my eyesight had gone down hill until I went to renew my DL. Squeaked by at 20/40, went to my ophthalmologist, talked about options and he referred me to one of the best refractive surgeons in the country. The thing is all those Lasik ads don't tell you that you will set you to 20/20 at distance but if are at the age where presbyopia (look that word up kids) is coming, you will lose all near sight.

You learn that at your evaluation if your surgeon is honest. The monovision thing is all about your visual cortex adapting. Since I did not want to wear glasses (it's kind of stupid to be told to throw away your glasses just to find out you will have to wear glasses for reading) I went for it after a month of wearing different strength contacts. Now I have no problems with the DMV or shooting but it did take some time to adapt.

 

[IL Guns]

We'll see if Walkalong has a sense of humor or if I'm going to get a reprimand.

I shoot both ways.

Kinky.

 

[Warp]

Almost always both eyes open.

 

[hamp sandwich]

When I shoot with both eyes open, my left eye tends to go all "Forest Whittaker" on me.

 

[FROGO207]

Yep both eyes open for me and I feel I get a better sight picture this way. I can see the target, front, and rear sight all fairly well at the same time without straining my eyes. If I close one eye I find myself constantly focusing between front and rear sights while looking at the target and become less accurate. YMMV

 

[Captcurt]

It depends.

With a red dot or low powered scope (1x to 2x) both eyes open.

Scopes going 3x and above, I tend to close one eye.

Iron sights, well my vision won't play well with those anymore, so I'll close one if it seems to help at that moment. But, normally both eyes open.

This. I am a lot faster with both eyes open with guns or bow until a scope is used..