Shooting with one or two eyes?

[gonoles_1980]

I did the dominant eye test above, neither eye is dominant, I get the same movement to the left or right depending which eye I close. My left eye has the better vision, but it's the one I close when I was shooting single eye.

My biggest issue is not seeing on the sight. Guess I should talk with the eye doctor about it. I have a slight stigmatism, I normally wear contacts when shooting, but my safety glasses are bifocal with readers on the bottom part.

What is odd, if I don't let the double vision resolve and use the thumb that is the obvious real thumb, the right eye closed the thumbs in the middle, the left eye closed the thumb jumps to the right (I would expect to the left). Maybe that's why I tend to miss to the left, when I have been thinking it's my trigger pull.

I will discuss with my eye doctor this summer and see what he suggests.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Shooting with one or two eyes?

Field shooting, I usually shoot with both eyes open and focused on the target, and only see the front and rear sights with my dominant eye (the right).

I find closing one eye or squinting usually disturbs my vision. When I was a kid I was a microscope enthusiast, and learned to use the microscope with both eyes open and only see the image with the dominant eye at the lens. Although I close one eye with an astronomical telescope, I often use a riflescope with both eyes open, the magnified image and crosshairs in one eye superimposed on the unmagnified image in the other eye.

Not consistently though: it may depend on lighting intensity and direction, wind, pollen, dust, or random factors.

If I shoot a handgun left handed, I often find myself presenting the sights to my right eye at about a 45 degree angle.

ADDED:
I'll agree with Deanimator: "Shoot whichever way works best for you." One size never fits all well.

 

[The Narrator]

I think movies or TV must show people closing one eye, because even though I was taught to keep both eyes open from day one, I still find myself closing an eye at times.

 

[IL Guns]

I did the dominant eye test above, neither eye is dominant, I get the same movement to the left or right depending which eye I close.

Actually there is a better way to do it. Just don't overthink it. Look at something in the distance that you can block with your thumb. Block it with your thumb. Close either eye. The eye that has blocked out the something in the distance is your dominant eye. The other eye will be able to see it to the side. Even house cats have a dominant eye and I'm about 99% sure that every human also does. I have never heard of somebody having ambidextrous eyes because I think you would have no depth perception. You need more distance and make sure your thumb is at arms length. Try it again and don't think too much about it. It is the same with hands. If someone throws a tennis ball at you when you aren't expecting it and you didn't play baseball for 10 years, whatever hand you go to catch the ball with is your dominant hand.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I lost the use of my left eye before my second birthday. I have had corrective lenses for my right eye since I started Kindergarten in 1960. I shoot just fine with one eye open so I think any situation can be compensated for with enough determination and practice. Lots of people tell me that I can't have depth perception also but somehow my brain developed a work around as I have never experienced depth perception issues in my life, whether playing sports, farming, work related, or driving so don't be quick to say "can't" when "I don't want to try" is the real answer.

 

[22-rimfire]

With open sights on a handgun, sometimes when I have both eyes open, my brain switches to the other eye and obviously I am not lined up on the sights anymore. On the surface it would seem to be an eye dominance issue, but that is not the case. I think it is my brain reacting to a stigmatism. Don't know actually so I often just shoot handguns with one eye open.

 

[Walkalong]

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

Well, I didn't think that one through, did I.

 

[Skribs]

Two is better if you can train yourself to do it.

I can do 2 okay with optics, but not with irons. I also can't close my left eye without closing my right, and I'm severely left-eye dominant, so I mainly shoot left handed.

 

[IWAC]

I do O.K. with the Burris FastFire II on my MK II. My left eye used to be my dominant eye, but since Cataract surgery and Lens replacement, I use my right eye, and have been practicing leaving both eyes open.

Open sighted handgun or scoped rifle, I just get confused trying to shoot with both eyes. Too much information?

 

[AStone]

Great thread. Have been wrestling with this.

Have read partially through, but packing to move back home on Wednesday (by jet and shipping, including getting my rifles back home -- which is WAY harder to get them back v getting them here --- different states, different regs, thread to come).

I'll read more, especially as I get back home and get settled into my new place,
and add my own experiences as a left eye dominant guy shooting right handed.

 

[IL Guns]

Open sighted handgun or scoped rifle, I just get confused trying to shoot with both eyes. Too much information?

Yes, it takes the visual cortex a lot of time to adapt to changes in your eyesight from surgery. I am not a MD but when I had PRK I learned A LOT from surgeon and personal experience. Actually too much.

My advice is to just keep practicing. It took me quite a while to get back to where I was accuracy wise before my surgery and then I finally surpassed it.
Really it will come to you in time so just hang in there. Keep shooting on a regular basis and one day you will be like Wow, I should be on "Top Shot".

 

[gonoles_1980]

The dominate eye test is hard, tried an object in the distance, I have double vision on the thumb, if I focus and see one thumb, then I have double vision in the distance. I can tell which is the real thumb, vs the double visioned thumb, doing that, it appears I man right eye dominate (I am right handed), which was the single eye I was shooting from before.

 

[tarosean]

Here are a few GM's talking about the subject.

https://youtu.be/GQ7p7pjDVH4




*Warning for language

 

[AR-15Nutt]

both eyes open.., something i trained my brain to accept many years ago, i do shoot better, although when i got my first rifle @ 12 y.o.a single shot Stevens Favorite i just naturally closed my left eye and no one ever told me to keep both eyes open untill i went into the U.S.NAVY.

 

[mgmorden]

Left eye closed for me. I just shoot better that way. With both eyes open either the target and front sight are on different enough focal planes that one or the other is going to double in your vision (generally the target it you're maintaining front sight focus).

That doubling effect doesn't do well for me. Closing one eye doesn't bring it into focus but does eliminate the "ghost" image making it quicker - for me - to determine that my front sight is aligned with the target.

 

[AStone]

Over the last few years, I've learned a trick that helps me with that "double image" that results from both eyes open. It involves learning which one of the double images is "real" by opening and closing both eyes, one at a time, focusing on the dominant eye (for me, my weak side). It takes a LOT of practice, time after time after time ... But after a while, one learns which of those double images is the real one.

I'm packed for a flight tmw -- going home after 9 long, hard, at times hellish months on the road.

I'll try to add more once I'm home, in my new apartment, and settled.

Interesting discussion.

 

[entropy]

It depends. Pistol usually both. Rifle, open sights under 50 yards, both. Past that , and or with a scope over 2.5X, one. Shotgun, both. I'm left eye dominant, but shoot off the right shoulder mostly. I do practice off the left shoulder, and took a deer that way. Pistol I shoot better instinctively left, bullseye-right.

 

[AStone]

^ Good distinction, rifle long range v pistol.

 

[IL Guns]

The dominate eye test is hard, tried an object in the distance, I have double vision on the thumb, if I focus and see one thumb, then I have double vision in the distance. I can tell which is the real thumb, vs the double visioned thumb, doing that, it appears I man right eye dominate (I am right handed), which was the single eye I was shooting from before.

One question and then some serious advice. When you did the test did you have your hand pretty much at arms length? By off in the distance I mean like even a stop sign at 100 feet. If you did it right and didn't really put much thought into it the I STRONGLY recommend that you see an ophthalmologist and not a optometrist. Like I said I am not an MD but after my PRK operation I became good friends with my ophthalmologist. I have had a Artemis 2 scan which isn't even approved in the USA.

Don't freak but my opinion as someone who had my surgeon consult with a Professor in England before they did my PRK is that seeing double vision on your thumb during a routine eye dominance test is not good. It really could be you are just really thinking too much about it and/or your thumb is too close to your face. I would bet on the second one but like I said I'm not an MD. Its probably nothing, try it again, thumb at arms length and see. Otherwise have a OPTHAMOLOGIST look at your eyes. While not a MD I know way too much about eyes, tests and ophthalmology in general.

I had something done to my eyes that was "iffy". It worked. I have been in that chair with my eyes looked at with a slit lamp about 60 times in 5 years. Personally I think you are holding your thumb too close to you. If not you probably have an astigmatism, that would explain the double vision. It's probably nothing but double vision means something is up.
Once again I am not a MD.

 

[entropy]

Astigmatism does not cause 'double vision". It generally blurs viewed objects at all focal distances. Yes, the things that do cause double vision are more serious, and IL Guns is right in that you should see an opthomalogist soon.

 

[Uncle Nubbs]

I've had a lazy eye since early childhood. My right eye has always been much stronger so it has been my "dominant eye". I wear contacts now which corrects the problem. A few months ago, I was checking out a buddy's pistol when he noticed I was aligning the sights with my left eye. I did not notice I was doing it. Perhaps I am inherently left eye dominant but it has been so weak that I have relied on my right eye. Next range visit (pistol) I noticed I was tending to align the sights to my left eye and was shooting poorly.

Since then, I have been consciously training to go to my right eye by shutting the left as I bring the pistol up. Trying to build muscle memory.

Rifle it's a different story. I'm right handed so I am using my right eye and I can keep my left open. It's hard to describe but I can kind of go into "lazy eye" mode and forget about my left eye and focus with my right. It feels natural and it's the way I've shot all my life.

Must be something about having the sights at arms length on pistol and my eyes want to choose. Pretty sure with enough training I can overcome this.

 

[acdodd]

I was shooting trap one time and a guy asked me that very question.
After my next round he said I shoot with both eyes.
He suggested I open at least one of them.

 

[patmccoy]

Easier eye dominance test. Poke a small hole (about dime size) in a piece of paper. Hold the paper in both hands extended as far as your arms reach, and with both eyes open look through the hole at something in the distance. Keep looking at the object with both eyes open while slowly bringing the paper closer to your face until it is against your face. It will naturally go to the dominant eye. A few folks have eyes that are so close to each other that the eye dominance will change when putting an object (like an aperture sight) in front of it.

When shooting open sights if you see two front sights it is becasue you are looking at the target, not the sight. The front sight should be clear, with the target less clear. As we age we often need to wear prescription (or OTC readers) glasses focused to the front sight distance .

 

[old lady new shooter]

I also have double vision on the thumb with my arm extended but didn't imagine it could be anything to worry about, in view of your post I will email my ophthalmologist and ask.

 

[Baron_Null]

Don't freak but my opinion as someone who had my surgeon consult with a Professor in England before they did my PRK is that seeing double vision on your thumb during a routine eye dominance test is not good. It really could be you are just really thinking too much about it and/or your thumb is too close to your face

I honestly don't understand how seeing two thumbs when focusing on an object in the distance is a problem, as much as it is a function of having binocular vision. I'm not trying to argue against your advice, but it really doesn't make much sense to me given that most laypeople that I've talked to see separate thumbs.

And before you ask about the distance of my thumbs to my face, they are at arms length and I have rather long arms, so I don't see any way that the thumb could get any farther away. Nor do I understand how thinking about it too hard could effect more than the results.