The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - I heard about shooting with both eyes open

echo7tango · May 18, 2012, 06:28 PM

I went to the range today on my lunch hour to test shooting with both eyes open. First time doing that – with interesting results. I shot 100 rounds. I haven't shot in a while; it has been over a year. I was way overdue.

Here are my results, with more info below: both eyes open and target (tgt) focus is worth exploring further, it works pretty well for me. My first-ever groups weren't too bad, and with practice I'm confident they'll get better and my speed will improve.

If you're inclined to argue against this, read the rest before you do, especially the note about why I cannot acquire the front sight (FS) with both eyes open. These results are mine and mine alone. I'm not about to start a shooting school and teach everyone to do it this way. In fact, I'm not going to tell anyone else to do it this way. These are preliminary results and I'll continue practicing.

I wear eyeglasses so I tested both with and without my glasses on, and also tgt focus and FS-focus, all four combinations (or permutations, if you will).

Targets: I set up two paper tgts identically, one each for 10' and 20'. On the back of each tgt paper I pasted 16 1" tgt spots to form a 4X4 grid, with each tgt spot about 8" from each other.

Shooting: No time constraints. The goal was to accurately acquire the tgt and establish good sight picture / sight alignment. My planned sequence of fire was to fire three rounds at each tgt spot, left-to-right and top-down in this manner: glasses on and tgt-focused @ 1st tgt spot; then glasses on and FS-focused @ 2nd tgt spot; repeat for 3rd and 4th tgt spots; then on the next row glasses off and do the same thing as in row 1. Repeat for rows 3 and 4. Then do the exact same thing but at 20' on the second tgt paper.

Note: Try as I might, I could not acquire the FS with both eyes open. It was too confusing for my brain to sort out the images. I'm pretty sure this is because I am usually right eye dominant (and I'm right handed), but at near distances my left eye is dominant. My left eye is nearsighted, and my right eye is astigmatic and is better for distant objects. At far distances, my right eye is clearly dominant, but I read with my left eye. For shooting, what I did instead of FS-focus with both eyes open, is FS-focus with left eye closed as I would normally shoot.

I tried with and without my eyeglasses because I need to make sure of how accurate I am in case I'm suddenly startled awake while sleeping at night and don't have time to get my eyeglasses. I hadn't done that before and talking with the guy at the range he suggested that. I'm glad he did, because I learned a lot from doing that.

Not able to FS-focus at all with both eyes open, I resorted to closing my left eye and shoot normally, focusing on the FS as I normally do.

Result best groupings:

#1) ¾" @10' and ¾" @20': glasses on, closed left eye
#2) 1" @10' and 2" @20': glasses off, closed left eye
#3) 1" @10' and 3" @20': glasses on, both eyes open, tgt-focus
#4) 2" @10' and 4" @20': glasses off, both eyes open, tgt-focus

Like I said, it has been a while since I've shot. I can do better than ¾" at 10'. Of course, closed left eye with FS-focus is naturally how I shoot, so no surprises with #1 and #2. But #3 is promising, and shooting with eyeglasses off (but safety glasses on) is also worth practicing for those night time surprises, if they ever happened.

It's time for more range time. I'll keep practicing with both eyes open. This is merely an initial assessment.

May 18, 2012, 06:28 PM	#40
echo7tango Member Join Date: March 26, 2008 Posts: 15	I went to the range today on my lunch hour to test shooting with both eyes open. First time doing that – with interesting results. I shot 100 rounds. I haven't shot in a while; it has been over a year. I was way overdue. Here are my results, with more info below: both eyes open and target (tgt) focus is worth exploring further, it works pretty well for me. My first-ever groups weren't too bad, and with practice I'm confident they'll get better and my speed will improve. If you're inclined to argue against this, read the rest before you do, especially the note about why I cannot acquire the front sight (FS) with both eyes open. These results are mine and mine alone. I'm not about to start a shooting school and teach everyone to do it this way. In fact, I'm not going to tell anyone else to do it this way. These are preliminary results and I'll continue practicing. I wear eyeglasses so I tested both with and without my glasses on, and also tgt focus and FS-focus, all four combinations (or permutations, if you will). Targets: I set up two paper tgts identically, one each for 10' and 20'. On the back of each tgt paper I pasted 16 1" tgt spots to form a 4X4 grid, with each tgt spot about 8" from each other. Shooting: No time constraints. The goal was to accurately acquire the tgt and establish good sight picture / sight alignment. My planned sequence of fire was to fire three rounds at each tgt spot, left-to-right and top-down in this manner: glasses on and tgt-focused @ 1st tgt spot; then glasses on and FS-focused @ 2nd tgt spot; repeat for 3rd and 4th tgt spots; then on the next row glasses off and do the same thing as in row 1. Repeat for rows 3 and 4. Then do the exact same thing but at 20' on the second tgt paper. Note: Try as I might, I could not acquire the FS with both eyes open. It was too confusing for my brain to sort out the images. I'm pretty sure this is because I am usually right eye dominant (and I'm right handed), but at near distances my left eye is dominant. My left eye is nearsighted, and my right eye is astigmatic and is better for distant objects. At far distances, my right eye is clearly dominant, but I read with my left eye. For shooting, what I did instead of FS-focus with both eyes open, is FS-focus with left eye closed as I would normally shoot. I tried with and without my eyeglasses because I need to make sure of how accurate I am in case I'm suddenly startled awake while sleeping at night and don't have time to get my eyeglasses. I hadn't done that before and talking with the guy at the range he suggested that. I'm glad he did, because I learned a lot from doing that. Not able to FS-focus at all with both eyes open, I resorted to closing my left eye and shoot normally, focusing on the FS as I normally do. Result best groupings: #1) ¾" @10' and ¾" @20': glasses on, closed left eye #2) 1" @10' and 2" @20': glasses off, closed left eye #3) 1" @10' and 3" @20': glasses on, both eyes open, tgt-focus #4) 2" @10' and 4" @20': glasses off, both eyes open, tgt-focus Like I said, it has been a while since I've shot. I can do better than ¾" at 10'. Of course, closed left eye with FS-focus is naturally how I shoot, so no surprises with #1 and #2. But #3 is promising, and shooting with eyeglasses off (but safety glasses on) is also worth practicing for those night time surprises, if they ever happened. It's time for more range time. I'll keep practicing with both eyes open. This is merely an initial assessment.