One eye or two when sighting--which do you use?

[stagpanther]

I've been a casual "sport shooter" for much of my life, but as age has come on and my acuity (along with everything else, except weight) lessens, I've had to compromise a lot of things. Such is life.

Being right-handed and right eye dominant, I naturally sighted in by closing my left eye when firing any gun, be it handgun or rifle.

About 2 years ago I started making an effort to train myself to sight-in--regardless of the sight system--with both eyes open. It was more of a psychological "self-indoctrination" thing than anything else, but within a few months my brain sorted things out (which is generally hard under any circumstances) and I now have trouble doing a one-eye-closed sighting. I've learned to process and use to advantage the wider field of view and even the residual "mirage" of eye dominance can be used to advantage by bringing useful accessories into temporary focus without bringing my eye off the rear sight/oculus.

Interested in what others have to say.

[JohnKSa]

If you can shoot with both eyes open (especially with handguns) you will usually do better. It provides better situational awareness, and generally eyes work better as a pair since that's how they're designed to work.

There are a few reasons why a particular shooter may have trouble shooting with both eyes open. If it's a problem, then close one eye.

[Brit]

I have no idea when I changed to both eyes open? Possibly when practical shooting (IPSC)
in Ontario Canada took over standard target shooting in our Gun Clubs. Especially the outdoor ones.
The popular pistol we all started with, the Colt 45 1911. We even had home grown fleging gun smiths spring up all over. The biggest problem, till such Companys as McCormick? Started producing stainless steel magazines that were flawless. Was the crappy Mil Spec. Models that seemed to be all we could find.
I managed to broker a deal with a retired General from the Canadian Army, who I met at a military sale of failed 9mm hardball (Failed the drop test) 30,000 rounds. Always remember his name, the receipt for the sale, was on the back of his personel check.
J.J. Paradise. In fact we had a falling out with the Goverment accounting Office.
The calculation for these was at 10.cents per round. Three months later we received a demand letter from Government of Canada accounting, for the 10% Tax! Not taken.
We sent a photo copy of the Paid in full invoice on the back of the check! Signed by their sales rep. Good old JJ.
The next communication reduced the cost of the ammunition by 10% to 9.cents per round! Fixed. I made a handshake agreement at the time of sale, no resale would take place, just to be shot by the original purchasers. One individual refused to abide by that rule! I sold his 2000 rounds to some one else. I was the first shooter to go to the 9mm from .45. Still, but Glock Mod Gen 4. Not the BHP. Lots of memorys when your birthdate is from 1935!

[ghbucky]

Both eyes with handgun, 1 eye with a rifle.

[jmr40]

Both eyes open with everything.

[Kevin Rohrer]

I have been trying to, but one-eye works better at 25yds and beyond.

[Rangerrich99]

With handguns, both eyes open.

With rifles, I shoot with my left closed. Except for close-in work, but anything over 75 yards, I just close my left eye.

[stagpanther]

for those that shoot 1-eyed with rifles--any particular reason?

[Pahoo]

for those that shoot 1-eyed with rifles--any particular reason?

During the last Olympics, I noticed that the competitors, shot with the dominant eye open and the other closed and even blinded. Obviously to improve concentration.

That said, as a hunter, I keep both eye open on game an sighting in. That way I do not confuse my brain which is not hard to do. I may squint my non-dominant eye on sighting in, to concentrate just a bit more, on the target. .. .

Be Safe !!!

[ocharry]

both eyes open all the time for everything

ocharry

[TXAZ]

2 eyes open for everything except rifle with a scope.

[ghbucky]

for those that shoot 1-eyed with rifles--any particular reason?

Scopes. I can't shoot both eyes open through a scope. I can use a red dot both eyes open in a heads up position. That gives me a floating red dot in my normal field of view. But if I'm trying to be precise I close my left eye with it as well.

[stinkeypete]

I am left eye dominant but trained myself to be right eye dominant which has troubles as I get a little bit fatigued- my eye dominance can start to flip back and forth between eyes which is very irritating.

To be even stranger, it's hard for me to wink my left eye closed and easy to wink my right eye closed.

My solution is a little dab of scotch tape the size of the tip of my index finger placed exactly at the spot on my shooting glasses where my sights would be seen- so my left eye only gets a very fuzzy image of the sights yet all of the same light and peripherals as my right eye. An eye patch will cause the iris of the unpatched eye to partially compensate for the "dark" seen by the other eye and it's okay short term but long term you can get a headache as your eye and brain fight about light levels.

Another thing is dot sights clear it right up, both eyes open, my right eye lines up with the bright red dot easily. Same with a scope.

In a pinch I simply close my right eye and shoot left eyed... it's easy with a pistol, looks a bit goofy with a rifle and I would not do that with anything that seriously kicks..

so.. train with both eyes open but after a long day hiking in the woods or shooting at the range- if I have to close one eye, I do it. It's not as big a sin as putting pineapple on a pizza.

[stagpanther]

I'm not saying one is better than the other--my impression from the responses is that it's mostly a physical limitation of one's eyesight that determines the favored method of sighting.

[ghbucky]

I'm not saying one is better than the other--my impression from the responses is that it's mostly a physical limitation of one's eyesight that determines the favored method of sighting.

and training. When I first got into pistol shooting I couldn't see the sights with both eyes open. But after some training I was able to start doing that. If I take a hiatus from shooting, I have to practice a bit to get back into clearly seeing them with both eyes open.

I took a class a few weeks ago and there was a student who was a southpaw with right eye dominant. He was a new shooter and he could not see the sights with both eyes open.The instructor use stinky's trick of a bit of scotch tape on his left lens and just like that he could see the sights perfectly.

[Pahoo]

I'm not saying one is better than the other--my impression from the responses is that it's mostly a physical limitation of one's eyesight that determines the favored method of sighting.

However, staying on point, you are referring to sighting in a scope. That's fine but all else, maintain your field of view by keeping both eyes open. ,,,,

Be Safe !!!

[ghbucky]

I'll also add another interesting tidbit from that class as a second hand story.

My instructor took an advanced NRA instructor training class and I guess early in the class they had each student dry fire at a camera where they recorded them shooting.

They then when around and asked each student which eye was dominant.

He then told them that most people don't really know which eye is dominant and when they played back the recorded dry firings about 1/3 of the class lined their gun up on the opposite eye they claimed was dominant.

[stagpanther]

However, staying on point, you are referring to sighting in a scope.

Not really--I said I personally use both eyes open universally no matter what weapon/sights I use.

He then told them that most people don't really know which eye is dominant and when they played back the recorded dry firings about 1/3 of the class lined their gun up on the opposite eye they claimed was dominant.

Hmmm...that's a mystery--but that might mean the "owner of the eyeball" isn't aware which one has sharper acuity.

[ghbucky]

Stag, both eyes open with magnified scope?

How did you get that working?

[stagpanther]

Stag, both eyes open with magnified scope?

How did you get that working?

Yes--both eyes open even with magnified scope. For me, it came down to processing the double-image--in other words the ghost image of the less dominant eye. I eventually trained my brain to ignore the ghost--except for example the image of a scope level which I mount out past the elevation turret; I can see it and keep my eyes on target at the same time. It's entirely possible that all of this is due to my personal eye condition--I assure you it's not good and I have been diagnosed with "double astigmatism." But it works for me, so I don't try to figure out why.

[jimbob86]

for those that shoot 1-eyed with rifles--any particular reason?

With conventionally mounted high magnification scopes, and distant targets ..... I have to close my left eye ..... the disparity in image size bothers me. I learned to shoot with just my dominant eye ..... when I started shooting handguns I had to work really hard keep both eyes open ..... same with a scout scoped rifle.

[jmr40]

Stag, both eyes open with magnified scope?

How did you get that working?

I'm not Stagpanther, but I just do it. I used to close the off eye years ago, but just made up my mind that I wasn't going to do it anymore. And I don't. Nothing other than just trying and finding it worked better.

IMO the only people that have a legitimate reason for not using both eyes are those shooting from their non-dominate side. And they need to learn to shoot from the other side. It seems awkward at first but I've watched several make the switch. There was a learning curve, but every one of them became a better shot after they mastered it.

I shoot rifles, shotguns and handguns. It is near impossible to be any good firing a shotgun at moving targets with one eye closed. You have to have both open for your brain to accurately judge speed and distance so you know how much to lead the target. Handguns are usually fired from near the centerline of the body so which eye is dominate is much less of a factor.

If you're having trouble using a scope with both eyes open you might want to try a better scope. Especially one with lower magnification to begin with. Scopes with 3X or less are easier to use, but I even keep both eyes open on scopes up to 12X. Which is the most magnification of any scope I have.

[Cirdan]

I switched to both eyes open last year. Figure it's much better for situational awareness.

[stagpanther]

A problem I have with sighting 1 eye only is that within a fairly short time I had trouble maintaining a good picture without squinting--which leads to a headache after a while. The mere act of squinting seems to add "tension" to the whole picture.

[Warhammer]

I keep both eyes open, except on a scoped rifle. I used to be cross dominant (right hand, left eye), but retrained myself by keeping my left eye closed. Then I had to retrain myself to shoot with both eyes open.