Tips for shooting with BOTH eyes open?

[chlor]

I've been lurking around these forums long enough to read numerous times that most members suggest shooting with both eyes open. I admit that while growing up, I always shot with my left eye closed, also I'm right handed.

Anyway, I'm right eye dominant and would really like to start shooting with the left eye open, although I'm finding it's easier said than done. Are they any special tips or links on the web that you guys might have? Or is it one of those things that must be learned with time?

Appreciate it,
chl

[Easy E]

I've always done it that way. I just raise the pistol to line of sight and the dominant eye (my left) just sort of "takes over". The first time my father handed me a pistol to shoot, I was told "keep both eyes open and line up the sights".

[boing]

Practice helps. Do daily dry fire practice, with holster draws, and keep both eyes open.

IDPA/IPSC competetion helps, too. Shooting fast, moving, reloading, etc...tends to break the "target shooter" habits. It didn't take long before I stopped thinking about keeping both eyes open, finger off the trigger, muzzle downrange, and other things I used to worry about before I started competing informally.

[GLP Standard]

It really helps if you learn the proper draw at first when learning to shoot with both eyes open. If you draw properly and correctly, your sights will line up perfectly, and your dominant eye should automatically train itself to see the sights clearly, and after a little while, you'll be able to just pick up the gun and point, and see straight through the back sight, and see the front sight with both eyes open.

Proper draw technique if you want to practice it, is:

GRIP: Grip your weapon, and at the same time bring your support hand to center body mass, right in the center of your chest with your hand cuffed as if you're expecting to grab the weapon with it. How your hand sits when you're supporting your grip hand while firing is exactly the way your support hand should be when you bring it to your chest.

CLEAR: Clear the holster of your gun (pull the gun out of the holster, until the muzzle has cleared the top of it)

CENTER: Bring the gun to Center body mass. It should meet up with your support hand at this point

EXTEND: Extend straight out, and your sights should line up perfectly.

Practice that, and eventually you will learn to shoot with both eyes open. You might have to move the gun around a little bit the first few times to get it right. It helps to take it slow at first. Practice drawing slowly, in the 4 steps.

Other than that advice, it just takes time and practice

If you see double images (I still do) shoot at the one on the right, and youll be shooting directly at the target. Ive heard that if you turn your head to the left a little the double image will go away, but it doesnt work for me. A way to make sure that you're infact looking through the sights properly with both eyes open, is to close your left eye, and you should see the sights plain as day lined up with your right eye only

[The British Soldier]

I, too, am left eye dominant, which is a pain when shooting a rifle as I am right handed!

I found that 'visualising' the sight picture in your mind's eye is key to success; go for it and do some day dreaming! Get to the point where you can take a moment and completely see what that sight picture looks like without concentration in your mind.

When you need it that skill will always be there for you so that you become 'unconciously competent'; when you add the other skill sets to this, the draw and moving towards being in the weaver stance - the moment that the pistol comes up those sights simply overlay what you have in your mind already.

That often used adage of 'Acquire Sights Fire' is a good one; while you are in the acquisition part one finds that you are looking at the target with a transparency of your sight picture there already. Adding your weapon simply replaces the transparency with solid and you can move to the next step of 'Fire', if you so chose.

I guess this is quite 'deep' but I know that it works from operational experience in Northern Ireland.

[stratus]

Well for me it just took repetition, getting a feel for acquiring a sight picture with my dominant eye. That's about it really... just repetition.

You know. Repetition.

Sorry, I'm repeating myself.

[Chris Cullen]

I'm one of those 'rare breeds' that is left eye dominant and is right handed. I didn't discover this until only about a year ago when I changed my stance technique. I had always shot pistol in the weaver position, and my groupings were always up and to the left. Countless times I blamed the sights for being out of alignment, but when I changed my stance to the isosceles stance and closed my right eye instead - groupings condensed and smack in the centre of the target! After much trial and error, I confirmed that I was left eye dominant and the isosceles stance was the right position for me. I had way more control over my shot placement and I felt comfortable and confident with my new style.

A summary: The most important factors to determine right from the start is your eye dominance, and the position you choose to use.
Just test your groupings one way or the other, and pick which best suits your expectations.

Chris Cullen

[DocFox]

There are several ways to counteract the eye dominance issue, so the question is, do you want to "bypass" your non dominant eye and adjust your shooting technique to allow use of your dominant eye, or do you want to train your non dom eye to acquire the sights?

Both can be achieved with training, and I personally believe in learning both ways due to the advantages.

So, which do you want to know, train your non dom eye, adjust technique, or both?

Doc

[CrackerJim]

I've been trying to go to the both eyes open after reading threads in the forum. A work in progress. I'm partially opening the left eye so I start to get an additional "picture" thrown at my brain but no quite as clear as the open sight eye.

It seems to be working, as sometimes I'll "forget" and have the left eye totally open though usually on subsequent shots not the first shot, at this time.

I'm in my fifties and with bifocals, a whole new problem presents itself. I'm still deciding if I prefer to see the sights clearly or the target clearly.....

Jim

[FP2000H]

I shoot with bothe yes open and have learn to not let my left eye dominance become too much of an issue by using my peripherals to engage the sights. By looking past the sights at the target, I see a double image of the sights. This enables me to isolate the image on the right and that usually yields good results. I've been using a somewhat modified Weaver but am now thinking of experimenting with a more isoscelese type posture and tilting my head to line the sights up with my left eye. Practice, practice.

[chlor]

Personally, I would like to incorporate my non-dominant eye and not bypass it all. That's what I've been doing wrong for so many years, by bypassing it by closing it

I've been practicing dry firing it so far and it seems to be working fairly well. By focusing on the front sight and letting the rear sight come into view, it usually works. I double check myself by closing my left eye again to make sure the sight picture hasn't moved. Occasionally though, while trying to aquire the rear sight, I get a doublel image that throws me off.

-chl

[Eghad]

I know you guys wear shooting glasses.....

try a little scotch tape over the lens of the eye you are trying to keep open. lets you see some but fuzzes stuff up enough to keep from getting any problems form that eye. eventually you will be able to take it off and wont even notice.