eye dominance and targeting question

kbialick · January 1, 2018, 11:55 AM

so I've been shooting for about 2 years and I'm right eye dominant. the problem is when I close my left eye I'm forced to squint my right eye along no matter what I do I can barely keep my right eye open. outdoors it doesn't affect me that much because of the light intake but indoors I then struggle with a very fuzzy sight picture that blurs out quickly. so I figured I should try to learn to shoot with both eyes open. now if I twist my head to the left so only one eye can focus on the sight picture I can focus well. but thats also a bad habit and then I have trouble moving from one target to another. I'm trying to keep my head straight and train my right eye to take over and focus on the sight picture.... but whenever I move from one target to another I loose that right eye sight picture then see two sight pictures that slowly become one as I hold it over again or I keep the sight picture and have a hard time finding the target properly. Ive also noticed that if I try to keep both eyes open and focus on the front sight and my target is more than a few yards away my right eye will focus properly on the sights but my left eye shows me the target if that makes sense and what I think I'm shooting at is really what my left eye sees. any training tips or thoughts on this would be helpful

SonOfScubaDiver · January 2, 2018, 03:45 PM

Try squinting with the left eye. Completely closing the non-dominant eye is also a bad habit, according to some. The reason being that one of the things you should do is to be aware of your surroundings. Closing one eye limits how much you can see to the left or right, depending on which one is closed. If there are multiple attackers, you may not see one or more of them until it's too late.

paulo57509 · January 3, 2018, 08:08 PM

I'm sorry I don't have any good, "this works every time" solutions for you.

I find it pretty easy to get and keep on target with both eyes opened. I can't really explain why it's easy for me.

Perhaps you just need practice or you're trying to force the non-dominant eye into dominance?

Practice by quickly pointing either of your index fingers towards something on the wall with both eyes open. While holding your finger "on target", close one eye and then the other to confirm that your dominant eye is still on target.

Using your left or right index finger shouldn't matter. Your dominant eye will always put your finger on target. Don't practice for too long. I think it's unproductive to keep practicing when you're fatigued. You can practice while lounging around, watching television.

RedHoundTargets · January 8, 2018, 09:09 AM

I found this to be a pretty interesting read: https://www.google.com/amp/amp.daily...n-what-counts/
I think it ends up just being a learned thing so practice practice practice focusing on that front sight. If your front post doesn’t have a dot or mark of some sort, think about adding one so there’s something that essentially attracts your eye’s focus.
Also do you wear, or checked if you may need, glasses?

jmr40 · January 8, 2018, 09:44 AM

Dry fire practice is your friend. 10,000 or more dry fires over the course of a few weeks at home will help tremendously and won't cost a dime.

m&p45acp10+1 · January 11, 2018, 08:30 AM

Put clear tape over the off eye lens of your shooting glasses. You can the keep both eyes open.

January 1, 2018, 11:55 AM	#1
kbialick Member Join Date: June 10, 2017 Posts: 17	eye dominance and targeting question so I've been shooting for about 2 years and I'm right eye dominant. the problem is when I close my left eye I'm forced to squint my right eye along no matter what I do I can barely keep my right eye open. outdoors it doesn't affect me that much because of the light intake but indoors I then struggle with a very fuzzy sight picture that blurs out quickly. so I figured I should try to learn to shoot with both eyes open. now if I twist my head to the left so only one eye can focus on the sight picture I can focus well. but thats also a bad habit and then I have trouble moving from one target to another. I'm trying to keep my head straight and train my right eye to take over and focus on the sight picture.... but whenever I move from one target to another I loose that right eye sight picture then see two sight pictures that slowly become one as I hold it over again or I keep the sight picture and have a hard time finding the target properly. Ive also noticed that if I try to keep both eyes open and focus on the front sight and my target is more than a few yards away my right eye will focus properly on the sights but my left eye shows me the target if that makes sense and what I think I'm shooting at is really what my left eye sees. any training tips or thoughts on this would be helpful Last edited by kbialick; January 1, 2018 at 02:23 PM.

January 8, 2018, 09:44 AM	#5
jmr40 Senior Member Join Date: June 15, 2008 Location: Georgia Posts: 10,805	Dry fire practice is your friend. 10,000 or more dry fires over the course of a few weeks at home will help tremendously and won't cost a dime. __________________ "If you're still doing things the same way you were doing them 10 years ago, you're doing it wrong" Winston Churchill

January 11, 2018, 08:30 AM	#6
m&p45acp10+1 Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2009 Location: Central Texas Posts: 3,930	Put clear tape over the off eye lens of your shooting glasses. You can the keep both eyes open. __________________ No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.

January 2, 2018, 03:45 PM	#2
SonOfScubaDiver Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2017 Posts: 391	Try squinting with the left eye. Completely closing the non-dominant eye is also a bad habit, according to some. The reason being that one of the things you should do is to be aware of your surroundings. Closing one eye limits how much you can see to the left or right, depending on which one is closed. If there are multiple attackers, you may not see one or more of them until it's too late.

January 3, 2018, 08:08 PM	#3
paulo57509 Member Join Date: January 10, 2011 Posts: 18	I'm sorry I don't have any good, "this works every time" solutions for you. I find it pretty easy to get and keep on target with both eyes opened. I can't really explain why it's easy for me. Perhaps you just need practice or you're trying to force the non-dominant eye into dominance? Practice by quickly pointing either of your index fingers towards something on the wall with both eyes open. While holding your finger "on target", close one eye and then the other to confirm that your dominant eye is still on target. Using your left or right index finger shouldn't matter. Your dominant eye will always put your finger on target. Don't practice for too long. I think it's unproductive to keep practicing when you're fatigued. You can practice while lounging around, watching television.

January 8, 2018, 09:09 AM	#4
RedHoundTargets Member Join Date: January 7, 2018 Location: Connecticut Posts: 36	I found this to be a pretty interesting read: https://www.google.com/amp/amp.daily...n-what-counts/ I think it ends up just being a learned thing so practice practice practice focusing on that front sight. If your front post doesn’t have a dot or mark of some sort, think about adding one so there’s something that essentially attracts your eye’s focus. Also do you wear, or checked if you may need, glasses?