One Eye vs. Two Eyes

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  • Doublehelix

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    Jun 20, 2015
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    I know this has been covered elsewhere, but thought I would open up the table once again for discussion, this time, for iron sights on pistol.

    I have read a lot that it is preferable for target acquisition and peripheral vision to keep both eyes open for tactical types of shooting situations (IDPA, USPSA, Steel Match, etc.).

    I can do "ok" on an AR15 with a red dot, but rifles with scopes and pistols with iron sights, I just can't seem to get it at all.

    I hear folks talk about dominant eye and cross-dominant and even co-dominant situations, and I am not sure if I get all of that or how to determine this. I am right-handed, and when I close one eye to shoot, I always close my left eye, so I assume I am right eye dominant, but how can I tell for sure?

    When I open up both eyes with my iron sighted pistols, it is a mess. I cannot even begin to grab a sight picture. Is it just that I need more practice? I have no idea where the gun is aiming with both eyes open.

    Suggestions or suggested readings would be great.

    Thanks in advance.
     

    rvb

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    Look at a distant object, extend your arms with palms out towards the thing you are looking at and fingers flat and together (like telling someone to stop). Slowly Bring your hands together while still looking at object such that you make a hole with your thumbs/index fingers you are seeing the distant point through (hope that makes sense, easy to do but hard to describe). Keeping both eyes open and looking at distant object, Slowly bring your hands towards your face till you touch your nose. Which eye are you looking through? That's your dominant eye.

    Yes, it takes practice learning to shoot with both eyes. Most of it comes to having a solid index such that the gun is naturally aligned and you don't have to figure out which sight image you're using. some of it comes from practice transitioning your focus from target to sights, and some comes from experience WHEN to use both eyes vs one (I still use one eye in some cases). There are also exercises you can do to help make your dominate eye more dominate (I've not heard of anyone being able to switch dominance though.)

    There are tricks that some people use to help, eg a piece of scotch tape on their shooting glasses over their non-dominate eye, or folks with glasses/contacts might get their prescription on their dominate eye to focus on the FS better and their non-Dom eye set to focus more at distance.

    Good luck!

    -rvb
     
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    Leadeye

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    As I've gotten old and less able to see iron sights clearly I've had better results with both eyes open. Peep sights on rifles have helped a lot.
     

    Twangbanger

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    It's really easy to tell. Just instinctively point your index finger at a distant object (room distance is fine), while keeping both eyes open. There are "two fingers" out there, but the one that is quickly, instinctively lined up with the object is the one your brain is using as the dominant eye. You check that by alternately closing one eye, then the other, and see "which finger" is lined up.

    If you're contralateral-dominant (ie, "wrong" eye is dominant), the reason it isn't posing a problem with optics is probably that your left eye is simply unable to see the reticle / dot, from the way things are positioned when you're holding the gun right handed. When you use iron sights, the sights are now visible to both eyes, and the problem appears.

    Changing eye dominance is considered to be pretty much impossible. If you find you're contralateral-dominant, your options are:

    1) Close your left eye,
    2) Patch your left glasses lens with scotch tape,
    3) Tuck your chin into your right shoulder and learn to shoot right handed but Left eyed, while keeping both eyes open (my dad does this),
    4) Switch to shooting left-handed, and keep both eyes open (a viable option if your muscle memory isn't too badly set up around right handed shooting yet).

    Options 1) and 2) preserve your current choice of dominant hand, while blocking the strong eye and forcing you to shoot with your weak eye.

    Options 3) and 4) change your preferred body dexterity to allow you to shoot with two eyes, using your dominant eye.

    Different strokes for different folks, you have to decide what you're willing to put up with. If your "wrong" eye is dominant, it is not a death sentence for your shooting. It's just a unique-to-you obstacle you need to overcome.

    (On the other hand, if it turns out your right eye is dominant, Congratulations! You're just unaccustomed to two-eyed shooting, and need to dry fire a lot to work into it).
     

    Clay Pigeon

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    Aug 3, 2016
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    As I've gotten old and less able to see iron sights clearly I've had better results with both eyes open. Peep sights on rifles have helped a lot.


    I shoot with both eyes open. And I'm opposite hand to dominate eye.
    I just shift the handgun to my dominate side a little.
    Along with shooting peeps, Lyman sells sticky labels to put on your dominant eye safety glass lens as a diopter.
    Also Merit makes a adjustable suction cup diopter for safety glasses.
     

    rvb

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    3) Tuck your chin into your right shoulder and learn to shoot right handed but Left eyed, while keeping both eyes open (my dad does this),

    Those gyrations are completely unnecessary. I can shoot w. My left eye w. The exact same grip/stance as w. My right. Just move th gun a little bit left....
     

    gregkl

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    I am cross dominant. Yes, it is a handicap so to speak. It affects everything from shooting a basketball to playing billiards to shooting. Like Twang says it's not a death sentence. But it is something to be aware of and make adjustments or you will never gain much proficiency.

    For rifles, I wear shooting glasses with a piece of opaque cellophane tape over my left lens. This way I can keep both eyes open but my right eye becomes "dominant".

    For pistol, I have been just adjusting my stance to what I call a modified Weaver stance to get my left eye over the sights. I am not sure if it's not working or if I just need more training/practice as my accuracy with a handgun is not very good. I am thinking of employing the taped glasses with handguns and giving it a try.

    Another issue I have is age related degeneration of seeing up close stuff. My shooting glasses have built in readers to sharpen the front sight. Of course everything else is now blurry. Makes me wonder how I'm supposed to get hits on target when all I see is a blur.

    Switching hands to match eye dominance won't work for me at this age but if I find out my grandson is cross-dominant, I will be teaching him to shoot so that the sights line up with his dominant eye. I think you can learn it if you start that way.

    And as far as changing dominance? I don't believe for a minute that you can train yourself to do it. I know that I can concentrate and get the non dominant eye to see through a scope but as soon as I pull the trigger, the recoil switches me back to my dominant eye and I am no longer looking down the tube of the scope. Makes it hard to follow through on the shot.

    The tape works. I went from Trap scores in the single digits to averaging 19 out of 25 just by adding the piece of tape.
     

    longbeard

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    For pistol irons... Think about it this way.... you have no problem looking at a phone with both eyes open. It's because you're focused on just the phone. When learning to open both eyes I remember struggling with seeing "too much". The end result was blur and a jumping sight picture.

    When I thought about the phone it occurred to me that it's about what you directly focus the eyes on. Train both eyes on the sight and shut out the rest. In a short amount of time it you will simply see a single sight picture. After that you will begin to see through the sight to the target. Remember the sight is the primary focus. A bright optic helps.
     

    Coach

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    I spent a couple of years trying to shoot with both eyes open. It did not work very well. I quit try and squint or close one eye. I quit trying for a couple of reasons. I saw and interview with Jerry Mickeuk and he said close one eye if you cannot shoot with two open. Second I start thinking about the normal reasons for keeping both eye open for tactical field of view reasons, and I decided that was Bull****. Proper front sight focus does not allow looking at anything but the front sight. So I can do that with one eye closed and I don't lose very much field of view. So I quit worrying about it and I feel better about it.

    Look at the target, bring the gun to the eye, pull your focus back to the front sight and let the shot happen. Very good results can be had in a hurry doing just this. The mind, will naturally take care of the dominant eye thing in regard to pistols. This method simplifies a number of things and allows accuracy and speed.
     

    rhino

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    Both eyes open is preferable, but putting the bullets where you want them to go is more important. If you need to partially close one eye to get the job done, then do it.

    For pistols, I think too much is made of cross dominance. Just move the gun a little so that it's in front of the eye you naturally want to use. You need to be able to shoot with either hand, so one side is going to require an adjustment for everyone.

    As far as peripheral vision goes, modern humans have very little. Closing and eye briefly may affect depth perception, but the change in your field of view for what you're actually seeing is insignificant.
     

    gregkl

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    I spent a couple of years trying to shoot with both eyes open. It did not work very well. I quit try and squint or close one eye. I quit trying for a couple of reasons. I saw and interview with Jerry Mickeuk and he said close one eye if you cannot shoot with two open. Second I start thinking about the normal reasons for keeping both eye open for tactical field of view reasons, and I decided that was Bull****. Proper front sight focus does not allow looking at anything but the front sight. So I can do that with one eye closed and I don't lose very much field of view. So I quit worrying about it and I feel better about it.

    Look at the target, bring the gun to the eye, pull your focus back to the front sight and let the shot happen. Very good results can be had in a hurry doing just this. The mind, will naturally take care of the dominant eye thing in regard to pistols. This method simplifies a number of things and allows accuracy and speed.

    Good points Coach. I have not been a subscriber to the tactical keeping both eyes open but have been doing so mostly because of the fatigue that sets in if I consistently close one eye while shooting. I think I will go ahead and use the same glasses I use for shotgun for pistol and see how that works. With the left eye blurred out, maybe I will pick up the front sight faster and keep it in focus throughout the shot.
     

    MohawkSlim

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    Putin shoots pistols cross-dom. If you read the internetz, he's kind of a big deal.

    As for training yourself to shoot with both eyes open, run through your house at 2 in the morning buckid-nekkid with your pistol out in front of you. "Shoot" all the door frames and pictures on the walls. You'll find out very quickly you like having that other eye open. You'll also find out very quickly your eyes and that front sight form a pretty good triangle that naturally points to the target because it's only a few feet away from you and you've been instinctively lining up things in your hands with your eyes and things a few fee away for pretty much your whole life.

    You can close your eyes right now and knife hand in the direction of just about anything in the room. When you open your eyes, you'll be pretty freakin close. In tactical shooting you're not cutting X-rings. You're trying to hit a fist to paper plate sized object with one of the 18 shots you're sqeezing off as fast as you can. That's really not that hard. With just a smidgeon of practice you'll be able to do it with 9 shots instead of 18. With lots and lots of practice you'll be able to do it with pants on and eyes closed.

    Don't overthink it. Dry fire at the wall 281 times a day. Run through your house with your gun. Quick draw in the mirror.

    Be like Putin.
     

    singlesix

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    Learn to shoot with one eye closed, to move to two eye open took a lot of practice. It's amazing what the human brain is capable of. Now for Bulleye type shooting it's one eye and for action pistol it's two eyes. Granted with my old eyes I use +.75 glasses for two eye shooting.
     

    Roadie

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    I spent a couple of years trying to shoot with both eyes open. It did not work very well. I quit try and squint or close one eye. I quit trying for a couple of reasons. I saw and interview with Jerry Mickeuk and he said close one eye if you cannot shoot with two open. Second I start thinking about the normal reasons for keeping both eye open for tactical field of view reasons, and I decided that was Bull****. Proper front sight focus does not allow looking at anything but the front sight. So I can do that with one eye closed and I don't lose very much field of view. So I quit worrying about it and I feel better about it.

    Look at the target, bring the gun to the eye, pull your focus back to the front sight and let the shot happen. Very good results can be had in a hurry doing just this. The mind, will naturally take care of the dominant eye thing in regard to pistols. This method simplifies a number of things and allows accuracy and speed.

    Glad to hear I am not the only one that has trouble shooting with both eyes open. I think the bottom line here is that we tend to look for a "one size fits all" answer, but not all things for for all people. Hence why Jerry is spot on..

    Does it work for YOU? Yes? Then, keep doing it.
     

    bwframe

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    ...As for training yourself to shoot with both eyes open, run through your house at 2 in the morning buckid-nekkid with your pistol out in front of you. "Shoot" all the door frames and pictures on the walls. You'll find out very quickly you like having that other eye open. You'll also find out very quickly your eyes and that front sight form a pretty good triangle that naturally points to the target because it's only a few feet away from you and you've been instinctively lining up things in your hands with your eyes and things a few fee away for pretty much your whole life.

    You can close your eyes right now and knife hand in the direction of just about anything in the room. When you open your eyes, you'll be pretty freakin close. In tactical shooting you're not cutting X-rings. You're trying to hit a fist to paper plate sized object with one of the 18 shots you're sqeezing off as fast as you can. That's really not that hard. With just a smidgeon of practice you'll be able to do it with 9 shots instead of 18. With lots and lots of practice you'll be able to do it with pants on and eyes closed.

    Don't overthink it. Dry fire at the wall 281 times a day. Run through your house with your gun. Quick draw in the mirror...


    .
     

    rugertoter

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    I have no idea how people can shoot an ironed sighted pistol, with both eyes open. I am right handed and right eye dominant, but I still have to close down my left eye partially. If I don't do this, I see two sets of sights. :n00b:
     
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