Both Eyes Open?

W

wolf 1415

New member
I've been shooting for 2 years now, and always have closed one eye. Yet, when I see competition shooters, they seem to use both eyes open. I've also read that most pros recommend two eyes open. So, the questions are:

1. How many TFL'ers use one eye, how many use two? Why or why not?

2. Has anyone ever switched from 1 to 2, or 2 to 1? Again, why?

3. How does one ease into using both eyes? I've tried it, and the correct sight picture is difficult to achieve, so I always revert back.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

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"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with Army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of constitutional privilege." Wilson vs. State, Ark. 1878
 
Wolf:

I was trained in pistol shooting by some of the best (Clint Smith, Bennie Cooley, etc) and they all teach shooting with both eyes open. The reason is that they all teach "combat" shooting: i.e.- self-defense. In a real shooting, you would want to have both eyes open to keep your peripheral vision to see any new threats. Besides, in combat shooting you rarely "aim"; instead, you look over your sites as your target is not more than a few feet away (95% of all gunfights). Good advice. However, when I am at the range doing pistol target shooting, then I close one eye to achieve better concentration on the target (no threats at my local range!). As to your problem getting used to having both eyes open, I wonder if you have the same problem I have. If you are a right-handed shooter and are left-eye dominant, as I am, then you have to cock your head over a bit to bring your eyes in alignment with the barrel of your pistol. Trying to hold it in a classic stance forces your non-dominant eye to try to do the work and you end up with "double-vision". Good luck on your shooting!
 
By all means do i keep both eyes open-----just like shooting pheasants w/a shotgun. BTW, i am a mid-brainer versus being left ot right-brained FWIW.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."
 
1. I keep both eyes open except when shooting from a rest, in which case the pistol is so close to my face that I have a hard time focusing unless I close the non-shooting eye.

2. I started out using one eye and forced myself to learn to keep both eyes open. This was partially to avoid the tactical liability of being half blind and partially to avoid the competitive disadvantage caused by the strain of keeping the non-shooting eye shut.

3. Step one in making the transition was to shoot with the non-shooting eye partially shut. Then I learned to distinguish the image from the dominant eye from the "double" image and focused (mentally) on the dominant eye's view.
 
Another option I have tried, and may go back to for "Action Pistol" competition, is to tape my "non-dominant" lens of my protective eyeglasses black with electrical tape. You can keep both eyes open, and avoid a double image on the sights.
 
Wolf,

Most of my early shooting was done with rifles, keeping one eye mostly closed. When I started shooting handguns, I used the same technique. Then I read Gil Hebard's book The Pistol Shooter's Treasury, where he promotes using both eyes. I tried it, and my scores improved, so I been using both eyes ever since.

Joe


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Go NRA
 
When I practice defensive shooting, I keep both eyes open. However, for target shooting, I need to use one of those little discs (the Merit Disc), attached to reading glasses in order to focus on the sights and target. In that case, it's one eye only. Making the transition back and forth doesn't seem to be a problem.

Now, if I only had the eyes I had when I was 30.

Dick
 
I always use both eyes.

Using a pistol with iron sights, it doesn't make any difference "which" sight picture lines up with the target, as long as one of them does.

Using a pistol with low or no magnification optics, the circle, dot or crosshairs are super-imposed on your normal vision.

I also use binocular vison with rifle-scopes, however one has to practice a little more and get used to the brain automatically shifting between the magnified scope image and the unmagnified eye image. With a little practice, this "shifting" can be consciously controlled and the shift made to occur "on demand".
 
I started competing in junior high school shooting gallery rimfire with one eye and did very well indeed. I then moved to trap and I have fired more than one "100 Straight" with one eye. Moved on to PPC and Action Pistol, even making Master class, again one eye. My point is, it is possible to shoot very well with one eye.

Then I started shooting a bow and had to learn to use both eyes to get full field of view. WOW, that literally opened my eyes. I then began shooting shotgun and pistol with both eyes open. The only time I reverted to one eye was to shoot little tiny targets a long way off.


By all means, try to become proficient with both eyes open. The pay off is really worthwhile.

Last summer I got new glasses with a prism in one lens. Turns out one eye is aimed lower than the other and the prism is to relieve eye fatigue. Now when I shoot a pistol with both eyes open I see double (one above the other) at distances beyond about 25 yards. So, I shoot bow and shotgun with two eyes and pistol with two eyes to about 20 yards. For everything beyond 20 with a handgun I close the weak eye.
 
I have tried many times to shoot with both eyes open, and it feels like I am shooting with the wrong hand, is this just inexperence
or a common problem that I can over come with time?

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"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, becuse the whole body of the people are armed"
Alexander Hamilton
 
MOSTLY I shoot with both eyes... pistol or rifle... but when the range stretches out and the target gets more difficult... then I'll go with one eye.
There is no ruel of thumb for me here - just wich way of shooting is more comfortable at that time.
At combat pistol ranges and in those situations - I tend almost always use both eyes.
 
Perhaps you are cross eye dominant. Most people have a leg, an arm, and an eye that "works better" than the other. If you are right handed, but left eye dominant this may cause you some difficulty when using both eyes (or visa versa). To tell which eye is dominant, keep both eyes open, point at a distant object with either hand, close each eye in turn, whichever eye still lines up with your finger and the object is the dominant one. A lefty friend trained himself to shoot right handed as he was right eye dominant. After the initial learning curve, he shot better. Easier to find holsters too.
 
I was also taught to shoot a pistol with both eyes open. From a tactical stand point it's the only way to go. I use the same technique during IPSC and IDPA competitions. Like Prof, I am a righty with a dominat left eye. Only time it bothers me is when I shoot a rifle because I shoot long guns righty, sighting with my right (weak) eye. I have tried shooting a rifle left handed, but it feels very strange and I can't hit anything. Bottom line for me is that I know some great shooters in both the one-eye and two-eye catagories. If it works for you, go with it.

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Tom Whitman
SSgt, USAF
 
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