your eyes and looking thru scope acquiring targets /triggering shot

[dzander]

Right hand shooter, right eye dominant.
is it recommended to keep both eyes open or close my left eye when acquiring target and triggering the shot while looking thru the optic?
Just 6 months into long range shooting (to 1000 yds.) Not necessarily PRS shooting at least to this point as I'm still trying to sort everything else out.
Thought? Recommendations?

 

[acudaowner]

the only thing I could suggest is this
as an exercise to strengthen your eye muscles . My left eye was dominant though they were both crappy and blurry without glasses behind the scope or on a pistol. Now I can use both eyes full time with a lot less dominant problems like the blurry happening now my left eye nor my right strain as fast as they did in the past and I have learned to take a little break to keep myself from getting headaches or tied . now my left eye sees closer things like bubble level and wind flags closer to me , while my scope eye is watching the target and flags further out that I can see near the target without strain . Good luck getting your eyes working better for you . Id say yes it's beneficial , but its your decision if you want to or not .

 

[dzander]

SO is it recommended to shoot with both eyes open??

 

[Evlshnngns]

I close my left. Help me stay focused.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Yes, if you can, keep both eyes open. Some have easier time doing it than others.

Less muscle strain with both open.

 

[seanh]

If you can naturally shoot with both eyes open the go for it but it's definitely not a requirement. For me, about the only thing I get is faster target acquisition.

Some people have to squint or block the non shooting eye. There could be several reasons from this and none of them matter.

Some people's left and right I will sort of combined the image given somebody the appearance of wider field of view. If that works for you great, if it doesn't work for you great. The name of this game is consistency.

 

[seanh]

Yes, if you can, keep both eyes open. Some have easier time doing it than others.

Less muscle strain with both open.

Less eye strain? For some people maybe. For those that can't naturally keep both eyes open and shoot, trying to keep that other eye open is going to cause more strain then squinting or blocking

 

[Dthomas3523]

Less eye strain? For some people maybe. For those that can't naturally keep both eyes open and shoot, trying to keep that other eye open is going to cause more strain then squinting or blocking

Less muscles in your face are used when both eyes open.

Everyone can naturally keep both eyes open. What we choose to do after is a product of what we have been doing over the years via habit or training.

There is no “natural” way. If you take a brand new shooter and tell them they should keep both eyes open and they don’t know any different they will do it. Shooting isn’t a natural instinct. It’s a learned action.

I shoot with my eye closed and working on fixing that. It’s something I started doing as a child and never fixed.

Again, there is nothing “natural” about shooting.

 

[...]

ideally you should keep both eyes open.....if you have trouble with it, take a piece of scotch tape, and put it vertically down the center of your shooting glasses

this will help blur that eye without and wont require you to physically close it.....it also helps maintain your peripheral vision......essentially what you are doing is training your brain to shoot with both eyes open, and to shift focus to your right eye.

over time, you will find you will no longer require the tape.

 

[...]

Less eye strain? For some people maybe. For those that can't naturally keep both eyes open and shoot, trying to keep that other eye open is going to cause more strain then squinting or blocking

not "eye" strain so much as muscle fatigue......sitting on your couch, close one eye, and see how long you can hold it before your face starts twitching.....maybe a minute or two.

the other issue is, when you close one eye, the other eye wants to close as well.....look in a mirror and close one eye, youll see the other one close partially, that can limit the amount of light hitting that eye

theres not necessarily a problem occluding that eye....but closing it isnt the way to do it....hell, look at olympic shooters, youll see a lot of eye blinders, but you will not see one closing their eye.

 

[Steel head]

I’m a lot more comfortable with both eyes open.

 

[Evlshnngns]

I'll try both open next time out. Thanks yall.

 

[paulwardd]

I agree that its much easier for me to keep both eyes open, the strain of closing one is pretty bad. I also somehow shoot better with both open so that's just what I do

 

[2010Ruger]

For me personally, both eyes open helps acquire target and for follow through to spot my own hits/misses after the shot. I found when shooting with my non dominant eye closed it would open after shot and skew my focus temporarily through the scope. What also helped me train myself to shoot both eyes open was turning the scope magnification down and once I got comfortable I could run it higher. Just my experience, hope it helps

 

[dzander]

Thanks guys.

 

[Snipe260]

I shoot with both eyes open! Go to motivational pic thread and pull up some dirty d pics. Stare at them for long time. Will strengthen your eyes!

 

[acudaowner]

It will also make one forearm strong like Popeye's you'll be strong to the finish cause you waked to the finish like Popeye the sailor man . lol

 

[shoobe01]

Please don't say "everyone can do" anything. I am in the middle of writing a whole book about a (mostly) different topic, whose basic hypothesis is that everyone is different, here's all the data on variations.

For this: phoria is real. Many people have it, and don't know they do. No matter how much you make them, binoculars and 3D glasses and so forth, will not work. It's a reason 3D TV, VR goggles, etc. are likely to never take off, as they assume everyone has perfect binocular vision, where as we often do not.

I have a phoria I understand and still can barely use many dual-eye items, but have over time taught myself to use low-powered scopes and reflex sights. When I am very tired, I still have to close one eye though (not because I "can't see" but because the two eyes combine improperly so I will actively miss the target!) as the training is teaching myself to overcome an incurable natural tendency, so I revert.

So to the OP question: It depends. Try it, see what happens. If you have to close an eye, or close it as magnification increases, do that. The ideal is both eyes open, but if you can't hit you can't hit. Try getting a knowledgable instructor to watch you, and give you tips as well.

 

[hlee]

ideally you should keep both eyes open.....if you have trouble with it, take a piece of scotch tape, and put it vertically down the center of your shooting glasses

View attachment 7385717

this will help blur that eye without and wont require you to physically close it.....it also helps maintain your peripheral vision......essentially what you are doing is training your brain to shoot with both eyes open, and to shift focus to your right eye.

over time, you will find you will no longer require the tape.

Took my son to a sporting clays clinic a while back. He shoots with both eyes open, however, the coach for one of the sessions put tape across his left eye pro lens to account for “mixed dominance.” The son shot like crap for that session. He said the tape drew his focus to that side and he had more issues acquiring the clay. Anyway, the tape trick works except when it doesn’t.

I agree with the posters that have pointed out that keeping both eyes open is natural. What is not natural is ignoring the input from one eye and deconvoluting images from 2 very different focal planes. This is what takes practice. If you need to practice keeping your eyes open, you probably need to practice breathing without thinking “breathe, breathe, breathe...” Towards the end of a long (especially hot) match I’ll start squinting my left eye. It’s a crutch to get through those 90-120 sec because my mental focus is flagging. It’s not easier to keep one eye open. It’s easier to acquire the scope image without that non-dominant eye image. That’s a mental focus issue.

Dry fire practice really helped me with this, as I grew up closing my left eye. I’m teaching my kids better so they don’t need to unlearn my bad habits.

 

[...]

Took my son to a sporting clays clinic a while back. He shoots with both eyes open, however, the coach for one of the sessions put tape across his left eye pro lens to account for “mixed dominance.” The son shot like crap for that session. He said the tape drew his focus to that side and he had more issues acquiring the clay. Anyway, the tape trick works except when it doesn’t.

im hardly the worlds greatest clays shooter.....but i would never shoot clays with an occluded eye....im cross dominant and shoot with my non-dominant eye.....i still shoot both eyes open.

if im honest, i dont see my sight bead...its more or less point shooting for me.....and i can still manage to shoot a reliable 19/20 trap score........then again maybe my method is why im not shooting better, haha.

same with most action pistol, most shots i dont actually see my sights, and if you build a solid and repeatable position, you really dont need to.

im sure the tape method doesnt work for every shooter...but at least as far as precision rifle is concerned, i have had good luck with it with myself, and on the shooters ive trained who have used it.

when it comes to rifle.....the information from your "non-sighting" eye isnt useful to you( unlike in clays or other dynamic shooting)..so its perfectly acceptable to ignore or block it out.

 

[OutThere]

Dr. Norman Wong wrote a shooter's guide for eye professionals that you could print out and take with you for your eye exam. Dr. Wong is also a competitive shooter, so he really understands what a shooter needs.

Don Nygord also wrote some great articles on shooter's vision in his "Nygord's Notes"

 

[OutThere]

I use an occluder on my non-dominant eye so I can keep both eyes open. I then flip it up when going down-range to score targets.

 

[Hawkeyemm]

VR goggles, etc. are likely to never take off,

Not to go off on a tangent, and as you are writing a book, I’m sure you have researched the topic more deeply than I, but I would argue with this assertion. I have never used VR, haven’t even touch video games in a number of years, but, if I could invest in Occulus directly, rather than FB, I definitely would.

 

[dzander]

Clay shooting definitely shoot with both eyes open. I know guys that are right handed shooters but left eye dominant. They switched over to shooting left handed . I always shoots sporting both eyes open and most 95% that are competitive shooters shoot both eyes open. Shot gun is a whole different ball game. your eye are looking hard at the target ,not the sights/bead. I started out one eyed switched to two eye open. It was a pretty big struggle at first, lot of missed targets , then one day it just started working for me.
Shooting with a scopeed rifle it seems to me its also better both eyes open. i think its easier to acquire target, I can actually see me level with my left eye in my peripheral vision too. I just wondered if its recommended by rifle instructors, i never seen anybody discussing /recommending it on the sight.

 

[WY_Chas]

Right handed shooter, right eye dominant.
I shoot with both eyes open.
The left eye watches for wind changes (I hope).

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I think it's time to stop overthinking issue, if it is a problem at all.

The main question is, when you leave nature to do its course, can you hit the target reliably?

If you can, does it really matter whether you do these things either the one way or the other?

I think not, and that by eliminating this one item from the several we must consider, the whole process becomes easier.

New to this, it's easy to get the idea that we must get it all perfect and do it at once. Truth is, we don't, and in fact, we can't.

Do you have Lowlight's Book?

If not, now would be an excellent time to get it and read it, read it twice. What questions you have now, and will have as time develops, will be answered in a straightforward and clear manner. The important part of this precision marksmanship process is to take the time to learn what's right, practice it until it becomes your natural, preferred process; and then move on to the more complex stuff. They will always be something new to learn, and until you get this simpler stuff down pat, you won't have a solid foundation upon which to build the new stuff.

Often, when it doubt, relax, concentrate on the target, and just shoot. Your body will end up giving you the answers to these questions.

For my part, I don't pay attention to this question myself. I suspect I do a bit of both. FWIW, I still manage to hit the target reliably.

Greg

 

[dzander]

Yea, I have lowlights book.
read it once. I don’t recall the one eye/two eye shooting being discussed. If it was I missed it.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Well, to me, that would appear to mean it's not worth specific mention.

Greg