Shooting with both eyes open: technique?
Howdy all,
First, thanks for a great, informative thread. Some excellent questions & suggestions. I've read it twice front to back.
I have a question to add to the mix, but a bit of background first.
I just traded in a SW3914, which was my second HG after a Taurus .38 revolver, for a Kahr K9. Still haven't shot the K9, but hoping to go to the range on Tuesday.
I'll confess that even though I owned the SW for almost 8 years, i rarely shot it. It lived on the bedside table at night, but I was so busy with work during that time that I rarely got time to shoot for practice. Yes, I know that makes me worse than a novice, but I've learned and am now trying to mend my evil ways. Still, since I didn't shoot the SW very much (or the Taurus for that matter), and when I did shoot I realize (after studying this forum for a few weeks) that much of what I was doing was poor technique (even if safe), I am now considering myself as a novice and starting fresh. (We'll see about that old dog, new tricks thing.)
I've also realized why I didn't like shooting the SW: the 'trigger reach" was too long for me. Not by much, but just enough to make shooting unwieldly. (It was an older 3914; from Internet images, it looks like they shortened the newer 3913's to closer the size of a Kahr K9, but that's a moot point for me now.)
Reading something that Powderman wrote earlier in this thread helped me understand one reason that the SW wasn't right for me:
Be sure to keep a "neutral trigger"--no pressure to either side, just straight to the rear.
Because the SW was too long for me, my trigger pull was never straight back, but from the side. That didn't feel right, and of course my groupings sucked.
OK, being a good novice, I've been reading volumes & volumes on this forum & elsewhere about this gun, ammo choices, holsters & of course most importantly, training with it.
For example, I found this excellent essay today: "
How to shoot a handgun accurately " by
Massad Ayoob . Very well written, clear, concise. It must be a classic.
After reading it and this thread and a couple of other threads, I basically have but one burning question. Mind you, I fully acknowledge that I may be treading into the territory known as the zen of shooting that can't really be adequately explained in langauge, but here goes.
I hear the importance of focusing on front site (after target acquisition). Check.
I hear what several writers have asserted about sighting with both eyes as opposed to closing one. Check. I'm going to work on that.
But here is my question that I'm spitting into two, even though they're related:
- When focusing on the front sight, what's happening with rear site in your visual field? I find it easy to focus on the front site with both eyes open. No problem. The image from both eyes converge when I focus on the sight, so I only see one. But then, I see more than one rear sight, and sometimes more than one target. As a result, it's a bit hard to know what the reality is, so to speak.
- I'm right handed, but with a little experimentation, it seems that - at least when sighting with both eyes open, my left eye is dominant. That is, after sighting, if I close my right eye, the front site is still correctly alligned with the target (and usually the rear site). But after sighting with both eyes open, if I close my LEFT eye, then it seems that I'd miss the target by a mile. Does that seem correct for a right hander?
OK, I've reread that a few times, and I
think I explained the questions in a way that can be understood (even if far from eloquent or perfect). If not, I'll try to do a better job asking.
Thanks for any suggestions.
NemA~