SA-Milspec and Eyes Wide open

[apollo18]

As a reward for returning home from Iraq in once piece I decided to reward myself and purchased a Springfield Arms Milspec. I picked it up yesterday, took it to the range and put 200 rounds through it.

Growing up, my Grandfather taught me that you shoot pistols (and shotguns) with both eyes open. Focus on front sight post and center mass of the target let the rear sight be fuzzy and blurred and pull the trigger.

I never mastered this skill with the shotgun, but as far as pistols (Glock 17, 19, 23, M9, Beretta 92) went its worked well for me. Very well.

Until yesterday anyway. I couldn't do it with the SA. The front sight would be in clear relief but the target was doubled up and the rear sight kept snapping in and out of focus.

As a result I switched over to shooting with my right eye, which caused all kinds of craziness. (I killed the heck out of the left side of my target).

Is this something I'll be able to train myself out of? Will I be able to shoot the SA with both eyes open? I'm thinking that because the 1911 is so much more narrow than the other handguns I'm used to shooting its wrecking havoc with my ability to shoot with both eyes open because its altering my sense of perception. If thats the case, perfect practice should bring about perfection.

 

[Steve C]

The front sight would be in clear relief but the target was doubled up and the rear sight kept snapping in and out of focus.

You need to focus on the front sight and not look at the target or the rear sight. I'm assuming that you don't currently wear any corrective lenses. Could be that you have developed some near or far sightedness in one or both eyes but likely one eye more than the other. Its probably time for a visit to the eye doctor.

You can do some self tests by looking at a printed page that's in focus with small print, close one eye and see if it remains in focus then open the other eye and close the first and see if your vision is the same for both eyes when the other is closed. Try the same thing at a distant sign or print you can just barely see to read which is where you'll notice any real change between eyes.

 

[CoRoMo]

Welcome home, and thank you for your service!

 

[apollo18]

Thanks! I do wear glasses to correct for farsightedness and have since I was a little kid. I also didn't have this issue when testing with the Glock 23 (didn't shoot it, just looking at the sight picture).

And CoRoMo, its good to be home

 

[tincanhunter]

Assuming you shoot left handed, sighting with your left eye, try sqinting your right eye slightly while acquiring your sight picture. This will trick your brain into being left eye dominant (which you probably are anyways). I used to have a heckuva time sighting with both eyes open until I tried this.

BTW - Thanks again for your service and congrats on your new purchase. I have a SA Milspec also, they're great pistols .

 

[uwspmgc]

actually you need to close your non-dominant eye and focus on the tip of the front sight post. the eye can only focus on one object at a time. so you want a clear front sight post and fuzzy target. look first at your rear sights ensuring that the front sight is centered(castle effect), then focus on the front sight post. for target shooting NEVER STARE AT YOUR TARGET. unlike skeet/trap where you look at the flying clays, stationary targets do not move. after you aquire the target, focus on your front sight.
as for you shooting to the left here's some tricks you can try. utilizing the push pull method(push with your trigger hand, pull with your support hand), ensure your arms are fully extended, elbows locked. also ensure you only squeezing that trigger finger, not the rest of your hand.
if it still shoots left you'll have to use offset aiming(kentucky windage), meaning if it shoots left, aim right.
i know my *****, i'm a 0933 Marine Corps combat marksmanship coach.
btw that's a great gun, i just bought one too!
_______
when guns are outlawed, then i will become an outlaw

 

[GLOOB]

delete

 

[mljdeckard]

Something else, the sights on the mil-spec really suck. Low and black. The bad news is, to get most replacements, you will have to have the slide dovetailed and re-blued. Worth it if it's a project gun, but if you want to keep it historical, your options are a bit limited.

I think that if you are used to shooting with both eyes open, you should be able to do it with this one too.

 

[GLOOB]

Line up the "inner most" of the two sets of sights. If you're shooting right-eyed, that would be the left set of sights. When shooting left-eyed, you want to use the right set of sights.

The most important of things is actually muscle memory. When you learn to bring the gun onto target in the proper plane, the sights are right there waiting for you. The other set of sights never even enter the picture. Unless...

I'm guessing you are a cross dominant lefty? In that case, good luck!

I also didn't have this issue when testing with the Glock 23 (didn't shoot it, just looking at the sight picture).

The GLOCK is easier to learn because the sights are very large and the top of the slide looks like an aircraft carrier. Once the (innermost) carrier deck is pointed at target, then you can transition to the proper sight picture without interference from the other eye. But this benefit is most useful for a new gun. Once the muscle memory is there, you don't need any visual aids besides the sights.

 

[apollo18]

Thanks all for the comments.

It sounds like this is an issue I'll be able to train myself around. I guess I was concerned primarly because I've never this problem before. I shoot both eyes with Glocks and Beretta's without an issue and so picking up the 1911 and not having it work that way disturbed me.

As for the eye dominance goes, I've always assumed that I'm right eye dominant. I shoot rifle with iron sights with my left eye closed anyway, but doing so with the 1911 my shots peppered the left side of the target, so maybe its something I should test.

 

[JTQ]

Something else, the sights on the mil-spec really suck. Low and black.

On the Springfield GI, yes.

The Springfield Mil-Spec has high profile three dot sights. Not fancy Novak or Heinie style, but they are not GI sights.

 

[foghornl]

There is probably, somewhere in the world, a full-size handgun with smaller sights than the Springfield "GI-45", but I just can't find it.

 

[apollo18]

I've got the Milspec and the sights aren't that bad. Just strike me as very narrow, but then again as GLOOB put it I'm used too shooting platforms that "...the top of the slide looks like an aircraft carrier". So for me, its likely that any 1911 sites will look narrow until I get used to shooting with them.

 

[RockyMtnTactical]

It took me years to figure this out. I think maybe spending time with your weapons (not even necessarily range time, just time holding, lining up sights, etc...) will help you. This helped me quite a bit.