Shooting with both eyes open

[damyankee]

Dont know if this is where this question should be posted but it seems like it. When shooting or dry fire practicing with my pistol I always see a second blurred gun/sight picture to the left of the actual gun. I have no problem in distinguishing the real sight picture but, I was wondering if this is normal or am I a freak

 

[usp9]

That is not my experience. Do you wear glasses? Does the sight picture change when you close your weak eye? Are you "grip hand" side eye dominate?

 

[rangerruck]

are you aiming with both eyes open? this is the correct thing to do , if you can, but if you can't, retrain that eye, just using it. try to strengten it, if it still does not work, then you gotta shoot with one eye closed.

 

[damyankee]

Yes I am shooting with both eyes open. and no i dont wear glasses, i have 20/20. I figured out what it is i think. I'm left eye/handed and the blurred part im seein is my right eye's angle of sight on the gun, its just my right eye seein the gun from its perspective, maybe my technique is wrong? i can hit the target with both eyes open so why is it that big a deal? (i know you guys know what your talkn about. In the shooting world im still pretty new to things so please dont take the Qs as disrespectful)

 

[ArmedBear]

That sounds normal, especially if you're pointing more than aiming. Pointing is a more effective way to engage a threat in a defensive situation, but it takes more practice.

A fundamental difference between the two techniques is that, when you point, your eyes focus on the target, whereas when you aim, your eyes focus on the front sight. Often, when you aim, you use only one eye. Aiming is more fatiguing and limits your peripheral vision, but it does provide the tiniest groups (not the priority when your life is in danger). It seems that few people practice pointing. It's good that you do.

If you keep both eyes open and focused on the target at a distance, the gun will be blurred and you will get a double image. This is as true of a pencil held at arm's length as it is of a gun.

 

[Dionysusigma]

And the best way to combine aiming and pointing is to leave both eyes open, but fire when one of the front sights is on target. Doesn't matter which one, and it doesn't matter if the rear sight is ready. Just go for it, and instinct will take over, completing the "aim."

You'd be surprised what you can do.

 

[damyankee]

thanks for all this help everyone, I think I'm doing more aiming with some pointing thrown in there if that makes any sense. I try to keep focus on the front sight, and half the time my focus goes to the target when tryin to hit it fast. and maybe i should have elaborated a bit further on the second sight, its not a full sight picture or anything like that, its just a double vision of the rear of the gun, nothing in detail. I'm really tryin to figure out if i should use one eye closed or both open because the career field into which im going (LE) shooting the best way possible could be the end all be all, if you know what i mean.


edit: thanks for the encouragement Armed and Dion, makes me want to go to the range right now and fire till my finger is chaffed!

 

[MisterPX]

I shoot both eyes open with glasses. THere's a slight ghost of the left image, but it comes with the peripheral vision.

 

[jcb]

Check to see which eye is your dominant eye. A blurred image lke you describe sounds like your dominant eye is not the eye you are aiming with.

 

[ArmedBear]

Just go for it, and instinct will take over, completing the "aim."

That's called "pointing", or sometimes "snap shooting," and it works. It REALLY works.

Contrary to popular belief, "pointing" does involve the use of your eyes.

I don't know what you call shooting without bringing the gun anywhere near your primary field of vision (e.g. "hip shooting") but I've seen it done by trick shooters. Whether you're talking about Cowboy Fast Draw or crazy stuff like shooting a shotgun backwards while one-handing it over your head (I've seen that, and there are a few people who can do it, and hit flying targets), that's different from actual "point shooting."

When you think of "point shooting", picture an upland bird hunter hiking along, when a pheasant flushes out in front of him, or a Marine in Iraq, walking "point" through rubble when a BG pops out in front of him with an AK. The eyes see the target first, the gun comes up between the eyes and the target, and when the shooter's brain registers that the gun's pointed at the target, he pulls the trigger. It takes practice, but it's a very doable real-world skill, not trick shooting.

 

[One of Many]

When you focus your eyes on an object at a fixed distance, all other objects at different distances will be seen as two distinct images. The brain will concentrate on the image from one eye (the dominate eye) and that image will seem to be sharper and brighter (it isn't really, it is just a trick of the mind). This is normal vision, and it is something most people don't notice during daily activities; shooters using both eyes will notice it almost immediately. If one eye is significantly weaker than the other, you may not be as aware of the double vision.

If you are focusing on the front sight, you will see a blurry double image of the rear of the pistol; the image the right eye sees will appear as the left side image, and the left eye will see the image that appears on right. The target should appear blurry, and since it is at a much greater distance, you may not notice the double image of the target, as it is masked by the blurred quality of the image.

 

[10 Ring Tao]

If you have both eyes open, and you don't see a second sight picture, there is something wrong with you.

Think about the way your eyes work. Two eyes, two pictures that are normally synced, but since you're focusing on the gunsights and one of those pictures needs to be ignored.

Its the same idea as when you cross your eyes.

 

[ColoradoKid]

sighting

Close your support side eye.....period.....No reason to shoot with both eyes open....

 

[10 Ring Tao]

Close your support side eye.....period.....No reason to shoot with both eyes open....

Lol, you're kidding, right?

Defensive shooting, focusing on the front sight, is done with both eyes open. It should also be the way you practice defensive shooting.

Wing/Clay shooting is done with both eyes open. If you close one eye, you'll miss most targets and you'll have horrible peripheral vision and depth perception.

The only time I close one eye is for slow, precisely aimed shots.

 

[PGroenewold]

Like others have posted, I definitely try to keep both eyes open when I'm shooting. This isn't always easy, particularly for those who (like me) are not strongly right-eye or left-eye dominant.

If you don't have one eye that's strongly dominant and the double-image is bothering you, you can try this: apply a small strip of clear cellophane tape over the lens of your shooting glasses in front of your non-dominant eye. In theory, the tape will degrade the "ghost" image and keep it from distracting your dominant eye. With enough of this kind of practice, shooting with both your eyes open should then become more natural.

Good luck,

PG

 

[10 Ring Tao]

If you don't have one eye that's strongly dominant and the double-image is bothering you, you can try this: apply a small strip of clear cellophane tape over the lens of your shooting glasses in front of your non-dominant eye. In theory, the tape will degrade the "ghost" image and keep it from distracting your dominant eye. With enough of this kind of practice, shooting with both your eyes open should then become more natural.

Probably the most useful jumble of words in this thread.

 

[hnk45acp]

it's not nice to fool w/ mother nature

In a defensive/stress situation your body's natural instinct will be to open both eyes as wide as possible to locate threats peripherally. Shooting with both eyes opens allows you to go with your natural bodily instinct/reaction which is easier than to fight it by closing one eye.